On a cool, breezy afternoon, anything was possible. Especially the one thing that everyone figured impossible. Well, the first thing was predictable. But everything afterwards hit everyone like a sonic boom. It all started with a wail. “WheeWoo, WheeWoo, WheeWoo!” The fire alarm screeched, sounding like fingers running across a chalkboard.
“Alright class, we need to get out of here,” Our English teacher, Mr. Davey, whispered. He always whispered. They say he started whispering because of Vietnam. Amid the bombs and the constant chatter of gunfire, he couldn’t make anyone listen to him, unless he was yelling. Once the former Private had been discharged on account of third-degree burns, he recuperated for 2 years and finished his teaching degree. He told us he whispered because he considered the sound a luxury.
“Hurry, get down to the track before we have to hear that buzzing. Reminds me of Vietnam…” He whispered, touching a long scar on the left side of his face. The wispy white hair was curling back, and his face was wrinkling with age. He went into war at 19, left at 22, and received his Masters Degree in a far off, distant school, in the year 1981. He began to teach at the age of 30. He had been teaching for 25 years, and the 26th year supposedly ended his career.
As we walked down the corridor and mingled with another class, I saw the only person I cared about in Middle School. Although she barely knew I existed, I still liked and admired her. With a cool head, astounding confidence, and blind determination, Callista Catherwood confronted another teacher, Mrs. Adriel.
“Mrs. Adriel, may I please go to the bathroom?” Everyone knew she would go no matter what the reply was. She began to walk off, oblivious of anyone trying to stop her.
“Oh, come back here this instant! Choose a buddy to take with you. And hurry!” Mrs. Adriel exclaimed. As usual, she chose one of her friends. I always seemed to melt inside whenever she looked at me. She winked at a few people, including her other friends, as if to clue them in. Callista hurried off with her friend, luscious black hair streaming in the breeze.
We began a fast-paced walk towards the gymnasium, and towards the entrance we noticed our Vice-Principal, Mr. Winton, running down the corridor towards the office. The loudspeaker crackled to life, and the Principal wailed, “Please hurry to your designated locations. Please move towards them in a quick, ordered fashion.” As if anyone paid attention to her.
The final leg of the journey came to an end, with the track in plain site. As I turned into the gate, walked across the pavement, and stepped into line with the rest of Mr. Davey’s class. Role call ended quickly, and took place to a loud, incessant chatter among the boys and girls of the Middle School. I knew the fire drill this month already took place. Everyone became anxious to know what was happening.
As soon as the teachers settled everyone down, a slew of administrators and other faculty came racing down the track. They speedily brought all of the teachers together. While all of this took place, a cracking sound resonated from deep within the school. The second floor’s banisters and columns gave way, and crashed onto the first floor with a loud explosion, and a spark started a fire, engulfing the western side of the school. 6th Grade classrooms set aflame, and the Electives Building reduced to rubble and ash. The school began to cripple under its own weight, and started sinking.
This became the perfect opportunity for pictures. Science teachers took pictures of the sinkhole, and students began to text each other. While all of this happened, a student covered in ash and smoke, bleeding from her head, stumbled towards the faculty. I saw her resemblance to the girl who accompanied Callista to the bathroom, and imagined the worst. I dashed across the track, just in time to see the poor girl faint. Teachers began to yell and scream, and students started to back up, as they noticed the basketball court sank towards the earth.
Sprinting along the outskirts, near the trees and bushes, I ran towards the rubble that moments ago, had been my school. Walking towards Administration, I happened to see the 2nd floor staircase, still marginally intact. As I made my way up the staircase, part of the stairs began to crumble underneath me. Turning a full 360, I saw several people tentatively searching the rubble of the gymnasium for survivors.
Cautiously walking towards the destroyed corridor, an entire four-foot chunk broke off, cutting me away from the bathrooms. I considered my odds, and made the jump. My feet were cut up after dangling from the gap while pulling and squirming up, and I limped towards the bathroom. The lockers had been overturned in the disaster, and classrooms took place of the corridor. The entire place looked like a misshapen maze. Creeping towards the girl’s bathroom, I heard a shudder and a sigh, then listened for a few seconds.
Once the bathroom was silent, I walked into the room, and looked around for Callista. She had been pinned against a wall by a large piece of cement, and, by the looks of it, passed out under the pain. I knew from our Science classes about fulcrums and levers, so I looked around and found a water pipe which was severed from the main line, and positioned the pipe like a crowbar. Pulling upwards, exerting my entire strength, I lifted the cement blocks off of Callista’s body. Her light blue eyes fluttered softly, and the beautiful black hair looked twisted and pulled from all of the weight on top of her.
Grabbing her by her limp arm, I dragged her away from the wall and into my hands. She started to fade, and unconsciousness took hold of her. I slung her body into my arms, and slowly crawled towards the staircase. I looked around for something that would be able to cushion the landing from the jump. I couldn’t just throw Callista up, and hope she landed on the other side.
Placing her near the broken elevator doorway, I began to kick at the lockers, thinking of a plan. I found the water pipe, and placed it underneath the lockers. Trying to lift the lockers towards the four-foot gap, I managed to push the lockers into a corner of the gap, cutting the distance in half. I picked up Callista and began to walk onto the lockers, which teetered dangerously. Jumping the extra distance, I slowly descended the staircase, which stopped crumbling the last time I went on it.
Apparently the gymnasium had been free of casualties, because the workers began to edge towards the school. Climbing into the crater-sized sinkhole, the workers had become confused when they saw me lifting Callista onto my back, and tripping towards the sinkhole’s edge. Helping me up, they escorted me back to the track, where the entire school looked on with anxious eyes.
Callista stirred. Looking up, she bore her light blue eyes into me, kindling my heart. She needed the strength for her to speak. As firefighters and policemen began to cluster around, and paramedics started to lift her onto a stretcher, she stared at me once more. Looking straight at me, in as clear a voice as she could muster, she spoke. “Thank you… Jake.” My heart fluttered. My middle school crush knew my name!


