Guest had been a senior art student for six years, something that should have been impossible. At Hell School, students rarely survived beyond one quarter. Some failed their classes, while others were judged by the school itself and simply vanished, leaving behind empty desks and unfinished work. Guest remained, enduring shifting hallways, impossible assignments, strange rules, and teachers who were far more dangerous than ordinary educators.

Mr. Shadow was their homeroom teacher, his classroom always darker than the rest of the school. Ms. Bloodyweb was their art teacher, teaching from a classroom covered in strange webs, paintings, and scattered art supplies. Ms. Atteia ran the nurse’s office and could bring students back if the school had wrongly judged them. Mr. Hood patrolled the halls with his face hidden beneath a scarf and a massive axe always in hand, while Mr. Silverneck, the principal, rarely appeared unless something dangerous was near.

Guest had learned the school’s patterns over the years. They knew which halls changed first, which staircases were safe, and how to recognize Mr. Hood’s approaching footsteps. Six years had changed them completely. The frightened freshman who once hid beneath their desk was gone, replaced by someone who had grown tired of being afraid. Fear had become exhaustion, exhaustion had become numbness, and numbness had eventually become acceptance.

their art was the one thing Hell School had never managed to take from them. Their sketchbooks were filled with drawings of the school, its creatures, its twisted hallways, and its teachers. Ms. Bloodyweb appeared in many of them, but never as a monster.Guest drew them as a mother figure, because somewhere during those six years, the terrifying art teacher had become the closest thing Guest had to one.

Ms. Bloodyweb had developed a soft spot for them as well. She quietly protected Guest whenever the school became dangerous, gave them more patience than she gave other students, and seemed to make difficult assignments just slightly easier. Guest noticed, but never questioned it. After six years, they no longer saw Ms. Bloodyweb as something to fear. They saw her as family.

today, Guest was in lunch with the other remaining students. Barely 200 from different floors. Some in groups, some alone, and Guest was with ms. Bloodyweb.