Time. It had always been with Lucy. I’d always been her blanket of comfort. A thing so predictable and calculated, so unlike everything else. It was truly her best friend. A best friend she couldn’t afford to lose.

7:00 am. Lucy had woken up on time, like she always did. Put her left sock on first, then her right. Lucy picked out shoes to match her outfit, making sure it looked coordinated. She always believed 5th impressions were more important than the first. And it being the fifth day of school, Friday, it was only a given that she would dress better today.

7:30 am. Breakfast was bland, nothing new or exciting. Just boring toast, with bland unsalted butter, and a glass half empty of water. Lucy’s eyes were glued on the clock as she ate, syncing her bites with each half minute. Giving herself a decent amount to chew then swallow her food. And every other minute was a chance to take a sip of water, slowly drinking it so it would last until her last bite of toast.

7:46 am. The bus arrived a minute late, fortunately for Lucy she didn’t take the bus. Never had, and never would. The thought of losing her time to picking others up on the way to school seemed idiotic. Especially since she, and everyone else, had no time to lose. Yet some chose to waste it. But that wasn’t Lucy’s problem, so she continued to mount her bike. Double checking that all her alarms were on.

8:00 am. Lucy didn’t meet up with friends to walk to class with, it was a waste of time and effort. Both of which she didn’t want to waste. She, instead, walked to her class early. Giving her extra time to get ready. She’d taken the long way because the short way was in fact longer due to traffic in the halls. She’d tried to explain it to Margaret on Wednesday but she’d gotten bored and left. So Lucy was the only one that really knew.

8:15 am. Lucy had never liked English class, too subjective and inconsistent. She’d always lacked creativity anyway so it was just an overall bore. But Lucy paid attention. Taking in every last word Mr. Samuel spoke. Trying to spend her time usefully by learning. If not it would have been a waste. Mr. Samuel was not only inconsistent with his lessons but also with his time. He’d shown up late, again. Lucy had timed him for good measure. 4 minutes and 37 seconds: a personal record for Mr. Samuel this week seeing that he showed up 15 minutes late yesterday. Wasting everyone’s time, especially Lucy’s since she was the only one disappointed to have missed instruction.

8:30 am. Mr. Samuel unlocked the classroom door, and everyone rushed in. Lucy being the first to take her seat. She unpacked, taking out her computer then her binder. She glanced frequently at the kid beside her, he’d been drinking kool aid out of a bottle. A ring of red stained skin surrounded his lips. He’d offered her some after catching her staring, but she’d polietfully declined. She didn’t look at him until 8:37 am.

8:37 am. The boy next to Lucy had begun to get reckless. Swinging his arms around as he spoke to his friend. Spilling kool aid as he did so. Lucy had turned around to ask him to put the drink down before he spilled it all, but before she could even mutter a word out to him he’d spilled all his kool aid on her.

Lucy jumped out of her seat, her clothes dripping with red kool aid. “What’s wrong with you!” she screeched. Fuming at the boy for being so reckless.

“Relax, it’s fine.” The boy rolled his eyes, not even making a point to apologize.

“Don’t you think you owe me an apology?” Lucy stood over him, her ears bright red with anger.

The boy shook his head simply. “I don’t owe you anything. But you owe me a new drink,” he teased her, his friends laughing in support.

“I owe you a drink? Are you serious?! You little-”

“Ms. Evans, please come to my desk,” Mr. Samuel spoke in a dreadfully bland tone. As if he were about to doze off on his desk, right in the middle of class.

Lucy walked upto the front of the room. The class silently watched her leave a trail of red kool aid on the carpet, some of them turning to whisper to their friends. Lucy tried not to look, in fear she might just turn around and start screaming again. 

Once she reached his desk, he took out a pink slip of paper. She winced at the inevitable, something which should not have been given to her but the boy who had spilled his drink on her.

“Detention after school, Ms. Evans.”

Lucy nodded, her face pale with embarrassment. She then turned and slowly made her way back to her seat. Furious at the fact she had been reprimanded, and not him.

3:15 pm. As the last bell rang dismissing everyone from their last class Lucy headed straight towards detention. Her clothes, although dried, were still stained with the unmistakable red tint of kool aid; the smell of it still lingered. Lucy had always prided herself in the fact she had never been in detention before. She’d always been a rule follower, well except for the moments in which she thought the rules weren’t fair. Then she would make an exception. But today, she had done nothing but react to having kool aid poured on her and what did she get?! Detention.

3:30 pm. The moment Lucy stepped into the classroom she already felt dread come over her. Ms. Benet loomed over Lucy as she made it in, her long fingers extended out asking for the pink slip. Reluctantly, Lucy handed it over. Feeling as if her freedom was being taken away from her while the door shut behind her.

Lucy instinctively reached for her phone, checking to see the time. But just like when she’d walked in, Ms. Benet extended out her hand asking for her phone. She handed it over, wishing she hadn’t gone to check the time.

The room seemed to get darker, the longer time passed. Lucy couldn’t tell whether it was turning into night or if her mind had been toying with her. And just like always, the answer to her problems lay in the comforting tick of a wall clock. But unfortunately for her, she’d found no clock on the wall. It was as if she’d imagined the repetitive tick shed grown fond of. 

Worried about her schedule (which had already been compromised by detention) Lucy raised her voice, asking for the time. Trying to sound less desperate than she really was.

Ms. Benet smiled cruelly, as if it were fun to watch Lucy suffer. “You’ll leave when I see fit.” 

Lucy awkwardly smiled at her, slowly sinking in her seat.

Her heart started to beat faster, as if trying to escape the jail that was her rib cage. Lucy started to feel as if Ms. Benet herself had twisted her stomach into a knot. Pulling it tighter every other second.

Lucy tried to keep track of time, counting every minute in her head. But so far she had only counted two minutes in the past 30 seconds. It felt as if her whole world had fallen apart in the short span she’d been here.

The small windowless classroom seemed to enclose in on her, slowly choking her off the air she breathed. Lucy tried to take a deep breath, but her lunges didn’t bother slowing down. Instead they heaved up and down, making her feel as if she’d ran a mile. Blood rushed to her pale face, as it did she felt the pulse of the blood rushing. Her ears had begun to ring, drowning out Ms. Benet who seemed to be asking her a question.

Lucy tried to understand the words being spoken to her but she felt dazed, her beating heart too loud to hear anything else. Ms. Benet had put her long cold fingers on Lucy’s back, trying to calm her down. But it didn’t help.

Soon enough Lucy black out. Reality slipping from under her feet and leaving her in the darkness of her own mind. Ms. Benet stood over her, contemplating on whether calling her parents would be the right move.

4:26. Lucy rode in the passenger’s seat of her mom’s SUV. They both sat in silence, making their way out of the school parking lot. The whole ride home seemed to have an awkward silence. Lucy’s mother had been in a meeting and wasn’t too happy to have had to leave work. Lucy knew this, although her mom never mentioned it. So she sat there, keeping to herself.

Usually she would have watched the clock the whole ride home, avoiding conversation with her mom. But this afternoon she found herself no longer captured by the constant change in time. No longer waiting for the next thing to happen. She just enjoyed the ride, staring at the buildings they passed on the way. No longer fixated on her next words, her next thought, her next breath. No longer focused on the inescapable march of time. No longer obsessed with the need to control it.

Time is of its own essence, unable to be held slave for anyone or anything. She’d realized trying to control it, to live according to it would make her time’s prisoner. Just then had she realized she wanted to remain free.