Boarding School

"Well who took them?" Jake pulled her away from the wall and sat her on the edge of his small, sheetless bed.

 

That little Essence girl she said

 

What? He said confused.

 

Jake shivered. "The shadow...the shadow of you..."
'The shadow I created...'
He shook his head. "I'll get the plans back..." He said with a frown.

 

Yea...dont get it back she said.
You can get hurt.

 

"That really doesn't matter right now, Jazz. Whatever will get us out of here...we have to do it. Besides. All I need to protect myself if a flashlight."
Jake sighed. "I'm gonna take a walk. Be back in a few minutes."
He left his room and walked down the hallway.

 

Alyce had been walking aimlessly through the hallway towards where she hoped Jake's dorm was, when the sound of paper being crinkled made her stop. Leaning down, she noticed a couple of papers lying on the floor. She picked them up, and carefully straightened one of them, curious to see what it was. Some sort of...research? The handwritting doesn't look familiar. Shrugging, she fixed them up a little bit before placing them in her sketchbook and continuing walking.

 

"Let's heat things up a bit shall we?" The shadow hissed as he watched Alyce from the ceiling. He scraped his clawed fingers against the rough wall, creating sparks that quickly lit the hall in flames. "Let's play a game called when you catch fire." He hissed, waiting for Alyce to notice the flames.

 

Alyce froze when she noticed a wall of flame forming around her and looked for a path out of the fire nervously. Dammit...and just when I thought I was getting a break from Mr. Insane.

 

Jake froze in his paces a little way down the hall. He could smell smoke. It was wafting around everywhere. "Dammit..." His eyes widened, realizing it was in the direction of Alyce's dorm. "DammitDammitdammit!" He sped down the hall towards the smoke.

The shadow laughed as the flames grew around Alyce, catching the walls on fire and spreading rapidly. "Isn't this fun?" He hissed down at her.

 

"Not really." Alyce replied, determined not to show the shadow she was freaked out. And of course, with her wonderful luck, the fire just happened to be closing in on her. Joy.

 

"ALYCE!" Jacob yelled as the smoke in the hall thickened, making it hard to see. His eyes watered and he caughed but he moved forward, determined. "ALYCE! Are you there!?"

"Have you ever been roasted alive?" The shadow hissed form above her, taunting.

 

Alyce grimaced, trying to see through the fire. Come on...there has to be a way out of here. I'm not dying yet! She faintly heard Jake's voice echo through the hallway and putting all her current energy into being heard, shouted, "Jake? Are you out there?"

 

"Alyce!" Jake saw the flames and stopped for a moment, fear shooting up his chest and into his heart like a blade. He shook his head to clear it. "Alyce! Hold on! I'm comming!"

The shadow moved in near Alyce, creating more sparks to quicken the flames.

 

Alyce was caught between relief that she'd been heard, and fear that she was going to die there before anyone got to her. She coughed, rubbing her eyes as she tried not to breathe in the smoke from the fire.

 

Jake took a few shallow breaths before throwing himself through the flames and bursting out the other side, rolling and comming up next to Alyce. He patted his shirt sleave out as it had caught fire and turned to her, grabbing her arm and trying to ask if she was okay.

 

"I...I'm fine." It had taken Alyce a second to realize Jake was there. "I just want to get out of here..." And she didn't just mean the fire. She wanted it all to be over; the fire, the fear that she wouldn't wake up the next morning, the fear that Jake wouldn't wake up the next morning.

 

Jake knew she was weak from the smoke and picked her up in his arms. "Hold on." He rasped through the smoke, covering her as best he could as he charged out of the flames and into the open hallway. He tripped on the way, sending the two of them sprawling against the floor. At least they were out of the fire...mostly. It still grew behind them.

 

Alyce smiled weakly. "Thanks. I-I seriously thought I was going to d-die back there." She stood up, steadying herself and looking back at the flames on the other side of the hallway. "We should probably keep moving..."

 

Jake nodded, taking her hand and leading her down the hallway and out the door, into the other building where the fire couldn't reach. He led her to the nurses office and sat her on the small cot, reaching into the cabnets to get something to put on any burns she had.