Noxious

17 | cross the line

Rowan 

I was lost. 

Not physically. I just didn't know what was going on in my head. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to think after I witnessed my best friend's death. 

I just knew that irrational ideas snuck their way in and pain made those ideas seem like it was worth doing. 

I had left Milo in his final hours for school. 

Then, I received the news that I was a drop-out. 

My anger was focused on one particular spot, and that's how I found myself standing outside of the high school that I no longer attended. I just wanted to hurt someone, not physically, but just by destroying something they loved. 

I pulled my hoodie over my head, slipped on my gloves, and headed up the steps to the building. I had never set fire to anything bigger than a vehicle but I couldn't contain myself. I was hurting and I needed relief. 

It was almost three in the morning, there was nobody around. 

I snuck around the side of the building to the windows that I knew led into the bathrooms. Students often left them unlocked because they would smoke in the bathrooms in between periods and needed to let the smoke out. 

I reached up and slid my fingers around the bottom of the window, then I pushed it upward. I slipped a stick in between to keep it open. I took off my backpack and tossed it in, then I pulled myself through. 

I really couldn't believe I was breaking into a high school. 

I had to be insane. 

Nobody broke into their school in the history of ever. 

It was just my luck I found myself in the women's restroom. I rolled my eyes at myself and then I headed out into the hallway. It was dimly lit, my converses squeaked as I moved, and I made a beeline for the principal's office. 

I sat down in her chair, and spun once, then I started digging around for extremely flammable materials. There were books and papers and files everywhere. I piled it all on top of her desk and then I pulled a single match from my backpack. 

Suddenly, I stopped. Before I lit the match, I dug around in my hoodie pocket until I found the pack of cigarettes. I pulled on out and lit it. I didn't smoke, but Milo had. I set it on a shelf for him and then I grabbed the match again. 

I watched the tiny flame spring to life and then I dropped it onto the pile of papers. Instantly, flames grew as they swallowed the quickly flammable material. Heat caressed my skin and I inhaled the scent of burning material. 

However, I didn't get the chance to revel in my work. I didn't even really have the chance to think because the fire spread in a matter of seconds. It left the principal's desk and started on the carpet. Flames raced to the bookcases and the cigarette I had lit for Milo started another fire on the shelves across the room.

Everything was out of control. 

Just like my life. 

Black smoke filled the room quickly as it was engulfed in flames and I was forced to back out. I hadn't planned for things to get this bad, I only wanted to burn the principal's office. I closed the door of her office but flames quickly worked on it because it was wood. 

I took off sprinting down the hallway. The color of flames danced across the floor's glossy reflection, touching the heels of my converses with every running step I took. I skidded sideways and scrambled into the women's restroom.