Hybrid: The Awakening

Chapter 6-Asher

Date on Earth: Tuesday, October 3

The force of the explosion knocked me off my throne and left me lying helplessly on the classroom floor. A piece of wood had fallen on top of me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't push it off.

I strained my neck, trying to see if someone, anyone, was around to help. I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted Tristen across the room, sitting down and staring with wide eyes at the fire.

"Tristen," I tried calling, but ended up hacking from the thick smoke that seemed to suffocate me. Tristen seemed to snap out of his daze and ran to me.

"You okay?" He asked with an edge of panic in his voice. "The wood didn't crush your legs, did it?"

"Well, they are already crushed but-" I coughed again. "No, I don't think so."

"Okay, I'm gonna try to lift up the wood. Just...don't move."

"Yeah, I don't think moving is an option right now," I said as I tried again to wiggle my way out from beneath the wood. I blew out a breath when I realized how whiny that sounded. "Sorry, it's just getting a little hard to breathe."

Tristen's hands seemed to shake as he grabbed the fallen debri and said, "Hold on." He put his body under the piece of wood and lifted up with all his might. When he lifted it high enough, I used my arms to pull myself out from underneath.

Tristen threw it down and coughed loudly. "We need to get outa here before we suffocate," he said breathlessly. Without warning, he grabbed me and picked me up.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry," -he didn't sound very sorry- "but you can't walk and I'm not gonna leave you here to die."

I felt my cheeks flush from embarrassment. I grumbled under my breath as he tried dodging the flames while holding me in his arms.

"Wait!" I yelled when I spotted something of mine.

"What?"

"I need my throne!"

He looked at me like I had two heads. "Your what?" He yelled over the roaring fire.

I groaned and coughed again. "My wheelchair! It's right there!" I pointed to the chair knocked over a few feet in front of us.

"No time," he walked right past it and I looked at him in disbelief.

"How am I supposed to move by myself then?" I glared at him.

       "We'll figure something out." A loud crashing noise came from the roof and Tristen dived through the exit.

We turned our heads and looked in shock at the destroyed classroom. Moments later and we would've been crushed along with it.

"Guess you were right," I said out of breath. "We didn't have time." The fire was still spreading and Tristen scooted us back as the dry grass started to flame up.

I took deep breaths to steady my heartbeat. It had happened, just like in my vision. Even after Mrs. Jane had said the line, I was still clinging on to the hope that maybe the vision was just a regular old nightmare, and it was just a coincidence.

But I couldn't lie to myself anymore; I had predicted it. There wasn't any question in that.

I felt a stab of guilt. I knew the events that were going to occur, and I didn't do anything. I let everything play out, putting everyone at risk. I didn't even know if all of the other students or teachers had made it out of the school. And if a single person had died, that would've been on me.