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Turned to Ashes

*****
Weeks later since the first day of school...

The hooded figure, flips the top open and flicks the lighter on. They look at the small flame created by the small lighter then around at the empty room, before tossing the still on lighter into the trashcan below.

Everything in the trash starts to blacken from the orange light spreading across everywhere and the figure just stares, their face illuminated by the flickering flame of the rising fire. They hear fast approaching footsteps then deside to bolt, knocking the trashcan over in the process and as they run out of the library.

"Hey, who goes there!?!" The man who made the hooded figure flee yells out to the empty library but it's no use, the person is already long gone and..."Is that...Woah!" The old librarian is knocked back by a reaction the heat had and is thrown all the way across the room, coughing on the ground as he watches the flames catch onto the nearest shelves and books, becoming larger and wider.

With some struggle and the strain of a few bruised and broken ribs, he stands and stumbles, stopping at the emergency exit and pulling the fire alarm, collapsing to the ground from the blow...And it all starts.

The fire alarm wails all throughout the whole school, red emergency lights flashing from the tops of the highest towers of the buildings that make up the school of Thrive Academy High, covering the whole school in an ominous red toned hue.

The school and student faculty rush to the sleeping student dorms in the late hour of nigh, in order to get everyone up and to the great hall in times like these, not aware, of the hooded figure who makes it back to innocent safety just in time. The time was somewhere within the range of the earliest hours before dawn and everyone was to be in bed since the previous night's curfew.

"Girls! Everyone wake up! This is not a drill!" A teacher's shrill voice calls through a magaphone to the thick, wooden doors in the senior female dorm hallways, making sure everyone hears as she bangs on the doors with the help of a few other teachers.

In time of crisis, from a deep slumber, Giada jolts awake from her place on her study desk where she had fallen asleep the night before while studying and looks over her shoulder at her roomate while wiping the sleepiness from her eyes.

"This is not a drill, everyone please proceed to the great hall until further notice!" She hears, and Giada shoots out of her chair; suddenly wide awake as she slides her feet into her thick, soft slippers.

"Lindi, wake up." She shakes the her roommate and the girl stirs, her eyes opening into small slits as she wonders why she's being pulled out of her slumber at such an unreasonable time of day. "Emergency. Evacuate and get to the great hall."

Lindi groans from being woken up at an odd hour but quickly stands, remembering the school drills that happen once in every month, she slips into easy no lace tennis shoes and grabs her school coat, running out of the room and to the hall. Giada grabs her phone and her school masterkey then runs out of the room, making sure to leave the door wide open and the lights on to let the teachers know they've gone.

"Everyone out! This is not a drill." Giada yells down the halls. She's been told what to do when she had done practice drills as a member of the student faculty so she'd be prepared for the actual thing, which is now. Giada uses her school master key, only for use of emergencies and opens doors, waking up her fellow students so they can evacuate from the building.

"Make your way to the great hall and wait for further instructions. This is not a drill!"

"Miss Nubia! You're needed in the west wing if you can be spared! Freshman students can't find their way to the hall in the dark with all the flashing lights." A teacher tells Giada and she quickly breaks into a sprint, leaving the girl's senior and junior dorm building to head to the west wing, past all the commotion going on at the male's senior and junior dorm building, barely working up a sweat from her fit build.

"Everyone remain calm! Head to the center of the school where you'll find the great hall." The higher academic/grade student males tell everyone, taking control of the situation, helping the teachers grab onto the panic.

"To the hall! Everybody, to the great hall! This is not a drill." T yells, his hands cupped around his mouth as he motions everyone through and out the dorm building and his teacher squeezes his shoulder in appreciation and pride for how all the students are helping like the men they are, just as Thrive intends for the maturity of the students to grow.

As students rush to the great hall, sirens echo around the commotion filled night, signalling that help has been called. The students all gaze at the far sky in shock and fear, not believing the dark clouds of smoke forming.

"I can't believe it," Said one kid as everyone stood huddled outside the great hall. "It's burning."

*****

Giada coughs running from the library to make sure that nobody was there, before making her way to the great hall, where she makes sure to suck in fresh gulps of air. "Miss Nubia!" The vice principal runs to make sure the girl is okay and she reassures him that she's fine. "Okay, go wait with the other students, the authorities will take it from here."

"Yes sir." Giada says, pulling the zipper of her jacket all the way up as she runs to her friend. "Tey!"

"Gee!"

"Teyana!" Giada hugs her best friend, happy to find someone who doesn't smell of smoke like she does.

"You put yourself in danger again." Teyana says smiling at her risky best friend-well risky in the sense of when it comes to saving others that is. Teyana brushes dirt off from her friend's shoulder, also wiping a line of smoke from her chin, aiding as a good friend. "Everyone get out?"

"From what I saw, yes. But we won't know until the students are all counted for." Giada says, a bad feeling settling in her stomach for everything that is to come. Which is understandable, and she's not the only one feeling that way...

"This feel weird to you too?" T questions his best friend Adonis as they're lined up in grades and classes, preparing to be counted.

"Weird how?" Adonis asks, his thick hair flying gently from the wind in the early hours of morning.

"I don't know...I just don't like the look of this." He tells his friend and Adonis nods in what he assumes is understanding. But can it really be understanding when you're understanding two versions of the same story? T feels as though, this whole fire thing at Thrive is going to put a stop to a lot of things, and he doesn't find it makes sense that the school District would let such a careless mistake happen. After all, the school is all about image after all, isn't it?

*****

Later on, the sun has risen, and the students all sit in the great hall.

All the students are grouped in their grade. also as boys with boys, girls with girls, and everyone actually stays seated for the most part, besides the seniors and juniors, who are remaining calm through everything, chatting freely as the teachers give everyone else comfort, letting them know that everything is okay and nobody should worry. The seniors and juniors speculate about what happened, talking as though no one is listening as they call out to one another.

"Students quiet down!" Professor Black yells to the hall of teenagers. "Take your seats and settle down!" The seniors slowly retreat to their appointed chairs, falling silent per orders of the teacher. "We've all seen, that there's been an incident with the library. A fire. But it's all being taken care of and you can all return to your quarters. Can all the leaders please escort your groups back to their dorms. Any further updates will be sent out via email, so keep calm. Thank you for the cooperation and patience."

Giada stands and calls her dorm building number, making everyone line up as she counts them all before leading everyone back to their building, and seeing that everyone is closed back in their rooms, before she heads to her own and collapses onto her bed, falling asleep instantly. The poor thing tired from the sleep she missed out on the night before and the excitement that came with the new day.

*****

Hours after the fire, the students are told that school will be cancelled for the day, just to ensure that everyone gets their rest again, but it will continue the next day since the fire was an inconvenience in everyone's sleeping schedule.

Giada wakes up though, at 6am sharp to do her usual morning excercise. She pulls on a navy blue skin tight two piece, dropping all the way to her ankles, hugging her figure.

She pulls on a matching blue puffer jacket, before opting for her bright yellow, Nike trainers.

Giada plugs her ears with earphones, turning up her music, then takes off on her run as a way of warming up. She breathes evenly through her mouth, making sure she's getting enough air as she runs around campus.

Giada isn't just an ace academically gifted student, she plays for the school netball team, her position being the Goal Defence/GD for pretty much her whole life.

The school of Thrive caters to quite a few sports and music classes; It has netball of course, soccer obviously, tennis, swimming and cricket. The only other sport Giada chose to participate in other than netball, being swimming.

Giada has always like the thrill of having a busy schedule and staying moving, which is why she does so much. She tutors, plays two sports, runs for a fewbschool elections and volunteers at the libr-oh-used to volunteer at the school library.

Giada runs all around the school, her sneakers hitting the ground hard as her heart races in her chest. She circles back and heads to the school gym, reaching for the door handle when it's opened as someone steps out.

"Excuse me." She murmurs, stepping aside, her head turned down as she lowers the volume of her music.

"Sorry." T murmurs inattentively at the girl, not bothering to look up at her as he holds the door open, swigging the last of his water from his bottle and Giada slips inside, also distracted on her phone. It's amazing how you can be a few feet away from someone, but actually be worlds apart.

T lets the gym door swing shut behind him then jogs back in the direction of his dorm, done with his morning workout. Giada isn't the only one who felt the need to maintain their morning routine, T did too, waking up quite early to head out to the gym.

The morning is gloomy, the sky full of grey clouds while the air caries a slight chill in its wind. The air smells faintly of smoke, from T's place on the campus as he completes his workout with a jog. He chooses to ignore it though, not wanting to fill his morning jog with other thoughts. He gets an alert on his phone from the office, telling him a package has just arrived for him and he decides to shower and change before heading there to collect it.

*****

"Hi Mrs Greenwhich, could you please scan me into the vault? I have a package I need to pick up." T says politely with a smile as he rests his arms on the high part of the receptionist's table, looking down at the woman.

"Of course. Can you hand me your student ID card Mr Cash?" She asks and T takes his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans, slipping the card out of its slot and handing it to her. She inserts it in a scanner, the light on the machine turn green, then hands it right back to him. T thanks her then walks through to the vault, scanning his card at the door before going inside the mail room. He opens the box with the small key and pincode before pulling out a big brown box.

He switches it to one arm, balancing it on his forearm before locking up his mailbox and leaving the offices altogether before then heading back to his dorm to open his package there.