Schooldays of C.S. Lewis - boarding school misery and theological crisis.

Lewis and Parsley ease out of the crawlspace, blinking in the dim corridor. Then a wet belch rolls off the stone ahead of them.

Blugg stands beneath the gas lamp, bloated cheeks flushed, blocking the way back to the dormitories. His lazy stare fixes on the boys like a hand closing.

Parsley stiffens beside Lewis, but does not run. The hidden books remain half-seen behind them, a second danger if Blugg notices the cache.

The offer is the school in miniature, a bargain of obedience for survival. Lewis has the opening he needs, if he can turn the errand into passage, not submission.

He flicks a folded paper at Lewis, and it lands against the satchel, crumpling the corner of the mythology book inside. Parsley keeps his eyes down.

The gas lamp hisses overhead as Blugg shifts aside at last, but he keeps one broad shoulder in the corridor and watches for any sign of hesitation.

Lewis has the passage, and the errand, but the note is now in his hand and the cache behind him lies one glance away from discovery.

Lewis folds the note into his grip and steps out from the hatch, keeping his shoulders square and his face ordinary as if this errand belongs to him.

Parsley stays by the open crawlspace, trembling under the shelf of books, while Lewis turns his back on the cache and takes the first cautious pace down the corridor.

Blugg lets the passage open just enough for one boy to slip through, his shoulder still filling half the way as he watches Lewis pass.

Lewis gives no sign toward the satchel or the books inside it, and the folded note stays flat in his hand as he moves on.

By the time he reaches the corridor bend, the crawlspace is behind him, and Blugg is left at the hatch with only the choice to follow or let him go.

Lewis reaches Blugg at the stairwell and, without a word, takes hold of the prefect's boots by the heels. The leather is scuffed and heavy with school dust.

Blugg does not move to stop him. He only looks down at the empty space where the boots were, then back at Lewis with a grin that is all teeth and waiting.

Parsley, still by the hatch, flinches at the sight but keeps his eyes on the floor beside the exposed books.

Lewis draws the boots in close to his chest, their weight tugging at his arm, and turns the burden toward the corridor beyond Blugg's reach.