GUARDIANS25: The Book of Sirrah

After the Explosion

After the explosion, when I came to, I was completely covered in soot, ashes, and debris. I didn't open my eyes. I didn't know if I could. My first thought was that I was dead, my head ringing and throbbing...pain emanating from the core of my brain. The pain was extremely immense. As I slowly came to the realization that I was alive, I couldn't even consider whether I had bruised or severed any of my limbs. I tossed and turned, grabbing at my head. I cried for relief, pulling at my, hoping I could scrape the pain away. Suddenly, the pain was soothed, gone into thin air. Like all my nerve endings were released back into the rest of my body,

The pain in my shoulder was vast. I remember landing on it hard before I completely blacked out. My knees were scraped too, and I had a large, bloodier scrape on my right thigh.

I'm alive. My muscles were tense, and my bones were shaky, but I had to get up and stand. To find help, to help someone else, to find answers! I rose from what could have been my tomb, opening my eyes. Looking around, I could barely see anything. Looking up, I saw the orange sky— . Dust and smoke were everywhere. My knees wobbled as I stumbled a few steps. I tried desperately to maintain a strong stature, but I fell to my knees. I was too weak.

Then I saw her, my fallen angel. My best friend was lifeless in front of me. Christina lay there with her body crushed by a chunk of the ceiling, her head missing a portion where her right ear was supposed to be. I couldn't feel. I didn't even know if I was going to survive this situation. There was chaos everywhere. I wanted to kneel by her side, but I was dizzy, trying my best to scan the surrounding area to figure out a solution to whatever was going on. Yet, my eyes fell on her again; my feet couldn't move, nor could my face. I couldn't feel physically or emotionally. My heart was pounding.

A piece of the ceiling crashed to my left, and I threw my hands up and stumbled to the right. I had to survive.

My head was ringing, and screams were echoing all around me. It was like I could hear so many people distinctly and simultaneously.

A groan. Somebody else! 'Help me' they said. The voice was coming from a pile of stone, but there seemed to be miles of piles of stone all around me. "Where are you?" I yelled. I could hear him, but I couldn't hear him. Then, I heard another voice. A woman. Then a screech from whom I know was Khale from the Math lab. Everyone was so loud. I couldn't focus. Then I heard him clearly, coming from a boulder that was a couple of meters away from me.

As small as I was, I found the adrenaline to move those rocks, boulder by boulder until it revealed him—Neel. The poor kid who was getting picked on by the football players just minutes before we were called into the auditorium. Before everything changed. His hoodie was ripped and covered in blood. Seeing him lay there, so frail, and scared, suddenly seemed odd. The expression on his face was strange. He, surprisingly, didn't look hurt, just shocked. I cupped his face with my hands and asked him, "Are you okay?"

He didn't say a word, but I heard him say in his mind, "Why am I not dead?"

"I don't know why you're not...hurt," I told him out loud. My lips started to tremble because I knew something wasn't right.

"I don't know how I heard you say that... in your head—" I said as I began to feel faint. The adrenaline was fading, and I was beginning to take in the gravity of the situation.

he said, pulling me close to his face. "We have to go! I hear sirens..."

Yes.

"...Yes...." I sobbed to him as he pulled my arm in an unknown direction.

"We have to get out of here!" He screamed as latent debris was falling around us, and the smell of fire and ash was becoming more evident.

"No," I stopped, suddenly overwhelmed by a thought.