As I ran towards the school, the crisp morning air stung my lungs, each breath visible in the chilly air. I took out my phone to call Hina. I called her, but 'The number you are trying to reach is busy. Please----' I ended the call and tried again and again, but there was no answer at all.
In just five to ten minutes, I reached the school. The moment I entered the school grounds, an unnatural silence enveloped me, the usual morning chatter replaced by an eerie stillness. The instant gaze of everyone on the pathway to the school building felt like a physical weight.
I slowed to a walk, my footsteps echoing unnaturally loud in the cold morning stillness. Every pair of eyes on the pathway fixed onto me, their gazes heavy and unblinking, like I was some runaway guilty person. The silence was deafening, broken only by the sound of my own breathing.
