Narcosis. Francisco Garófalo

in my uniform, picked up my school rucksack and headed for the classroom but there was nobody there, the chairs were tucked neatly under the desks, there were papers on the floor; it looked as though nobody had been there for a while. I went to look for my classmates and found them in the dormitory.

      ‘What’s going on?’ I asked Miss Rosa, who was crying.

      ‘Someone killed Sebastián! Someone killed him!’

      This news didn’t have much effect on me as I hated him and the rest of my classmates.

      ‘Come here, Lorenzo,’ commanded the headmistress who had spotted my presence and the fact that I was smiling.

      I approached her and she promptly frogmarched me to her office.

      ‘You killed Sebastián, didn’t you?’

      ‘No, I didn’t do it,’ I answered.

      Sebastián’s chest had the kitchen knife stuck in it and as I had taken it five days previously she was perfectly entitled to think that I had taken his life.

      ‘You’re a murderer,’ she said.

      ‘I didn’t kill him.’

      ‘Then who did?’

      ‘I don’t know. How would I know?’

      ‘You had the knife. Why did you steal it?’

      I didn’t reply.

      ‘Answer me. If you don’t answer me, I’ll give you another thrashing.’

      I still didn’t reply.

      She didn’t thrash me but she locked me in a room she called the punishment room, for incorrigible children, for rebellious children like me. I don’t know what happened outside, nor did I want to know. Fear overwhelmed me; being alone in that dark room, the darkness terrified me, I didn’t like being locked in. I think I suffer from claustrophobia. Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t kill Sebastián.

      Someone opened the door and the bright light prevented me from seeing who it was. When my eyes adjusted to the light I saw her, it was the headmistress, she was drinking a cup of coffee and looking at me closely.

      ‘What am I going to do with you, Lorenzo?’ she sighed as she sipped her coffee. ‘You are too troublesome and I am not willing to put up with you any longer, you don’t have anybody and I am not going to carry on looking after you.’

      She looked me straight in the eyes as she drank another mouthful of coffee. Her look was a mixture of loneliness, bitterness and resentment built up over many years.

      ‘You are a problem child. Nobody wants you. You are a blight on society.’

      Her words hurt and humiliated me but the worst thing was, they were true.

      ‘But I remember now that you do have someone.’

      And then she stopped. She dropped her coffee cup and fell to the floor.

      I didn’t understand what was happening or know what to do. She might have fainted or be dead – I didn’t want to find out. I ran from her office without knowing what had happened to the headmistress. Nobody would have believed my version anyway.

      I ran all over the building looking for a gap in the bars that I could squeeze through but there was no chance of escaping. I was desperate, imagining myself locked up in jail for something I didn’t do. My head was spinning, I felt sick, I didn’t know what to do. I heard footsteps approaching rapidly and without a second thought I ran, looking for somewhere to hide. I found myself staring at my classmate’s coffin and realised that perhaps it was my only hope of escape.

      There was no other way to get out of that place.

      I remembered something the headmistress had said. ‘Only the dead get out of here.’

      IX

      The footsteps were getting closer and I decided to take Sebastián’s place. It was not pleasant but if the headmistress was right, then I would leave as a dead person.

      I removed Sebastián’s body as quickly as I could, put it under a desk the teachers used and took his place in the coffin, putting my fear to one side.

      Miss Rosa came in but she didn’t see me.

      She walked towards the coffin.

      My classmate’s parents had just finished the paperwork to remove their son’s body and give him a final farewell.

      As they were wealthy people, it was all settled very quickly. There were no hitches.

      The only thing pending was the threat of closing the place down because of what had happened.

      Miss Rosa started to move closer to the coffin, intending to see her pupil one last time and say a last goodbye. She could have done it later – what was the hurry? I was worried she would see me.

      I became frightened.

      The teacher continued walking towards me. She was bound to discover me.

      Standing next to the coffin, she raised her hand to lift the lid but she didn’t open it; instead she made sure it was shut properly.

      ‘We are ready whenever you wish, sir,’ interrupted Sebastián’s father’s servants.

      ‘Very well. Let’s go,’ he ordered.

      They lifted the coffin onto their shoulders and Miss Rosa stood back to give the men room.

      They loaded the coffin into their vehicle and set off for their mansion.

      I was happy and worried at the same time. I was going to be free, but where would I go? To look for Carla, but where? I didn’t even know if she still lived with her parents or if the family had moved to a different city.

      We reached our destination and they unloaded me, put me in a room and left me on my own. I tried to open the coffin but it was stuck fast. I pushed hard to no effect. I started to become desperate as fears went round inside my head. ‘What if they bury me alive?’ I thought to myself. ‘What good would everything I have done be if they bury me alive?’