The Prefect's Enforcers

In the dimly lit prefect office, the protagonist, Marcus, struggles to maintain control over a group of unruly students during the first hour of the blackout. Tensions rise as the students start testing boundaries, and Marcus attempts to assert authority while grappling with the gravity of his responsibilities.

The torch was the kind they kept in the supply closet for fire drills, rubber-handled, heavier than it looked, and at seven minutes past nine on a Tuesday in October it was the only working light in the east wing of St. Ignatius. Marcus Che…

As the blackout continues, Marcus discovers a locked drawer in the prefect office containing old discipline records. His curiosity piqued, he breaks the lock and finds a chilling pattern of punishments that reveals the hierarchy of the prefect system as well as the darker side of its history.

The locked drawer sat flush in the desk's lower left corner, its brass keyhole worn bright by years of thumbs that knew exactly where to find it. Marcus had been looking at it for eleven minutes. He knew because the wall clock above the do…

With the students growing bolder in their defiance, Marcus struggles to balance discipline and camaraderie. He faces challenges from a rival prefect, Fiona, who has her own ideas about how to manage the chaos. Their clash reveals the fragility of their alliances and the hidden ambitions of the student body.

Fiona Halvers came through the prefect office door at twenty minutes past nine, and she did not knock. She did not need to. Her badge sat straight, the pin level with the second button of her blazer, and the torch in her hand was not pointe…

Marcus becomes increasingly paranoid as he connects dots between the punishments recorded in the drawer and the students' behavior. A pivotal confrontation with Fiona leads to Marcus questioning his own integrity and the nature of authority, forcing him to confront who he really wants to be in the system.

The clock on the gymnasium's east wall reads eleven forty seven. It has read eleven forty seven since 1982, when a thrown basketball cracked the glass and nobody saw fit to fix it. The boys at St. Ignatius have grown up under that time. The…

The tension reaches a breaking point when a student is wrongfully punished based on old precedents from the records. Marcus must decide whether to speak out or keep quiet, leading to a rift between him and his peers. The fallout triggers a power struggle among the students, as alliances shift and chaos erupts.

The dormitory corridor at St. Ignatius has its own weather. Disinfectant, mostly. Underneath that, the dry paper smell of an old building that hasn't had a window opened in a decade. And tonight, underneath even that, something Marcus can o…

In the climax, Marcus confronts Fiona and the rest of the students, revealing the existence of the records and the truth behind the oppressive system. Faced with the decision to destroy the evidence or use it to dismantle the corrupt hierarchy, Marcus finally chooses his path, leading to a dramatic showdown that changes the dynamics of power forever.

The ledgers were open on the desk in a fan, the way you'd fan a deck of cards before a trick. Twenty-three of them. Marcus had counted while he waited. He had the broken drawer face leaned against the wall behind him like evidence at a tria…