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"Fired Up"

Standing before the class, I went over their homework, much as I do every other day. That's what today was, after all. Average. Just another day to lecture to hundreds of students that usually don't listen, for roughly an hour at a time. It's odd. Usually, I love teaching kids. But lately, it's become less of a passionate job and more of a drag. I think it's because of the abnormal hours I've been sleeping lately. The school has been pushing for more homework for the students, so I spend so many nights staying up late so that I can grade the papers.
Finally, the bell rights to release the students. Glancing up at the clock, a smile spreads across my face, followed by a sigh of relief. It's lunchtime.
As the students pile out toward the cafeteria, I make my way to the teacher's lounge to grab my lunch. A salad with a ham and cheese sandwich. After grabbing my food, I was stopped by another teacher, Mrs. Fergison. She was a good friend of mine. We used to talk in between classes all the time. We weren't good enough friends to talk outside of school. We mainly kept each other company to pass the time. We hadn't talked lately though. I think the extra homework thing was taking a toll on more than just me.
She and I talked for a little while, mainly about some kids' gossip floating around the school. It was interesting, I'd never known her to care much about gossip. Especially when it pertains to the students. Normally we talk about things like TV shows and the food we had a few nights ago. Nothing but small talk.
After we said our goodbyes and parted ways, I made my way back to my classroom. I grabbed my phone from my purse and glanced at the time. I had about twenty minutes to relax.
I watched some funny videos on my phone as I ate. I'd finished my food long before I thought I would have. I must have been pretty hungry.
I was about to throw my trash away when I heard a bell. At first, I thought it was the normal school bell, which would have gone off a lot sooner than I'd thought. Instead, it was the continuous ringing of the fire alarm. I felt my heart race in panic as I heard someone scream from out in the hallway. I hurried to the door, but could only make out a stampede of students rushing down the hall, toward the back door. In running down the hallway, one of them must have bumped the door, because it slammed shut on me. Thankfully I moved before my fingers got smashed in the frame.
I watched them rush past until the crowd died down. I figured this would be the best time to get out there and join them.
I turned the doorknob and my heart sank. The knob wouldn't turn.
"What the hell?!" I exclaimed as I tried turning it furiously. The lock was on my side of the door. How could it have gotten stuck? I turned the bolt to be vertical. Nothing. Horizontal. Still nothing.
I quickly scanned the room, hoping I could find something to break the window of the door. I went over a picked up a desk chair. It was heavy and I was struggling to move it over to the door. Eventually, I made it over there. I tried lifting the chair again. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it that far off the ground, no matter how hard I tried. I finally let the chair down. All of my muscles were aching and I needed to catch my breath.
Still, I panicked. How am I going to get out of here?!
I looked over to the window. They were small, but it was worth a try. I made my way over to the only window that had nothing blocking it and looked outside. I knew my classroom was on the second floor, but it's funny how high up that truly feels when you think you might have to jump out of it to escape.
As the thought of jumping out the window flooded my head with incredible fear, I couldn't help but turn around to face the door. The door, as it stood, had dark smoke shooting into the room through the cracks in the door frame.
In a panic, I ran back over to the door to try the knob again. Immediately, I pulled away. The knob was hot to the touch, leaving a deep red mark on my palms. The burning sensation felt incredibly painful. I was fighting back tears as I now started to beat on the door, crying out for help. I pleaded and begged for someone, anyone, to come back for me.
After a few moments, I realized with incredible dread, nobody is coming back for me. This is where it all ends...
***
I grabbed my phone off the desk, hoping there would be a signal, but of course, there was none. Why did the school have to have the worst reception?
Tossing the phone to the side, I made my way to the opposite corner of the room from the door and awaited my inevitable doom.
It seemed like an eternity had passed by in a few minutes, but I heard the sound of someone fidgeting with the doorknob. Was this it? Was I being rescued?
I ran to the door just in time to see it being ripped open. At first, I saw nobody on the other side of the door, only flames. That was until I saw it...
It was a ten-foot man, who was covered in fire. It didn't look like a guy that was covered in burns. Instead, it looked almost inhuman. Like a charred corpse and the flames being their skin. As I stood, frozen in fear, it tried to reach out to grab me. However, I took off across the classroom, trying to get as far away from it as possible. I ran to the far side of the room, it chasing close behind me. I made a circle through the desks and charged out of the room.
As I got out into the hallway, I heard it let out an inhuman roar before the ground started shaking under my feet. I turned my head to see the monster now chasing after me at full speed. Thankfully, I was faster.
After what felt like an eternity of running for my life, I finally made it out of the school. Everyone I saw out there was staring at me in shock, unmoving. Then, their eyes darted behind me. I turned to follow their gaze and saw the fire monster burst out of the back doors. It stood straight up, revealing to be much taller than I'd thought. It towered over all of us. In an instant, it reached down and picked me up, instantly burning me alive. All the students below screamed and took off in every direction...

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