Under Pressure - Septiplier

Chapter Nineteen

Mark sits in his science class, listening as the teacher drones on and on. They're in the unit about outer space, and Mark is over it. He loves outer space, and he learned this crap years ago. It's elementary for him, so he doesn't pay much attention. However, when the teacher clicks away from the slideshow and goes to the internet, Mark refocuses his attention.

"So, in timing with the space unit, Kelley ISD organizes a huge field trip for every eighth-grader. We will be traveling to NASA headquarters in Houston!" she announces, smiling happily. Mark perks up, eyes wide with surprise. NASA? He's never been before, and they get to go on a field trip! The teacher chats about the bus situation, and how that's where most of the money will go because the charter buses are expensive. Mark raises his hand, too excited to second guess himself.

"We'll get to tour the whole place, right?" he asks. The teacher smiles and nods back.

"Yes Mark, and I'll get to that in a bit, let me finish talking about transportation details," she says, happy the boy spoke up in class. Mark nods, leaning forward in his seat and clinging to every word. A huge grin stretches from cheek to cheek, and he rocks his head side to side a bit. Normally, Mark tries to control these repetitive urges. Mr. Josh works on it with him, but Mark is just so excited, he doesn't bother trying to hide it. His table partner gently taps his shoulder.

"Hey, Mark, you're rocking your head again," the kid says. They aren't friends, just desk partners, but Mark had told the boy to speak up if Mark ever did anything weird. A lot of people just let it slide, but that leaves Mark completely unaware he's doing something abnormal.

Mark's brows furrow, and he nods, pressing his clicker and forcing himself still. He listens quietly for the rest of the class, focusing a bit more on his mannerisms. The classroom is relatively quiet for once, avidly paying attention as the teacher discusses details about the trip. She passes out permission slips, talks about starting to form groups with your friends in the class, up to five a group.

After school that day, Mark talks with Ethan and Amy about it. He doesn't know what to do about the group situation. His only two friends are in a different science class. They say he should speak with the teacher about it since this isn't a normal situation. Mark nods, going early the next day to chat with her.

"So... My friends are in Mr. Lowry's class, and I need to be with people I trust during the trip. It's a foreign situation to me, and I don't want to have a panic attack or something," Mark explains, staring down at his clicker in his hands. She's quiet for a moment, thinking it over.

"I'll see what I can do, Mark. I'll talk with Mr. Lowry. However, the issue here is that when we go out, I'm legally responsible for you. That makes having you mix in with another class confusing and harder to keep track of people," she explains gently. Mark presses his clicker, taking a shuddering breath.

"Alright... Umm... thank you," he whispers, blinking a few times and shaking his head once. She smiles and leans over to a cat-shaped cookie jar on her desk. It opens with a clink of glass, and she picks out a jolly rancher.

"Thanks for coming and talking to me. I know this stuff is hard for you. You've really come out of your shell, and I'm proud of you. Especially raising your hand in class to ask a question yesterday. That was great," she says, handing him the small candy. Mark meets her gaze for once, blushing a bit at the praise as he takes the candy.

"Thank you for, for..." Mark mumbles, looking back down when eye contact becomes too much. She smiles and nods.

"I could use some help prepping for our lab today? Five points of extra credit?" she offers with a smile. Mark perks up and nods rapidly, a small smile on his lips. His parents sign the permission slip after the finer details are worked out, and a few weeks pass as teachers get slips and cash for the trip.

He will be with both Mr. Lowry and his teacher Ms. Yancey, who will be going through the museum to lightly monitor kids. Amy and Ethan can be with them too. It seems like a good enough solution, even though the three are bummed that they can't just wander around without supervision. Not that the teachers want to supervise too much, it's just the only workaround they could come up with.

The bus ride over is both fun and stressful. The trio sits near the front, close the teachers, but the back is quite loud. Mark uses his noise-canceling headphones whenever it gets too much. The majority of the ride is spent playing Uno. It's fun, silly, and Amy is unnaturally good at the game. They stop at Buc-ee's, a famous rest-stop/gas station in the South, and Mark gets some caramel popcorn. He and Amy sit together, Ethan is just across the aisle.

NASA is everything he could have hoped for, and more. They try astronaut food, wander through the old space shuttle, and get a tour of the labs, where scientists are testing new equipment and building on more modern shuttles. Mark is enamored. Right then and there, he knows exactly what he wants to do for a living. No, not an astronaut, that's too stressful. He wants to be here- in the labs, designing and engineering the machines that launch humanity out into the unknown. He babbles on during their walk through the center, adding background info and asking the tour guide questions. Ethan and Amy are shocked by the display, used to a reticent, quiet Mark. Not a Mark that asks a random stranger complex, multi-sentenced questions. They don't call him out, they just enjoy the opportunity to hear him talk, grinning between themselves.

After lunch, they relax to digest for a bit, camping in the film room to watch the twenty-minute video describing the long road to getting a man on the moon. A more accurate description would be the long expedition through the ever-changing, ever twisting labyrinth. Mark is relaxed until the first failure is shown. The rocket explodes, people are screaming in the video, another explosion as it glares brightly, overpowering the bright sunlight. Mark tenses in his seat, eyes wide, breaths coming to a halt. There are a few squeaks from people around him, a shriek from some woman in the back. It had been so sudden.

There are several more clips, deathly silence over an observing crowd at the launch site, pierced by screaming children. Mark closes his eyes. Too much, it was too much. He shakes his head, trying to get the sounds out, but they just rattle around even loud. He stands, pressing his hands over his ears. Amy and Ethan immediately rise up, reaching for their friend as he stumbles past people in their row, beginning to hyperventilate. He trips and falls onto a lower platform of the platforms/stairs that lead to the back of the small viewing room. Mark scrambles to his feet, running out, but the boy stumbles again, vision blurry. Hands grab him as he lies on the ground. There's boisterous cheering from people in the film after it shows a successful launch, but the chatter of people mulling about the museum is louder.

"Too much, too much," he gasps, airway tight. He wheezes, gagging as air chokes through the tightening airway. There are murmurs. Someone is hugging him tightly, but it doesn't work. He pulls away, mind running wild. Imagine being one of those astronauts, strapped in tight as you fly into the air, moments before death.

"Mark! Look at me!" Ethan orders sharply, but the words are muffled. Amy tries several methods as well, but nothing they've done before is working. Mark crawls away, pressing against a wall and letting out a strangled scream, clawing at his temples as he covers his ears. His mind keeps playing it over and over again. There's a louder, more adult voice. People are grabbing at him. Mark screams, shaking them off and thrashing violently. Too much, too much. He gags and gasps for air, seeing spots against his eyelids. It had been too surprising, too sudden. Combined with the terror of knowing people died there. Real people, not just actors playing a role in a movie. Mark feels light-headed, muffled talking, and worried calls surrounding him as he drowns in darkness. He falls still, limp against the wall.