Chapter 1

I crossed off the library and cafeterias because I knew what chaos were in them. I also crossed off the administration office, toilets, head office, changing rooms, assembly hall, specialist classroom, computer room, showers, art room, classroom, game room, music room, sick bay, locker bay, teachers’ lounge, laboratory, dance studio, janitor’s supply room and the counsellor’s room because I knew that they would most likely be people in there, or I wasn’t allowed in there. The science room also gave me the chills because none of the students cared about safety and therefore playing with random chemicals was ‘cool’ it also meant that anyone that wanted to play with them could also get a suspension. So that left me with two options.

No one ever went to the theatre or gymnasium because in the theatre, there wasn’t anything to watch and it was almost pitch black and the room normally got really hot in there because it was closed off, another reason was because it was built next to the science room. The gym wasn’t used for anything other than for looks because everyone just did sport at the public grounds across the road from the school, the grounds were about four times larger than the school gym and therefore the gymnasium became unused and dusty. The janitor was probably the only one who went in it and that was probably only once a month.

I decided to go to the gymnasium because even I couldn’t stand the heat in the theatre. All of the mental thinking I did in the past twenty seconds suddenly lifted my headache which was really weird because I should have made my headache worse but that meant that I didn’t have any reason to go to the gymnasium so in the end, I ended up walking towards the cafeteria again. The theatre was on the way and as I walked past it, I could see a few girls running and screaming, they came towards me and one of them was wearing a lab coat that hung loosely from her shoulders and desperately cried out to me.

“Help! Help! A fire started! There’s a fire in the science room!” she cried, the coat she was wearing was slightly burnt as if she had tried to beat the flames before.

“Go call some teachers!” I said in a voice that sounded a lot calmer than I felt. Truthfully, I was panicking and I did the first thing that I thought of. I ran to one of the fire stations that was spread around the school and pushed the button to set off the fire alarm.

ERRRRT ERRRRRRT FIRE EVACULATE PREMISES ERRT EVACULATE PREMISES FIRE

The monotone of the fire alarm sounded loudly in my ears as I stumbled and tried my best to run away from the science room the theatre would be really dangerous because of all the curtains which would burn easily and the electronic devices strung everywhere. I was also worried about the chemicals in the science room that would add to the combustion.

As I ran I also began to see a large group of students making a quick escape to the grounds across the road. Fire truck sirens sounded in the distance and I knew that they would arrive quickly. I worried about my belongings and if anyone was hurt. Sharon. She should have already been with the crowd of people. I thought to myself quickly. I pushed the horrible thought to the back of my head and continued to run. I was so close to reaching the group. I could already smell smoke and heatwaves threatened to tire me but I kept running to the group.

“She’s over there!” a voice cried. I recognised it as Cory’s voice. He was a boy in my class who didn’t really talk much so I was surprised when he ran up to me and wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug.

“Cory! Let her go!” a teacher said worriedly.

Sheepishly, Cory let go and realising what it might had looked like he gave a half grin and stepped aside. “Sorry.”

“Sweetie, are you alright? Where were you? Are you hurt? Where are you hurt? Do you feel lightheaded? Where’s Sharon? Wasn’t she with you?”

The bombarding questions all demanded an answer and I tried my best to answer them.

“I’m okay. I was near the gym. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” I rubbed my head and my heart skipped a beat. “Where’s Sharon?”

The teacher’s eyes widened and then filled with tears.

“Um, hello? Are you okay?” I asked, I placed a somewhat reassuring hand on her arm and she burst out into tears and she scurried off towards another teacher, leaving me, Cory and a few other kids off to fend for ourselves.

The students in our group returned to the crowd of evacuating kids and Cory called out to a few of his mates who came and gave me encouraging words to move on. Even though I didn’t know them or haven’t ever seen them before, I felt reassured and safe. They barricaded me from the crowd to give me space and the group of boys around me seemed to grow in number. Cory, who came out of nowhere, walked beside me in the small circle of space and put an arm around me.

“Are you feeling better?”

I nodded my head mutely and held Cory’s hand. He made me feel safe and he was someone familiar, I didn’t know any of the boys around me and all other students seemed to disappear. It felt as if I was walking with a bunch of strangers who made me feel comforted. The combination of Cory and I also surprised me because we were like a combination of furniture and rain. Two things that had no relation to each other whatsoever but even so, the absence of Sharon made me feel sad and vulnerable and Cory and his friends had all gone out of their way to look after me.