THE PAGE

Aaron yawned, trying to stay awake as his chemistry teacher lectured on and on about chemical composition. He was beginning to fall into another daydream when the teacher suddenly announced “Ok, class! Everyone take out your homework from last night for me to pick up!”

Aaron bolted up right, completely alert. He had forgotten to finish his homework last night! Aaron looked inside his bag, and, with a sigh of relief, found the half-finished paper. Well, at least I’ll have half a grade. Aaron doubted that the urgent “My girlfriend called me last night” excuse would work, so he just placed the paper on the corner of his desk, hoping the teacher will give him mercy.

His teacher, a portly and easily aggravated woman, walked by his desk and snatched his paper up without looking at him. Aaron turned around, peering to his friend, who gave a quick gesture behind the teacher’s back, two seats behind him. In the back of the class were four black tables where the class did experiments. On one of the tables, a student, wearing goggles and gloves, was slowly pouring a liquid into a test tube. Turning back around, he noticed that the teacher was still standing over his desk, “This isn’t your assignment, Aaron.” She was looking sternly at Aaron’s homework, and then dropped it on his desk. “Now, do you have your assignment or not?”

Looking at the page, he was astonished to find all the writing, which he had seen on it when the teacher picked up seconds ago, had completely vanished. The page was completely white, except for a smudge of black in the center of the page. Peering closer, he found that they were small letters forming only two words:

EXPLOSION NEARBY

“But I gave you my assignment!” Aaron said, bewildered.

The teacher sighed. “Another zero for today,” she said, and then, with a scratch of a pen on paper, she strutted to the next desk.

Aaron searched through his bag again with no luck.

When the teacher gathered all the papers, Aaron raised his hand. After a moment, the teacher noticed Aaron’s hand, and said, “Yes?” with a false sweetness.

“May I use the bathroom?” Aaron asked.

The teacher gave him a cold look, as if she would give anything to turn him down. “Very well, you have five minutes!” she snapped.

Walking across the desks, Aaron grabbed the small blue bathroom pass from the teacher’s desk. Before the door closed behind him, he heard the teacher snap to the boy in the back, “Ferguson! Why is that test tube of yours smoking?!” After maneuvering past a hallway corner, Aaron’s hand drifted unconsciously to his pocket. Pulling out the paper, he read the brief message. How bizarre, he pondered, EXPLOSION NEARBY…what’s that supposed to mean?

Suddenly, an explosion roared through the hallways, followed by a rumble that shook Aaron off his feet. The paper flew from his hand and stopped on the floor. A second later, the fire alarm blared and sprinklers switched on. Screaming students began to leave their classes and rush to the stairs. Blinking water from his eyes, Aaron, still shaking, got back on his feet and reached for the paper. The page was damp, dripping water onto the already wet floor. Trying to preserve the page, Aaron carefully stuffed the page into his pocket and turned toward his class.

As he turned the corner, Aaron froze. His class was gone, as in, completely gone! Aaron could barely see the blue sky through the boiling smoke coming from the ruins of the classroom. From the roar of the fire and alarms, Aaron could hear the fire trucks as they screeched to a stop in the parking lot.

Aaron’s hand reached down into his jeans pocket again. He was surprised when his fingers touched dry paper. Pulling the page out and unfolding it, Aaron froze as he looked at the message. A new message, directly underneath the first, had appeared:

HALF OF THE EAST BUILDING WILL COLLAPSE

A low creaking rung from the ground as Aaron read the message. I’m in the east building. As he turned around and ran down the hall, he felt the ground shattered beneath his feet. The tile floor sank into the hungry earth below, sucking down classrooms and students that weren’t quick enough. He didn’t know for how long he raced to escape the gaping maw, but his foot was always just one step. Finally, the crashing sounds ceased, and the floors stopped collapsing. Aaron stood panting near a flight of stairs, adrenaline pumping through him. This is insane! Aaron began taking a few steps down when he glanced at the page again. Sure enough, a third message had appeared which read:

THE STAIRWAY WILL CRASH INTO THE MAIN BUILDING

A snapping noise reached Aaron as the stairs broke free from the support. Shifting its weight, the staircase fell and crashed on top of the building. Darkness engulfed him, extreme pain filling his senses, and then Aaron knew blissful nothingness.