I focused and used the swipe motion to unlock my phone. I saw the light grow bright, and I could make out the light-green phone app that brought me to my call list. I pressed it and then hit the last person who called me.
“Miss Collins?” I heard a shout from outside the door.
I screamed, “Help me, please!”
“Miss Collins!” a familiar young male’s voice shouted. “Are you in there? I see smoke.”
Caleb.
“Caleb!” I screamed. “Help me.”
“Miss Collins!” his voice hollered. “I’m goin’ to get you out of there!”
I heard banging on the door and I whimpered. He was trying his very best to kick it in.
“Aideen?” I heard a voice shout.
I didn’t know who it was, my ears were starting to ring. I cried out as my mind refocused on the pain in my leg.
“Help me!” I cried and spluttered.
“Aideen!”
I blinked my eyes and looked down to my phone.
Someone answered my call.
“I’m at the school,” I screamed. “He is goin’ to kill me. He set everythin’ on fire-” I cut myself off when a fit of coughing hit me.
“Aideen!” I heard his voice, screaming.
Kane?
I whimpered, “Kane. It’s Big Phil. He’s tryin’ to-”
I coughed again and dropped my phone in the process. I couldn’t see a thing so I tried to feel around for it, but I couldn’t find it.
I screamed, “No!”
I searched for my phone as a table next to me collapsed and the burning timber fell against me and burned my arm. I bellowed in pain and kicked myself away from the fire.
“Miss Collins!” Caleb’s voice screamed. “I’m goin’ to pull the fire alarm-Hey! Let go of me!”
I looked up as my classroom door opened and a body was thrust into the room. The door slammed closed once more and this time laughter followed.
“There, you have a little brat to keep you company.”
“You bastard!” I bellowed.
Philip laughed, “Give my regards to Marco, Miss Collins.”
I was about to reply when I suddenly felt hands on my arms. I screamed with fright because I couldn’t see anybody in front of me. The room was growing thick with smoke, and laying low on the floor seemed to be the only option.
“It’s me,” a voice said then coughed, “Caleb.”
Caleb.
Oh, God.
“Caleb,” I spluttered. “Get out of here right now.”
“And leave you?” he asked, coughing. “No. Come on.”
I cried, “Me leg, I think it’s broken.”
“Fuck,” Caleb growled then hooked his arm around my waist and pulled. He grunted as he hoisted me up to my feet.
I instantly began to wheeze when I stood upright. The smoke was thicker, the flames were higher, and my throat felt like it was on fire.
“The window,” I coughed.
I cried in pain as Caleb pulled me along with him. He rested me against a desk that wasn’t ablaze and tried to open the window closest to us, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s locked!” he shouted and covered his mouth and nose with his hands.
I did the same thing.
“Try smashin’ it,” I said, coughing into my hands.
My throat started to feel like a razor blade was wedged in it, and the more I talked and breathed, the more lodged it became.
“Cover your face!” I heard Celeb shout.
I did as he asked and covered my face. Seconds later I heard a loud crash as Caleb slammed one of the chairs into the window. I heard the glass shatter then Caleb’s voice.
“Help us!” he roared out the window. “Please, we’re trapped! Help us!”
I heard people’s voices shout in reaction to Caleb’s plea.
“There’s a fire in the school!” a woman screamed. “People are trapped!”
A man shouted, “Call nine-nine-nine! Quickly!”
The school was situated in the middle of a housing estate so all around us were houses.
“Help us!” Caleb screamed again.
I leaned over the desk to rest a little. It was then I realised I couldn’t feel the pain in my leg anymore. I couldn’t feel anything, but the overwhelming tiredness that filled me.
“Miss Collins!” Caleb shouted.
I felt his hands on me then.
“Hey,” he coughed, “wake up!”
I leaned into him and closed my eyes.
“Help me!” Caleb screamed. “I need help! Please!”
It felt like forever since Philip left the room, but for some reason it felt even longer since Caleb had smashed the window. It was like time slowed down and I was experiencing everything from a third person’s viewpoint.
“We’ll get you out of there, son,” I heard a man shout as more glass shattered.
Caleb’s hold tightened on me. “Me miss is with me. She’s pregnant.”
“Fuck!” a man’s voice shouted. “We need to get them out of there.”
I heard multiple voices then.
“The frame of the window won’t break, I tried,” Caleb said then coughed.
I gripped his arm. “You shouldn’t... have come... back.”
Caleb pressed his head on top of mine. “I was waitin’ on me da to pick me up, he wasn’t in the car park. I just said that so you would let me go early.”
I laughed lightly, coughing whilst doing so.