Random Short Stories

Dream- The Fire

It started like any other day. I dragged myself out of bed and sluggishly dressed myself. I prepared my lunch then my mum took me to school. I hugged her goodbye. It felt different. More genuine. I shrugged it off. Everything felt normal. But as soon as I walked through the school gates something snapped. It was like an out-of-body experience, but not one where it was like I was floating outside my body, but I was trapped inside it. Trapped inside my own mind. And I wasn't seeing things through my eyes either. It was like a screen. I tried to yell, call out to someone, but no sound came from my lips. Not even a whimper. I -well not really me, the thing posing as me- took a deep breath and started walking. It was the worst feeling I could ever imagine. It was if I had gone completely rigid but extremely numb at the same time. As if I was tensing all of my muscles at once but also lost the ability to make them function. And there I sat, alone in my own head, helpless and terrified. I could only watch. Watch as it casually strolled into the school. Watch as it sat next to my friends. Watch as the confusion in their eyes turned to horror as they asked what was wrong. They knew me. More than anyone else. Surely they would recognise this imposter? Surely they would know it was a fake? But they didn't. They simply slipped back into their conversation after it told them I was "just tired".
After that the morning was quiet. It waited until around halfway through second period. It asked to use the restroom then walked straight by it into the ict room, the room that controls practically the entire building. It then proceeded to turn on all the mechanical locking systems, which locked all the exterior doors and all windows. Seemingly out of thin air, it produced a bottle of some sort of fuel. Bottle in hand, the lid in the other, it made sure to walk every hallway of the school, ending at the ict room where it had first emerged from. I pounded my fist against the screen. I screamed and shouted as much as I could but it was no use. Conveniently, there wasn't any staff or students littered around the school, which was very unusual, to say the least. It then plucked a match from nowhere, lit it, and threw it on the liquid on the ground. After gazing at the flames, it turned around and walked back into the room. I noticed that some security camera footage was being displayed on the several computer screens dotted around the room. The creature sat down in front of one. And suddenly I wasnt looking through a screen anymore. I was still unable to move though, not even my eyelids would move on my command. So I was forced to watch the footage in front of me. It was the most horrific sight I could've ever layed my eyes upon. It was my class. All my friends. Screaming in agony as the flames crawled over their bodies. My friends. The only people I cared about. My girlfriend's body lay charred and contorted on the floor, my best friend was sprawled next to the door, softly banging her fist against it. A boy I'd hardly ever spoke to tried to open the window, pulling it so hard a loud crack came from his arm and he let out an agonising wail of pain and defeat. Another one of my best friends was layed sprawled across the floor, battered and bruised as if people had been charging over her. Tears clouded my vision but I could still hear the sounds. The loud cries filled with pure pain and fear, the small goodbyes whispered to friends, the hysterical sobbing and the pitiful whimpers. The dying words of so many people. After a few minutes, all that could be heard was the crackling of the flames. I was finally released from the clutches of the creature and I slumped in my chair. I pulled my knees up to my chest and sobbed. Loud, angry, choking sobs. Everyone I loved was gone. All because of me. It was all me. It was all my fault. They died because of my hands. My body. The flames were slowly creeping up toward me. I let them swallow me. I deserve to die. Im a murderer. I killed those people. It was my fault. Im so weak. So pathetic. Im not worthy of life. Kill me. Kill me. KILL ME! LET ME DIE! Please please please please ple-