The air was thick with heat. Sweat lay in a thick sheen across every inch of his body. John pulled his shirt off his stomach, feeling dissatisfyingly hot air take up the empty space. Seeing heat waves rise from the broken asphalt was making him delirious. He started to hear a distant high pitch from inside his own head. He just needed a moment, 5 minutes, to sit and cool down. For John, every day felt worse than the last since he'd left home, but this—birdless skies, the utter isolation of looking for dark places away from the sun—this had to be the worst.

He reached out, pushing his hand against the hot bar door handle to the entrance of the building. To his surprise, it gave. A rush of adrenalin coursed up his chest as the door opened and he heard the echo of the rough click bounce down the dark hallway. A still warm breeze brushed past his face face as he stepped inside. The immediate shade nearly made him faint. He collapsed with his back against the first door on the right with white letters that read "Front Office". John turned his head to look at a banner pinned onto the dusty white square ceiling tiles.

"Welcome learners!" was written in colorful, now cracked, paint against the wilted brown construction paper. He loved school. Once.