Stellium Bonus Chapter - Fire Hazard

The first day of a new school is always nerve wracking, but even more so when you’re running late. The eleven-year-old hurried into the English classroom where reception was supposed to be taking place, only to be greeted by a churlish response from his form teacher who had watched him race past the window. In his hurry, the boy hadn’t even managed to come up with a reasonable excuse. He knew no one would believe the real reason. He stood in the doorway, panting.

“I hope this isn’t going to be the standard you’re setting for the rest of your tenure with us, Mr….” She scanned the register to see whose name didn’t have a check mark besides it. “Taylor?” She looked at him to confirm.

The boy was frozen to the spot, cheeks red with humiliation. His dark brown fringe hid part of his eyes; he wished it concealed his whole face. All his new classmates were watching him, dissecting everything about him with their curious gazes. They were glued to the scene with anticipation, trying to size up how strict their new teacher was.

“I’ll let it go this time, but if it continues, we will have a very unhappy relationship. Are you going to take a seat?”

He just nodded hesitantly, mumbling a shy apology, and jumped into the last free chair he could see. It was far too close to his teacher for what had just happened, but he had no other options. Sliding into it and dropping his backpack under the table, he peered at the young girl sitting next to him. She had light coloured shoulder length hair and almond shaped eyes. She looked mortified on his behalf.

“Now, as I was saying to the other students who got here on time today, you will be meeting some of your new teachers for a lesson introduction today and we’ll be issuing you with your timetables for this term. First, though, we’re going to start getting to know each other. Since you were last, in you can go first. Stand up and tell the class your name and an interesting fact about yourself.”

The boy was self-conscious about his chair scraping on the floor; the room was now silent as everyone watched him rise and swallow with fear. He thought for a moment, but his mind had gone blank. Had it got hotter in the room? He tugged at the sleeves of his new uniform, suddenly feeling like the most uninteresting person on the planet.

“Come on now, hop to it.” His teacher was a sour looking old woman with dark grey hair in a tight scraped back bun and large glasses. She looked like she only ate hard sour sweets as a preferred treat. He swallowed again, wishing he had a drink. Finally, he managed to come up with something.

“My name is Michael Taylor, and I won an award not long ago for beating everyone in a swimming race whilst trying to get one of my Cub Scout badges.”

The faces around him were neutral. Michael tried to take stock of any issues they had with it to try and work out if anyone intended to bully him based on it, but found none. The girl at the side of him was the only one who seemed impressed by his boast, looking at him with intrigue. She smiled at him, and he tentatively returned it before being allowed to sit down by the teacher. His new companion was chosen to present herself next.

“Hi everyone, I’m Brooke Osborne. I love everything to do with nature and exploration. Last summer I got stuck up this really tall tree that I was climbing, and some firemen had to get me down with the big white ladder on one of their trucks. It was cool.”

Their new form teacher looked a little taken aback by the new student’s apparent yearning for potentially dangerous situations. She made a note on a pad in front of her and thanked her for her introduction. As everyone else presented themselves Michael took a sneaky chance to talk to Brooke, keeping his voice low.

“Did that really happen?”

“Well, it was high to me when I was stuck up there…on the first branch. I was too scared to get down once I got up there.”

“And the firemen?”

“My dad on a normal ladder.” She put a finger to her lips. “Promise not to tell anyone?” Michael couldn’t help but smile.

“Promise.”

They both stopped talking when the teacher noticed and shot a cursory warning glance at them. It was the look that said “if you dare carry on, then I’m going to make your lives not worth living”. Michael and Brooke sat sheepishly in their chairs and pretend to pay attention to their fellow classmates, even though neither was interested now they’d obviously found a friend they wanted to stick with from that point on. After each student was given a chance to speak, their teacher stood up again and started walking amongst the tables with a pile of papers, placing on in front of everyone.

“Thank you for that, everyone. I’m sure we all feel like we know each other a little better now. I’m now handing out your timetables for this term and a map of the school, so we don’t get lost again.” She looked pointedly at Michael. “As you will see, some lessons will be spent with other classes so you can make friends with other people in your year. In a few minutes you’ll be making your way just up that short hill there,” she pointed out the window for everyone to see, “to meet your French teacher, Mr Bullock. Instead of PE today, as none of you will have your kit, you’ll be coming back here, and we’ll see how you’ve settled in.”

Michael and Brooke collected their bags and followed the rest of the students as they walked as slowly as possible to their next lesson. Though it was only a short distance, no one was in a hurry for more time with teachers when they wanted to spend time getting to know new friends and chatting with old ones they’d know since primary school. Michael and Brooke were no different, talking about the schools they had come from before, and it was only then that Michael realised.

“I don’t even know our form teacher’s name.”

“It’s Miss Kenning.”

“There are too many new names to remember on the first day.”

“Wanna know a trick I use?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t worry about people’s names, just don’t use them. Use ‘Miss’ or ‘Sir’ for the teachers. You talk directly at people, so you don’t have to say their name because you already know them in some manner.”

“That’s a good idea, I’ll have to remember it.”

“Did you really get lost?”

“No, she wouldn’t let me explain. Some weird guy in an orange jumpsuit wouldn’t let me pass to get in through the top gate and I had to run down to the bottom one instead. I don’t think he was a teacher, but I wanted to get away from him quickly.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“He told me that if I valued my safety, I’d go the other way. I couldn’t see anything wrong when I looked past him into the car park.”

“Super weird.”

“Totally.”

Through the rest of the day, Michael and Brooke got to know each other better and stuck together like glue. They’d already made a list of which teachers they liked and those they didn’t, knowing they would be dreading the rest of their lessons for the entirety of the school year. The only real downer of their first day was when one of the other teachers interrupted their class to inform them that their lunch break would be delayed. They had to sit inside for another twenty minutes and weren’t even given the time back. As instructed, they returned to Miss Kenning’s form class at the end of the day.

“I hope everyone had a good first day and you’re looking forward to more tomorrow.” Miss Kenning seemed to be the type of person who understood the limitations of meeting a student possibly wanting more school time, but had to put on the façade to try and encourage it all the same. The students offered a resounding “Yes, Miss Kenning” in answer to her question.

“Before we start, I just wanted to mention that the top of the school where you might have come in this morning is closed off to everyone, so you’ll have to leave via our bottom entrance on the way home. It’s just for some building work, but it’s not safe for anyone to go through the car park at the moment.”

Michael and Brooke looked at each other, wide eyed, suddenly suspicious about the man Michael had met that morning. It couldn’t have been a coincidence when coupled with the warning he had given him. This might just have to be something they checked out themselves to see if it was true or not. It couldn’t hurt after all - no one would suspect a couple of kids heading the wrong way.

After the bell had rung and class had ended, Michael and Brooke hung around down the side of their classroom until it seemed everyone had gone. Children flooded down towards the bottom of the school leaving the top buildings deserted. Keeping behind the tall structures, they weaved their way upwards, suddenly finding their way blocked by police tape and a stern-faced older man in a grey suit. They slipped back to safety and huddled together.

“What’s going on? There’s no building work there,” said Brooke.

“Something funny is happening.”

“Can we get past him?” Michael scanned around and saw a large oak tree nearby that extended out past the police tape.

“How do you feel about getting stuck again?”

“Not good.” She eyed the tree he’d seen.

“Okay, keep a lookout for me.”

They snuck over to the base of the tree, making sure they were out of the man’s vision. Brooke gratefully allowed Michael to stand on her shoulders to help him up to the first branch. He clambered up as far as he dared and started going carefully outwards, trying not to rustle the many leaves. He managed to pass the man silently without him looking up.

As Michael’s line of sight increased, he was able to glimpse the car park where the teachers left their vehicles. There was a hive of activity with police, men in suits and some dressed head to toe in white coveralls. An array of vehicles littered the area including two black non-descript vans. There were also a couple of red blankets laid out on the floor, which itself looked black and charred - which Michael found odd. Interspersed between the blankets were yellow plastic numbered cones. The whole road beyond must have been sealed off; he saw barriers blocking the way and more officers turning a few motorists back.

Michael strained to hear what was being said from his vantage point, inching as close as he dared without fear of being spotted by those on the ground. He hoped Brooke was all right and hadn’t been caught yet. He needed to hurry. He tried concentrating on two of the men that were closest to him discussing things. One looked around forty with a receding hairline. The other was younger with long hair, dressed in a plum-coloured shirt. One appeared to be coaching the other, or at least leading the investigation.

“Lighting up like that is a terrible way to go,” the older one mused.

“Looks like this one saved a lot of people from harm with their sacrifice. Were there any others from their side with them?”

“One made off from the scene. Was he called Raiden or something like that?”

“Any intel on him?”

“No, just the name. It’s in one of the files somewhere. I daresay he’ll be heading back to the Cross Walker to let him know what happened and then back to China. It’s not often they lose one of their own. I imagine they’ll be pretty devastated.”

“How involved do we need to get at this stage?”

The older man scratched his head, apparently not sure how to answer; he seemed to be getting frustrated. “We’re always on the back foot with this stuff. How do they know more than us?”

“Suppose it’s not that they know more, but they watch him all the time. They’re ready to react faster than us. We deal with threats that we know about then they cover the rest.”

The older man didn’t answer, knowing the young man was astute and observant enough that he barely needed any guidance. He suspected that one day he’d surpass him as their organisation’s leader. He lit a cigarette with a match and flicked it down a drain, nodding at one of the men in white overalls that it was all right to move whatever was under the red blankets away now. Michael sat frozen and fixated on the scene below, already having a gut feeling about what was beneath them.

His suspicious were confirmed as the black vans opened their rear doors and pulled out metal hospital stretchers. The men operating them were dressed all in black with smart ties and sombre expressions. Removing the first body, they closed the van doors with a slam that echoed through the silence of the afternoon. Lifting the second body onto the trolley, a stray hand dropped out of the covering and Michael saw it was heavily burned. It was the orange sleeve he noticed which disturbed him more, remembering the man from this morning. Suddenly fearful, Michael scrambled back as fast as he could along the branch and dropped down in front of a surprised Brooke.

“Michael, are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Let’s get out of here.” He started marching off.

“What’s wrong, what did you see?” Brooke ran after him.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s just go home. I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Though Brooke was confused, she could obviously see that Michael was distressed, so decided to take him at his word.

“Okay, just slow down, your legs are longer than mine.”

“Sorry, Brooke.”

“It’s alright. Tell me tomorrow.” They walked off the school site and went together as far as they could before they had to set off in opposite directions.

“Here, take this,” said Brooke, handing Michael a newly picked conker that had a full shine to it on the dark brown surface. “I found it this morning before school. I was going to keep it to add to my collection, but I think you need something cool a lot more than I do.”

“You really love nature that much?”

She nodded eagerly at him. “Make sure to take care of it.”

“I will.”

As Michael continued his journey home alone through his village and past his old school, his mind wandered to the events of the day, the man, meeting Brooke and what he had seen from the tree. Seeing the hand of the man in the orange uniform had unnerved him, wondering what could possibly have happened and who the other mystery person was under the second blanket. His thoughts consuming him, he didn’t look before crossing the road.

The first thing that alerted him to the car going too fast was the sound of a horn. The brakes squealed as they tried desperately to stop. Michael looked up and realised he wouldn’t have time to move out of the way. The driver’s face mirrored his own petrified expression. Then a figure stepped out in front of him, dressed in bright fluorescent yellow.

He recognised the lollipop man who had helped him cross the road when he was younger – Mr Jefferson. He’d been working at the nearby primary school for years. Michael watched in amazement as the careering car came to a complete and awkward stop in front of the man, as if it had been forced back away from Mr Jefferson. The lollipop man hit the bonnet of the car furiously with his sign.

“Be careful, you fool!” The young man driving apologised and drove off more carefully this time. Mr Jefferson turned to Michael.

“It’s a good thing you were still here to look out for me, Mr Jefferson.”

“You had better pay more attention in future, Michael. There might not always be someone here to die for you.” Mr Jefferson seemed both angry and disappointed in him, but still got him to the other side of the road safely as per his remit.

“I’ll try to be more careful,” said Michael glumly.

“See that you do.”

Michael walked home and kept his eyes and ears open. Today had been a strange day for his first day of school. He hoped the second wouldn’t be as eventful. Feeling in his pocket, he wrapped his fingers tightly around the conker that Brooke had gifted him. At least one good thing had happened today.