Abnormality

fluxit

fluxit - it flows

I sit in the spotless classroom as I try to complete the work. Twenty pupils surround me at separated desks as the teacher walks in the gaps. I stare at the sheet of paper before staring at the wall which lies in front of me. It's bare except for a whiteboard. There are some words on it but they swim in front of my eyes.

I look back at the sheet, History. Although it doesn't seem like it, I love history lessons. It may be something to do with the fact that we're learning about the Battle of the Somme. There are so many unnecessary deaths caused by one man's stupidity. It bugs me.

Maybe that's why my foot starts tapping. It isn't to a song but to a beat. My leg starts moving as well. Eventually my shoulder starts bobbing around. Weird.

I don't attempt to figure out what's doing it - instead, I try to disguise it. I bow my head down over the sheets and start to answer the questions.

The beat's overwhelming me. It's trying to take me over. I feel like I'm vibrating; now I know what a mobile phone feels like. I'm definitely not doing that to my phone again.

The teacher interrupts my chain of thought. She asks me to stop fidgeting. I don't blame her as I must be irritating to look at. I must seem very daft too. I try to hold in the beat but it accelerates. It feels like a heartbeat, thudding in time with the one inside my chest. Its sonorous sound booms inside me. I scrunch up my eyes and clench my jaw in order to hold it in.

Thud. It jolts the breath out of me and makes my eyes open. Seemingly at the same time, the classroom trembles. I can see people panicking around me. I can’t do that. I won’t do that. I will do that after the lesson. At the moment, I must contain the beat.

The tempo of the beat escalates. The tremors become more violent. I can’t hold it in. I can’t -

Boom. A jarring sensation shocks my joints. I have to get out. It's an earthquake. We're in England. We don’t get earthquakes. How on earth did this happen?

I can’t think of that now. I have to escape. I look around. I notice the windows to the right of me. Without thinking, I sprint to the windows and open one. Shrieking and yelling comes from the whole complex. I can't think of their suffering. I have to get out. I HAVE to get out.

I squeeze out of the window. Others follow me. As I breathe in the air, tasting of freedom, I know that I caused this. Somehow, I caused this destruction. I don’t like it.

A groan wakes me from my trance.

It's too late for the people inside. I see rubble forming around our group of survivors. Liquefied rock slides over our school building and towards us.

It flows like a river. A river of blood.