27 November 2019

• Himani Patel, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2022

It was first a constant throbbing. A sharp pain in the back of Kylie’s head. Then visions and voices. She saw events that hadn’t occurred yet. She heard things that she’s not supposed to. Was it a curse or a blessing?
…
She woke up in a cold sweat. Her lungs screaming for a gasp of air and her head heavy as stone. Kylie felt almost hungover except, she had blurry visions of her sister flashing before her eyes. She looked harder shutting her eyes to see a classroom with white cloaks hanging from the walls and a Bunsen burner on each of the long desks. In the centre was a figure with long straight hair and glasses, she held a matchstick, the excitement on her face could be seen miles away. Just as her vision climaxed her eyes opened to the sound of the high-pitched squeal from the school bell. Kylie had fallen asleep in chemistry class again when this happened. That vision wasn’t like the ones she had before. Was Alia in danger? Getting up a painful migraine striked her right as she heard the words, ‘save her,’ being whispered in her ear. ‘Save her,’ she heard it again but this time more aggressive more demanding. Next second Kylie felt as though she was being dragged by an invisible hand, her hands and feet transporting to the science lab upstairs. She scanned the room to see Alia in the centre with the same matchstick but this time the spell of gasoline was consuming the air. Alia slowly picked up the match box and striked it once…Boom! “ALIA!” Kylie yelled as she dropped to her classroom floor. Heart beating fast. Before she knew it, hot tears were racing down her cheeks.
Knowing she had very little time she burst open the door to the hallway bustling with students. Some turned their heads to see her horrified expression before her feet desperately attempted to make it in time to save her, protect her sister. The 100 metres of difference between her and the science lab seemed like thousands of metres away at that moment. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she bolted upstairs, her shoes pounded heavily. Just as she made it to the second floor a deafening boom and a blinding orange peeked through the classroom at the far end. Smoke followed in big clouds. She froze. “No, no, no…” She feet almost flew herself over to the lab, bursting open the doors, the fire had hugged every inch of the room. She found Alia.
The aroma of a burning corpse was sickening, sweet, stale. The smell was so rich and powerful that it was almost a taste.
Grief and guilt had hit Kylie with full force and consumed her whole. She was tired. These guiding voices and visions, she just needs them to stop. That day, 27th November 2019, then and there, she decided to find a way to end them. It was a curse.