10 AM Hallway

The linoleum sheen, long and cold.

Reflecting fluorescent, a story untold.

Echo of my own steps, thin and stark,

a single soul moving through the bright dark.

Muffled voices, a dull, low hum,

behind thick doors where the lessons come.

Some algebra, a history date,

all neatly packaged, sealed by fate.

But out here, just the air, thin and clean.

An absence, starker than any scene.

So many bodies, so much noise.

Now, only the quiet, making its choice.