Shera sighed into a hand resting on her cheek. All she could think about was the amount of homework left to do. Coming to class, learning new things…. And then getting more homework to do. It was a vicious cycle that sucked up all of her motivation to do anything for the sake of herself. She wondered what was the point of doing all of these essays, analytical readings and answering questions if it was all for the sake of single a letter ‘A’ next to the word ‘grade’ on a limp sheet of paper marked: ‘Shera’s end of year report’.

Shera wanted to know what it would be like to decide on something to do for the rest of her life. She wanted a goal, a life’s purpose which she could work towards, enduring pain, sweat and a lot of hard work to get there. The only problem is…. She didn’t have anything she would be willing to do all of that for.

Maybe she is hated by life, being created without a purpose and forced to travel through the passage of time without direction.

“Argh, I just want to sleep….” Shera whispered to herself, bringing both elbows onto the table and burying her face in them. Surely enough the school bell started to ring, sending echoes throughout the silent room. She could hear the scraping of chairs on the hard floor while students began shuffling out of the classroom, signalling a lunch break.

Shera pushed herself up from the table, adopting an annoyed expression as if being rudely awoken by an alarm clock.

She followed behind the other students of the class who were single-filing themselves out of the classroom door. Outside, the storm clouds sank low above the school building, and rain started to spit out from beneath them.

In an instant, the rain shower erupted into a massive spray across the school courtyard. Shera looked outwards from the slightly ajar window in the corridor, and gust of cold wind whiffed into her tired face.

The air is always the best when it rains. Crisp and cold, it never possesses the heaviness like that of being cramped up in classrooms, or the humidity of the small, stuffed storerooms that had received too much sun in the afternoon.

Shera wondered if she should go eat outside, amidst the rain. Despite the homeroom teacher frantically directing students to make their way to the indoor cafeteria, Shera slipped away from the crowd to pull out her lunch and an umbrella out of her locker, before making her way upstairs to the school’s rooftop.