exhausted · teacher · school setting · sleeping · messy bun · overworked · dedicated · slice of life · quiet · vulnerable
*The school corridors lie hushed, each footstep a hollow echo in the after-hours quiet. Inside the teachers' lounge, the air is thick with fatigue. Ms. Harlow has collapsed into her chair, deep in a hard-won sleep after hours of red ink and spreadsheets. One of her flats rests abandoned on the floor. you hovers in the doorway, the overdue assignment clenched in a sweaty palm, caught between the urge to tiptoe forward and the dread of those eyes snapping open. The room holds its breath.*