Birthright: A Phoenix is Born

Today in Townsville

Hello peps, feel free to critique. Like and praise comments appreciated.

Catch you in my stories,
GaisceKid.

 Tongues of indigo and crimson leapt at one another in circular fashion. Their dance was hypnotic, lulling me into a deep sense of stillness until the pace quickened. The rainbow loop roared with a ferociousness. Hairs on my forearm sizzled as a dazzling light shone from the ring's centre. From it, emerged a figure coated in molten red. I stood in awe as gusts of air whipped past, fanning the flames even higher. When they finally died down, the figure disappeared and the tension in my chest began to slip away. Yet a dark spot on the floor beneath held in place the last few remnants. I peered deeper and watched as its area increased. Slowly at first, then with an exponential vigour. By the time I looked up, it was already too late.

"Mr Brightflame." Moaned my instructor. "Your surname doesn't make you impervious to fire, so please lean back. I would have thought you learned your lesson last year?"

A fit of laughter rippled throughout the students of class 5A4. Each chuckle intensified my efforts to hide under a loosely fitting jumper.

The classroom was composed of five wooden lab benches in rows and a grimy teacher's desk on an elevated platform at the top. Worn benches spanned the width of the classroom. And were split towards the right, with four students to your left and two to your right. An interactive whiteboard hung behind the teacher's desk and a small blackboard posted at the side listed the class objectives.

This week's tasks were:

1) Flame Test,

2) H.W: Pg. 77 Exercise 2 Q 1-8,

3) Make P.P.G

Colourful posters from the *First years coated the walls. "The Science behind Slime" and "Playing Fortnite Leads to Better Grades" examples of the groundbreaking research conducted.

As for students, we consisted of your average lot. The serious learners upfront, their pristine navy blue jumpers, trousers and skirts proudly highlighted the school's crest. A light brown hare suspended in the air surrounded by a circle of multi-coloured stick people. These students possessed a strange eagerness to soak up their teacher's knowledge. Unfortunately for them, bright heads made perfect targets for paper bullets launched by unserious students at the back. Their white shirts, creased and grooved as though irons didn't exist. Jumpers tied around their waists. One guy even went full Rambo.

I sat in the right row. Leaving me exposed to the teacher's view. A price worth paid to escape the wrath of a bull's eye.

"Today we will be conducting the flame test. I want everybody to gather and wet their splints then collect a portion of the necessary salts. But before that, wipe down your desks." Orated Mr Delany.

Mr Delany didn't resemble your average Irish secondary school teacher. He mirrored a modern-day Santa Claus. Sporting a red and white plaid shirt, khaki maroon shorts and white socks with sandals. All which complimented a potbelly and Harry Potter glasses. The Potter appreciation didn't end there, as a black cauldron sat on his desk. He wove his words together like an English professor from Cambridge, making many wonder why such a person would take a job as a high school chemistry teacher.

Until we realised he was crazy.

Year after year had been filled with the many bizarre experiments that occurred in Mr Delany's chemistry labs. And today would be no different. I stood up from my rigid lab stool to join the queue for wooden splints and lithium salts. The first student to do so was on route to his seat. I knew, because of the sharp impact of his shoulder against mine, a reoccurring event ever since last year.