A Burden not a Person

When Mrs. Amanda came back into the room, slightly refreshed. She no longer seemed as uptight and rigid. A few more hours passed bye and they managed to deal with the teacher by playing along. She decided to punish Lucus by keeping the whole class in for lunch. They were learning Spanish when the alarm went off. They were loud. louder than any other sounds Lucus had ever heard before. The yard was nothing compared to what this entailed. He fell over in pain l clutching his ears, begging for it to stop. The teacher looked over disdainfully at him and turned to him. "We'll be right back. It's only a drill, after all." she hurried out of the classroom with the kids following her. The alarm turned off and he laid there for a second in the room. He sniffed the air. Smoke. It smelled like smoke. It was a real fire.he jumped up. He had memorized the school and was about to dash out when he heard a scream. It was coming from the direction of the smoke. To flee or to help her. The smoke must have blew out the alarms. That's why they shut down so quickly. The power must be out. He turned in the other direction toward the screams. As he got closer, he could feel the blistering heat. The scene looked straight out of a movie. 'This sort of thing never happens in real life. I'm going to be fine. An in and out job.' he dove into the fire.

The fire was blistering and filled with smoke. Most would panic out of the lack of sight, but he had the terrain memorized. They were in the lunchroom. He could hear the panic in the person's voice. He sounded young. The elementary school. He had joined the highschool, but the school started in elementary.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of there!" Lucus shouted into the flames. He ran forward until he smelled the distinct smell of tears and loud sobs in front of him. He reached out and scooped the kid up. He was light and had a small frame. His arm felt blistered. He dove out of the lunchroom and started sprinting out the door. 20 steps forward. Turn to the left. 26 steps forward, turn right. 17 steps down. Turn around 18 steps down. 32 steps forward. Open the door. 3 steps forward. He gasped for breath as he reached the fresh air and set the boy down. A teacher rushed to his side and started tending to his burns. They were surprisingly mild, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, they started to pierce him with sharp pain. They were now wrapped in a bandage and slathered in ointment. His leg, his arm, and the side of his ribcage. None were too bad, and they were easily treatable. "Is the kid okay?" he asked weakly, and then fell over.

When he woke up, Lucus was in the hospital. He glanced down at his bandages. "Not a dream then, huh." he muttered to himself, flopping back down onto the mattress. Everything smelled like smoke, and his ears still rang from the alarm. It wasn't until his friends patted him on his good arm that he noticed he was surrounded by people. He smelled harder this time. He was only able to make out his friends and Mother, but he could tell that almost everyone was there. He sat back up and crumpled back down when his side cried out in pain. "How long was I out for?" he asked, remembering how he fainted.

"Not too long. Only a few hours. You passed out from the smoke. You inhaled way too much." replied Allicia. She fidgeted with her bracelet. "The boy you saved is fine. That was really brave of you." This complement set off a dozen more replies and Lucus was soon smothered in love from his family. Only did they stop when a voice broke through. It was deep. He recognised it from the loudspeakers. The principal.

"I'm sorry to have to break up this happy event, but I would like to request a private audience with Lucus himself." his voice was commanding. The sort that you immediately felt the urge to listen to. His family and friends quickly filed out. He closed the door behind them and pulled up a chair. "I'm sorry I had to ask them to leave, but I needed to get your story on what happened." he looked at Lucus expectantly. "It's not everyday we have a fire in our school, and you were able to save a life. But that's not what I'm interested in. I'm interested in why you didn't leave with your class. Why did you stay in the school and run in the opposite direction from your classroom? You had a substitute that day. Was that part of the reason?" Lucus sighed and turned away.

"I just heard the screams and ran to help. No other reason." He was too tired, besides, whatever he said would be ignored. That's how it always is.

"I can't help this school and help you if you won't tell me the truth. You weren't in the classroom for so long for no reason. All the students have gone home, and I don't think they would give me the whole story anyway, so I'm coming to the man himself. If something needs to be changed, I'll listen." The principle sounded kind and genuine. His words didn't sound carefully planned, they sounded like an apology. Like he was saying sorry for his troubles. Sorry that this school couldn't contain him. Lucus sighed, mad at himself for giving in.

"Fine, I'll tell you what happened."