The Girl Next Door

Fire!

3rd March 2023
I went to Hanorah's again to chill out and play some Valorant after a long school day. After a few rounds, we took a break and she went to the kitchen to grab a few snacks for both of us. That's when I noticed her green lighter sitting behind her bookshelf and grabbed it. I contemplated lighting it to maybe for once understand what about it fascinated her so much but I heard her footsteps getting louder so I immediately put it back in its place. We played some more before I got ready to leave around 9 pm. I noticed she'd added a quote in calligraphy to one of her paintings - "Fire crackles and snaps, looks alive but is not, dances and sways in the wind"

As I wished her good night, little did I know this was the last time I'd ever see the girl I liked for so long but never had the courage to confess to

Coral Coast High, 5th March 2023
Everyone sighed in annoyance as the power went out during third period.....how the fuck do they expect us to survive in the 40C summer heat without air conditioning or at the very least, without fans. I wonder where the funding is even going

I sat in there rotting for another 15 minutes before the period got over and I gathered my stuff to get to my next class: geography on the 4th floor. They'd assigned a janitor to slap a metal plate with a hammer to simulate the school bell

It's about 10 minutes into the class when I smelt something burning

"D'you smell that ??", I whispered to my benchmate Tanner
"Smell what ??", he asked as he sniffed
"You can't smell it ??", I said
"No, dude. There's nothin' to smell", he explained
"Ohh....Alright, nevermind", I said. Am I just imagining things or what ?? Guess I've been thinking about fire wayy too much over the past few days

"Mr Kevlavich, are you with us ??", enquired Mr Kloss, interrupting my thoughts
"Oh...Yessir", I muttered

But soon the smell gets stronger and even Mr Kloss starts to worry and goes out to investigate the source of the burning odor as people began speculating. "Aw fuck, I bet it's the pyro again!", exclaimed Tanner

"You mean who ??", I enquired
"Hanorah. How many pyros d'you think are here ??"

"Dunno, could be many", I nervously chuckled as the image of Hanorah being tranfixed at the mangrove fire flashed back to me. Doesn't everyone like watching a good trainwreck, I thought to myself. She's just morbidly curious, nothing more

"Everybody, form a line, we're going to the ground!", said Mr Kloss in a loud voice, almost shouting

We did as we were told and nobody bothered to enquire why we were heading to the ground in the blisteringly hot summer heat, mostly because by now everyone put two and two together and concluded there was a fire in the school....again. But this time, it was wayy more serious than last time

Due the the flawed layout of the school and the location of the inferno, we were forced to witness the fire's destructive power as it ripped through the school. Mr Kloss instructed us to hold a wet cloth against our mouths and noses to prevent the inhalation of toxic fumes. As we descended down the stairs, we saw the third floor gym had been completely collapsed onto the 2nd floor staff room which seemed to be just barely holding up against the bright hot flames, itself almost obliterated

The dull grey architecture of the school was ablaze with color with white hot flames shimmering through fierce yellow & burning orange as flames licked the walls. The acrid smell of charred concrete and plastic filled the air, almost choking out my lungs

The evacuation was horribly disorganized and slow, as it could probably be expected with no electricity to power the fire alarm. Teachers had to be informed one by one of the unfolding catastrophe as the PA system was out of order due to the power cut. Alas, we were told were told to wait by Miss Yang at the second floor (to prevent a stampede as the second floor hadn't yet been fully evacuated) as toxic fumes filled the corridors and the stairwells. Then...I suddenly blacked out, remembering nothing further until I woke up in hospital the next morning with minor burns on my arms

Nothing, except for Hanorah standing over me with an almost psychopathic smirk across her face