Feed the Flames

-celine’s pov-

Droning voices chattering, whispering, drowning out everything important.

Ears strained against the sound. The wave of noise rushed through me.

His lips moved. Words I couldn’t hear.

Desperate, pleading, apologetic; hazel eyes searched for answers I couldn’t speak.

Hands grabbed my shoulders, his words were just whispers; lost in the chatter of students.

Thud, thud, thud. I moved my eyes from his; the bodies around us were falling.

Students crumpled to the floor; falling one by one.

The voices were gone. All sound ceased completely.

A hand on my skin turned my face. Hazel eyes still worried, his fingertips graced my skin.

His lips weren’t moving anymore. I feared I had lost what he said.

A thumb traced over my lips, pain flooded his eyes, the corners of his mouth pulled down.

“So many lies…” The words faded as he spoke, voice growing soft with each syllable.

Reaching out to him, my hand barely grazed his sweater. Like a shadow cast upon sand, he was gone.

With a deep inhale, a racing heartbeat, a broken voice, I took a step back.

Bodies strewn about the hallway faded out of sight. Like sand slipping through the cracks of old floorboards.

Turning around in a circle, eyes searched for those familiar hazel orbs.

Words choked, eyes filled with tears, desperation seeped in.

“Frank?” Voice quiet, the sound bounced around the hall, forcing me to listen to my own fear.

A whisper in my ear; a breath hot on my skin; words of advice. “Please don’t listen to them.”

A deep, strangled breath entered my lungs as I sat up. My entire body shook. Each breath was hard to pull into my lungs, but I managed. My skin was freezing even though sweat rolled down my forehead. I kicked my covers off, crossing my legs as I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears.

Tap tap tap. At the sound I lifted my head, unsure of its origin. Tap tap-tap tap tap-tap The sound became vigorous, and I realized it was coming from my window. Slowly, I turned my head towards the open window.

A small gust of wind blew the sheer white curtains around, but there was a dark silhouette behind them. When they settled the source of the shape was revealed. Sitting on the open windowsill was a crow, its dark black feathers shone brightly in the sunlight. It watched me almost curiously, tilting its head, beady black eyes gazing endlessly. I stared at it for a moment, and it let out a harsh cawbefore suddenly flying off. I got out of bed, standing on shaky legs, steadying myself on the bed before I walked over to the window. I stared at it for a moment, narrowing my eyes. Did I not close it last night? I put my hands on the sill and stuck my head out the window, looking left and right, then down and up, but nothing or no one was around.

Suddenly an ear-piercing scream met my ears, and I jumped. Just as I pulled my head back through the window, the window slammed down, and I cried out, my hand getting slammed under the frame. I let out a growl at the pain, and lifted it with my good hand, freeing my injured one. My knuckles were broken and bleeding, but before I could even begin to examine the damage another scream echoed; a girl’s scream, much closer than the last.

Ronan.

Without another thought I ran from my room, shoving the door open and bounding across the living quarters to her room. I opened her door quickly, hoping everything was okay, but she was asleep. She was still in bed fast asleep, showing no sign of even having nightmares. Another scream rang out, and I looked back to the door, not understanding.

I heard Ronan shuffling behind me, but I didn’t look back at her. “Cell?” Her voice was groggy, but I ignored it, heading out of her room and to the main door of the dorm. I opened it with my good hand, cradling my broken hand against my stomach as I looked out into the hall. A few other students were out in the hall in their pajamas, most looking worried, but a few just looked annoyed that they’d been woken early on a weekend.

“What’s going on, Cell?” Ronan’s sleepy voice was behind me now, sounding worried. I held the door open and pointed out into the hall. Ronan stepped past me and poked her head out into the hall, looking around before she looked back at me. “What-” She seemed to notice my hand and looked at it. “What happened to you?”

I looked down at my hand, drops of blood forming from my busted knuckles. I flexed my hand and sharp pain shot through my bones, but I brushed it off. “Window.” I told her shortly, and she kept her eyes on my hand, furrowing her brows.

“Punch it or something?” She asked, but the words seemed forced, her voice sounding almost distant. After a second of silence she seemed almost uncomfortable. “Shouldn’t-shouldn’t you um…go to the nurse with that? Make sure everything’s alright?” For a moment I stared at her, not quite understanding. Finally I tilted my head slightly to the side, and she looked at me, not quite understanding, it would seem. “What?” She asked, and smiled slightly. “I can’t worry that your hand’s broken into a million little pieces?”

Worry… There was that word again. I turned as she shut the door back and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed the notepad on the counter, sliding it over to me as I grabbed the pen on it and scribbled a quick few words on the corner before ripping it off. Ronan was already walking over to me.

‘Are you alright?’ I handed the note to her and after she read it she laughed slightly.

“I’m not the one with the hand that’s bleeding all over the place.” She said, and then sighed, her shoulders falling. “You should go to the nurse about that, really. It looks bad. Maybe you can figure out what’s happened on the way.” She seemed genuinely worried, and so I sighed heavily, looking down at my swelling hand and finally nodded. I went back to the notepad.

‘Alright. If you hear anything text me.’ I ripped the strip of paper off and handed it to Ronan.

“Will do.” She said shortly, and I nodded before I turned and went back into my room.

I walked over to my nightstand, and grabbed the couple things I needed; my phone and my little notebook with the pen. Slipping them into the pocket of my red plaid pajama pants, I looked down at the white shirt I was wearing, hoping there weren’t any food stains on it. I figured if there were any with whatever was going on no one would notice. My hand thumped with pain as I tried to make a fist, and I sighed. I didn’t want to go see the nurse, but I probably needed to. Heading into the bathroom, I grabbed the hand towel from the rack next to the sink, and wrapped it tightly around my hand, hoping to keep any blood contained.

After slipping on my shoes, I walked back out of my room, taking note that Ronan had gone back into her room before I opened the door to the dorm, and stepped out. There were no students in the hall now, but instead there were paramedics and police officers talking in hushed whispers, the usual energetic chaos of the halls was gone, now replaced with a sinister seriousness. I walked over to the stairs, but stopped as I noticed an officer standing guard. I dug the notebook out of my pocket, and held it in my broken hand as I scribbled a note. I walked up to the officer, and before I could show him the note, he spoke with the deep, gruff tone of the authority.

“No one’s allowed to leave their dorms until we find out what’s happened, if you could please return to you own-” I cut the man off by holding up my notepad, and he squinted slightly as he read it.

‘I accidentally got my hand caught under the window sill. I need to go see the nurse.’

He looked down at my hand, and then at me, understanding in his eyes, his voice softening up. “There are paramedics making rounds now, if you return to your room one will be around in the next ten or fifteen minutes to see you, I’m sure.” Finally, I just nodded, and started making my way back to my room. No one paid me any attention, even as I walked right past them, but the voices of the officers were whispers so quiet I would’ve had to stop right next to them to hear, and that would’ve drawn attention I didn’t want. So I got back to the dorm, pressed my thumb to the pad and my shoulder to the door. Ronan seemed to notice the sound of the door opening, and I looked over as the door to her room opened.

“You weren’t gone long. Did you find out what’s happening?” She asked, raising her eyebrows, and I shook my head, turning my attention back to the notepad in my hand. I turned over a page and wrote down what I knew.

‘Police officers everywhere. No one’s allowed out of their dorms. If there’s a knock on the door it’s a paramedic. Send them my way. I ripped the page out and handed it to Ronan.

Her eyes became more and more confused as she read, and when she looked at me you would’ve thought I was writing in a different language. “Police officers? Paramedics?” I only shrugged in response. I had no idea what was happening either. “Well,” She took a deep breath, looking at me then. “I’ll keep an ear out for a knock on the door.” With just a nod in response, I turned and walked back across the dorm to my own room. As the door swung open, I took a step back, a small gasp slipping past my lips as I noticed a figure in front of my bed. At the sound the figure turned, and a smile spread across his face.

It was Frank.

“Oh my god, Cell.” He rushed forward, wrapping his arms around me before I could stop him, before I could protest. “Jesus, I thought-I thought something happened to you. Are you okay?” I hesitantly hugged him back, nodding against his shoulder, and he let out a heavy breath against my neck. “I was so worried, I’m sorry I just-” Frank pulled away from me then, seeming to compose himself as he rested his hands on my shoulders. I furrowed my brows, not sure what was wrong. I felt like I’d had a bag over my head all morning. I had no clue what was happening in the school. But for the moment what was happening in the school was the least of my concerns. I looked down to my notepad in my hand, and began writing as he took notice of my hand. “What happened to you? Did someone do this?” I stopped writing for a moment to look up at him suspiciously, but his eyes were still soaked with worry. He looked like he’d just crawled out of bed. His hair was messy and he was wearing a pair of Bal Voyeax sweat pants and a white t-shirt.

I returned to the notepad. ‘How did you get up here? There’s a cop on the stairwell and a print lock on the door. I’m fine, I slammed my hand with the windowsill when I woke up. What’s happening?’ I wasn’t sure if the words were all cohesive I wrote them so fast, but I tore off the note and handed it to him anyways. A strong breeze suddenly blew open a book on my nightstand, and I looked behind Frank as he read the note. The window was open.

Stomping over to shut the window, Frank began speaking. “There’s been some kind of suicide pact or something. A bunch of guys in the boy’s wing and a bunch of girls over here are all dead. That’s all I’ve heard.” I pocketed my notebook and pen, and took hold of the top of the window, ignoring the pain in my bad hand as I felt bones scrape around. Tugging on the window seemed useless now; it was almost as if it had been forced open so hard it was stuck. “Here, let me.” Frank walked over to me, and I took a step back. He grabbed the top of the window and shut it with ease.

Still not getting quite the answer I wanted, I took the piece of paper from his hand and took my pen from my pocket. I pressed the paper to the towel around my hand and scribbled lines through everything on the page except for, ‘How did you get in?’.

Handing the paper back to Frank, I kept the confusion on my face. “There was no police officer on the steps. I got past everyone and you didn’t shut the door fully, so I slipped in. Apparently you went into Ronan’s room, but I didn’t know and I was…I was worried.”

I was not in Ronan’s room; I was barely in her doorway. I closed that door, I closed it and that police officer did not look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. I wanted to tell him all these things. I wanted to ask him why my window was open, and why he was lying. Logic was my friend. Logic protected me and gave me peace. Nothing he was saying was rational. But…worry. He was worried. There was that damn word again. My heart started racing as I tried not to grit my teeth.

“Stop worrying.” The words were forced from my mouth before I could stop them, and Frank smiled slightly at them, and stepped forward, taking my shoulders.

“I can’t help it.” He whispered, and looking into his eyes, my anger was melting. My heartrate was calming, and I was at peace for the moment. “You can’t imagine the moment of panic I had when I heard what happened. Thinking you were gone…” He brought up a hand up to my face, and I couldn’t fight the small smile that came to my lips. “I don’t think they’ve figured out what happened just yet but…be careful around here, alright?” As I furrowed my brows, Frank seemed to notice that I didn’t quite understand what he was saying. “Tell you what, why don’t you meet me up on the roof in a bit, alright? I’ve got to go take care of something, but I’ll meet you up there in the next ten minutes.” At that, I nodded, knowing I’d undoubtedly find a way past everyone. He smiled, and kissed me on the lips quickly before he let go of my shoulders, walking to the door and poking his head out, like he was making sure Ronan wasn’t around. He slipped out and closed the door behind him.

Looking down at my hand, I let out a heavy breath as I noticed it wasn’t hurting as bad as it was. I unwrapped the towel, already walking towards the bathroom. I’d be missing the medic if I was heading for the roof. My knuckles were all swollen and bruised, and the knuckles of my index, middle, and ring fingers were cracked open and still bleeding. I turned on the water and ran my hand under it, wincing as the cuts stung, but the cold water felt nice. Drying my hand on a different towel, I had to admit it looked only half as bad as it did with all the caked on blood. Reaching up to the medicine cabinet above the sink, I grabbed the little box of gauze and the cloth medical tape. With a little fumbling, I managed to wrap my knuckles well enough to keep any bleeding under control, and then wrap the gauze with tape to keep it in place.

After returning the supplies to the cabinet, I changed into a pair of jeans and a grey school sweatshirt. Walking out of my room, I noticed Ronan wasn’t around. I walked to the door and looked out, and there were still a few officers standing around. Next door to our dorm I could hear voices, but they were too muffled to make out. I assumed it was paramedics and officers. Carefully but swiftly I made my way towards the stairs. Much to my surprise the officer that was there earlier was gone. For a moment, I felt a twinge of guilt hit me. I doubted Frank, thought him a liar, but perhaps he had been telling the truth. I quickly ascended the steps, and when I got to the teacher’s hall, I was a bit surprised to see all the doors were closed and no one was about. Though I suspect all the teachers were elsewhere with the authorities dealing with whatever had happened in the school.

When I opened the door to the roof, I brought my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun, the light a bit brighter than what I was used to. As I blinked however, my heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, the light was gone. I was in a dark, concrete room. Grey walls, grey floor. A single naked bulb hung in the center from a small chain. I stumbled back a step, the sudden change of scenery wrong and shocking. I blinked and the setting flickered like an old VHS tape flickering. One second it was the roof, and then it was the concrete room. My breathing escalated, and I reached back for the roof’s door, knowing something was wrong. There was something in my head. It was faint, but it was there. Like someone scratching nails on a chalkboard in my skull. I closed my eyes again, shaking my head. What was happening? I tried to force the feeling away, and the scene flickered, and finally I was back on the roof again. The blinding sun making me squint. It was…hard. Like I had to concentrate to keep from going back to that strange grey room. It made my head hurt to focus.

“Hey, shh, shh, shh, it’s okay.” A voice was in my ear, soft, but assertive, and I was so afraid I couldn’t even turn my head. “Don’t fight it, you’ll only hurt yourself.” Suddenly, the voice was far away. “Take her, now, before she tries to fight it.” The voice was talking to someone else now. I fought hard. I took a step back, but the headache was getting worse. I blinked, and just for the moment let myself go. When I opened my eyes I was back in the grey room. I could feel myself panicking again; heart racing, eyes searching, lungs working overtime. The questions flooding my mind were unstoppable. But I only cared about one.

Where am I?

Notes