I had to come back here to vote today

I had to come back here to vote today.

The gym smells like the same lemon floor wax

and that specific, sour dampness of lockers.

I walked past the trophy case in the hall

and saw the volleyball from 1998,

still sitting on its plastic tripod,

covered in a fine, gray pelt of dust.

I don't recognize the names on the ball anymore.

I just remember the feeling of being small

in a hallway that felt a mile long.

The heavy green fire doors at the exit

take five seconds to fully hiss shut,

sealing the air behind me

like a heavy, metal thought.