Trapped

It was another regular day at school, or so thought Michelle until she gets locked inside the closet with her Drama teacher Mr. Jackson while getting the costumes out. Now a large fire has started....

It was a typical Friday afternoon at Sydenham High, with most students attending their last class of the day, before they are let out for the weekend.

Michelle and her friends Courtney, Caroline, Rose and Lyndsay sat their usual seats by the drama room door, before the bell rang for the last period to begin.

Their teacher---Mr. Jackson---explained to his class what they were working on today, which was yet another work period of getting their monologues ready to present them next week.

"However, today I will bring out the costumes from the costume room behind the stage so everyone can choose which costume you would want to wear for your monologues. Other than that, just work on memorizing them".

Once he was done speaking, his drama class dispersed around the room to work away on their monologues. Some went into the hall to practice and others went to their friends to get a peer evaluation on their monologues.

Michelle heavily sighed as she sat on the big black wood block (about as big as a cajon).

Another work period; Great, just what I need. I already have my monologue and my costume ready to go; I just need to perform it live on stage to the class.

Michelle glanced over at her friends to see what they were doing to get their monologues ready.

Caroline sat on the desk cross-legged, that was beside Michelle and was typing away her monologue on her phone, since she hadn't finished it yet.

Courtney and Rose left the room to go into the hallway so she could listen to Rose's monologue and fill out a peer evaluation form for her.

And last but not least, Lyndsay sat on the cold tile floor in front of the desk that Caroline was sitting on, with a Chromebook in her lap. She also hasn't found a monologue and needed the time to find one online.

What am I going to do during this period?

Thought Michelle as she dropped her gaze to the floor.

Maybe I could work on some other outstanding work I need to finish in-.

"Hey, Michelle?".

Michelle jerked her head up in the direction that her name was called. She saw her teacher Mr. Jackson making eye contact with her from the other side of the drama room.

"Yeah?"

"Could you come backstage with me to help me get out the costumes?"

Michelle shrugged her slim shoulders.

"Sure".

Getting up from her seat, Michelle made her way to the other side of the room, before she followed Mr. Jackson backstage to where the small costume room was.

Pushing the heavy thick black curtains aside, Michelle followed her teacher into the costume room, which was left open from the last class that was using it this morning.

Inside, costumes were everywhere. Many were hanging from the few clothing racks that could fit inside and others were folding nicely into bins and were tucked in front of those clothing racks.

Even small props were kept in here, in separate labelled bins at the back of the small costume room.

Michelle curiously glanced around, looking at all the unique costumes that surrounded her and Mr. Jackson in the room.

"What costumes are we taking out?".

"Only the suit jackets and the dresses".

While Michelle and Mr. Jackson were gathering the costumes by the coat hangers they were hanging from, they didn't hear the door close behind them and made a clicking noise.

Once Michelle's left hand was holding as many hangers as she could hold, she grabbed the door handle on the costume door to open it.

But the handle wouldn't budge.

"Mr. Jackson, did you bring your keys with you?" asked Michelle, hoping that he did have them in his jean pocket.

Her teacher turned to face her, with both of his hands full of hangers with costumes hanging down from them.

"No, why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because, we're locked in".

Mr. Jackson let out a chuckle of laughter.

"Locked in? We're not locked in. Here, hold this".

Mr. Jackson gave a handful of hangers to Michelle, before he jiggled the door handle. But it still wouldn't budge.

"Oh crap. This has never happened before".

Then he turned his gaze back to Michelle.

"Do you have your phone on you?".

Michelle narrowed her eyes at her teacher.

"A phone? Mr. Jackson, I don't have a phone".

"Oh, right. I forgot".

After letting out a sigh, Mr. Jackson started to knock on the door loudly and began to call out, saying that we're locked inside and can't get out.

No answer came back.

The next time Mr. Jackson started to call out again, Michelle joined in so that they would be heard this time for sure.

But still, no one responded.

"That's weird. Why isn't anyone responding? Can't they hear-".

While Michelle was ranting on, Mr. Jackson let his thoughts tune her out as he tried to think of another solution to the situation because clearly, calling out for help isn't working at all.

I wonder if they're......

He thought as his eyes trailed up to the top of the door and suddenly noticed that clouds of heavy grey smoke was starting to spew in.

"Oh crap; The school is on fire".

Michelle stopped and looked up at the heavy smoke clouds, before letting out a gasp and turning her gaze back to her teacher, with her eyes wide in fear.

"We need to get out of here. Now.".

Together, Michelle and Mr. Jackson began to pound on the door side by side, yelling and calling out for help desperately.

But no help came. And the clouds of smoke were starting to get thicker and heavier as they continued to take over the air space in the costume room.

Since it was already starting to get a bit harder to breathe, Mr. Jackson got down on his knees and opened a blue plastic bin to his left, to grab a couple of scarves for him and Michelle to breathe through.

After putting one on to cover his mouth and nose, he looked over at Michelle to give her one when he noticed that she was already on her knees, but she was coughing uncontrollably.

Oh no, she's taken in too much smoke from yelling out for help.

Mr. Jackson crawled over to her and patted her back a couple times, before encouraging her to take a few deep breaths through the scarf he got for her.

However things got worse. After trying to take a deep breathe though the scarf, Michelle started to cough hard and uncontrollably again, before she fell limp into Mr. Jackson's arms, becoming unconscious.

"Michelle!".

With sweat dripping down his face from the heat of the flames, Mr. Jackson tried to shake his student awake, but she remained unresponsive.

"Come on, Michelle. Wake up!".

Just then the costume room door was suddenly kicked down hard, falling down to the ground right next to Mr. Jackson and Michelle.

Coming to save them were three tall muscular firefighters, dressed in their fire protection gear.

Without wasting a moment, the three men guided Mr. Jackson out of the burning building as he bridal carried Michelle, until they were both safely out and across the street in the giant parking lot, where the rest of the school was evacuated to.

Once he was over there, he ran over to an ambulance vehicle and the paramedics quickly took Michelle from the teacher's arms, before they put her on a stretcher and rushed her straight to the closest hospital, which happened to Kingston.

After the paramedics left, Mr. Jackson turned his gaze back to the burning school and watched as the building continued to burn down to the ground, taking away the job and the school he loved to work at.

If it weren't for Michelle's continuous shouting and calling, would we have died in the costume room?

Thought Mr. Jackson as he continued to watch the intense burning flickering flames.

Then another thought came to mind.

Oh God. Please let Michelle be okay.

The end.

Thank you for reading and I hoped you've enjoyed my story! :)

-MarvelousM