***
Angry orange flames were roaring out of every open window—which they were all open now because they had been blown apart in the blast. I could only stare in shocked disbelief and horror as I began to make out a writhing figure in the flames. My mind couldn't grasp or make sense of what I was seeing. Some sort of otherworldly portal had opened up.
Was I hallucinating?
It took my mind an agonizingly long time to make the connection because she was unrecognizable. I realized I knew this person. I was staring at Mrs. Streep. She was walking across the lawn, flames still present on her back, a look of shocked horror on her face. Though she had her eyes open, she did not seem to see.
"Help me," she said. "Please, help me." But she wasn't begging me or anyone else that I could see. She was speaking to apparently empty air—a faraway look in her eyes as if she was sleepwalking. My brain clicked into gear, and I realized I had to do something. I had to help her. This was my fault. The school had never exploded before.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
The flames in the building were growing angrier, and I could hear sirens in the distance. Other people had made it out of the building, all of them wandering, seemingly lost. No one seemed to have any idea what to do. As I got up to run to Mrs. Streep, Kaye grabbed my hand and pulled me down.
"Don't," she said. "You can't help her now."
I looked at her, pleading in my eyes. She had to let me go. Didn't she understand?
"What do you mean? I have to help her!” I realized that I was screaming as the words came out of my mouth.
Kaye shut her eyes against my vehemence and then gave me a flat stare. "Listen, you're the only one that can fix this. You have to reset the loop," Kaye said.
I shook my head. Trying to make sense of what she said. I kept pulling at her grip, my only thought that I had to help.
Had to help.
Had to help.
“Reset the loop, Freak,” Kaye said again, her voice gentle.
Mrs. Streep needed help. She was severely burned. She was still on fire. I turned back towards the nurse, only to realize that she had fallen over, her body now a blackened lump on the green lawn, the backdrop of hellish flame casting unearthly light on her corpse.
Horrible realization struck me.
She was still burning, but she was not moving. Then I was finally able to think again.
I looked at Kaye. The loop. She was talking about the loop. I had to reset the loop. I had to get out of here. But I couldn't. Not yet. What did I do? Run into the fire? I didn't have it in me.
Instead, I sat down on the grass beside Kay, never feeling so helpless as I did in that moment. And together, we watched the school, that had become my world, burn.
***
Which scene is better? Cut, or rewrite?
