April 8, 2005 - Same Day,
Lunch Period - Rooftop - 12:51 PM
Ren couldn't do the cafeteria today maybe not ever again.
The idea of stepping into that room.. the scene of the crime. The place where everything had exploded. Where tables had been destroyed and bodies had collided and his entire life had shifted off its axis.
Just thinking about walking through those doors scared him, seeing the repaired furniture, feeling everyone's eyes on him again.
No. Not happening.
So he'd grabbed convenience store bread from the hallway vending machine and headed up.
The door was still unlocked. Chain still broken from... whenever someone had broken it. Probably during some previous gang drama that Ren knew nothing about yet.
He pushed it open and stepped out into sunlight. It was empty, quiet save for the wind and distant city sounds.
Ren exhaled and released the tension he didn't know he'd been carrying in his shoulders.
