School at the End of the World

Like a great temple of some obscure archaic faith, the tenebrous artificial behemoth rose against the bleak landscape of the void. In awe of the massive expanse of the building, the girl moved slowly toward it, as though enthralled by the building blocks thereof. Initially, the building was merely an alluring enigma of no apparent significance. As she moved closer, however, the structure seemed to shrink, as its appearance revealed itself as something familiar.
It had been quite a while since the girl had thought of school. In fact, given her overabundance of less than desirable memories of grade school, she preferred not to ruminate on the topic. Yet, the closer she wandered to this structure, the more it reminded her of the school she had left behind, however long ago. Inexplicably captivated, she wandered to the door. Memories tumbled vengefully into her mind as she crossed the threshold. Despite the augmenting pain, she felt compelled to continue her way forward. After all, pain had never been anything more than an instrument of change. Often, in fact, pain begat renaissance and embellishment. She knew this much from rich experience.
The inside of the structure smacked of her old middle school. From the drawings on the walls to the design of the floor tiling, the space was a manifestation of a bitter memory returned too soon. There was one noteworthy difference between this physical memory and the actuality from which it had been derived: people. She gazed around, intently perusing for any signs of life. There was not a soul in sight. Capriciously, she thought of ghost towns hollowly ensconced within the backdrop of moonless summer nights. But she was cold.
Gazing down at her arms, the girl realized that she was shivering. The chilling weight of the emptiness of this place had begun to smother her, and she began to entertain the horrid notion that she would never again find another soul with whom to commune. She shuddered violently at the thought of dying alone. She felt her teeth rattling like a mindless machine content in perpetual meaninglessness.
The unnatural cold tore into her flesh, ravishing her comfort with the dexterity of an exquisite feral predator. As the cold web of bitter memories bore inward, the girl withdrew inside herself and erected her barriers. As though reflexively, she fortified these barricades with the heat of her very resolve not to be overwhelmed. She was adamantly determined to eviscerate the cold at all costs. Pushing outward, she willed her internal heat to reach outward, vanquishing the frigid bite of the treacherous nostalgia. Commanding herself to fight, she took a step forward, as though in defiance of her unseen oppressors.
Conceiving no other option, the girl took another step forward, moving steadily deeper into the school and reminiscing. As she walked, her steps gradually increased in speed, and, before she knew it, she was calmly traversing the hallways, as though on a midsummer stroll. For reasons unknown to her, she began to laugh quietly to herself, as though her life had become some sort of divine comedy the humor of which had suddenly struck her. Ironically, however, the light in her eyes was steadily fading. It was as though this infectious laughter was actually the symptom of an incipient disease of enervation.
Perambulating the familiar halls, her mind drifted into thoughts of her new school. She envisioned those halls and lockers, as well as the silhouettes of young teenagers and teachers with whom she shared the building. As she was imagining, the walls and floors around her transitioned from those of her former school into the components of her new one. Nevertheless, she remained alone in the hauntingly spacious labyrinthine halls. She encountered not even the shadow of another person.
Faithfully, Silence and Solitude walked beside her. Following them at a dynamic distance, Agoraphobia hopped merrily along. The girl could feel her consciousness ebbing as she ceaselessly meandered the familiar halls. It did not occur to her that she had never seen a school that was this expansive. She did not even manage to keep track of how long she had been walking. Chuckling insouciantly, her eyes fading in the haze of the atmosphere, she continued down the pathway into the unknown.