Our Experiment

Prologue

He stared up at the building as it was engulfed in flames. The heat was almost unbearable, but he continued to stare as the place he once ruled was about to be nothing but rubbish in a matter of hours. . .minutes. He was entranced by the sight, somewhat oblivious to his fellow schoolmates racing away from the building. Some had still been inside when the flames took over. The site was bittersweet. He had built himself here, his crew. There was only one other alternative school that he wasn't too fond of having to attend. He grimaced against the flames.

He thought back to the day he had before all of this happened.

He remembered having a normal day, skipping the first half of school just to come back for lunch. Where he was confronted by Justice. She had been acting unusual since yesterday. She hadn't been her usual bossy self, instead she was quiet and had not hung out at the Ravine all weekend. He remembered her saying something about having to leave to her birth place in America for a while. That she did not know when or if she would ever come back. She pretended that was all it was, that she would miss being with her friends at Lakehurst, but he could tell there was more to the story. However, before he could get more out of her they were interrupted by Bruce's stupidity. That's when she left, and he hadn't seen her the rest of the day.

He suddenly felt himself being pulled away from the building, and quickly stopped as he nearly lost his footing, and jerked his arm free. He looked up at Bruce. "Where is she?"

Bruce, who was covered in soot, stared back with wide eyes. "She's gone, man."

Johnny felt his heart drop. "What do you mean? Did you see her?"

Bruce shook his head. "No. I couldn't see anything in there." He said as he slowly began to walk away.

"So you just left her!" Johnny nearly shouted and turned back towards the school. Bruce yelled after him as he ran, but he ignored his calls and raced off towards the burning building.

The entire entrance was covered in smoke, but he pushed further into the halls. He called out to the girl, his heart racing, hoping she was still conscious. Hoping she would call back to him. Hoping she was still alive. There was debris everywhere, and from what little he could see, the building was on the verge of collapsing. He had to act fast, or he would be lost beneath the rubbish as well.

He coughed heavily, his lungs inflamed from the thick smoke. His eyes watered and burned the deeper he went. His throat and mouth were so dry that he could not even swallow. He could barely open his mouth to breathe without nearly coughing up his lungs. He grasped his chest as he made it past the cafeteria, trying to catch his breath, but oxygen was nonexistent here. He tried calling out to her again, but at this point, his voice was gone. He looked inside the cafeteria, but all he saw was the thick, gray smog. He tried to go through as quickly as possible, and search for her, but he felt his body weakening the longer he remained in the building.

When he made his way out of the cafeteria, he continued down the halls again, but stopped when he noticed someone crawling out of the principal's office. The pair met eyes. It was Justice!

"Get down!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. Her chest erupted in a fit of coughing.

Johnny lowered to the ground. It was still hard to breath as the air was unnoticeably thinner. If they didn't make it out now, they wouldn't have the energy to go any further. He motioned for her to come to him as he made his way closer. He watched the tears pouring down her cheeks as she crawled ever so slowly. He didn't know how long she had been in here, but he had little doubt she was going to be able to make it out on her own. He was halfway to her when the building shook, and he watched the entire ceiling above her come crashing down!

***

The sudden crash of lightning startled her awake. Her heart pounded against her chest as rigid breaths escaped her chapped lips. Sweat beads glistened decoratively upon her skin as she sat upright in bed, trying to calm herself. It had been quite some time since her last nightmare. It wasn't too long ago that the tragedy happened that these terrors began, but she was certain she had finally gotten over them.

"Justice! Are you okay!"

She looked towards her closed bedroom door and watched as her father burst through without a second thought. He came to her aid quickly and sat on her bed. His eyes were wide, his hair a mess, and his clothes tussled. He looked as if he had been running from danger. Justice stared past him, at the open door, her heart having been restarted by her father's sudden intrusion. He sat on the edge of her bed and put his head in his hands. He knew what this was.

This wasn't the first time her father had come in like this. Every time she woke from a terror he came barging in as if to save her from a murderer. He, too, had believed she was over these horrific dreams. It was just a month ago that he had finally began to have decent amounts of rest after having to comfort her to sleep for more than a year.

They sat in silence for a long while, before she finally spoke. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, still staring at the ground. "It helped before."

Justice shook her head. "I don't know, dad. I'm so sorry. I thought this was over."

Mr. A looked at his daughter. "You went through a lot, Justice. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I was the one who wasn't there to protect you."

Justice felt her heart sink at the sight of her father's saddened eyes. He had done all he could for his daughter. It was not his fault that those events occurred, and she would not allow him to blame himself for it. "Please don't, dad. You've been here for me through everything. You're the only person I could ever rely on. It wasn't your fault that those idiots had to do something so stupid."

Her father continued to stare at her, looking from one eye to the other as he mentally recapped everything they had been through. From the hospital stays, to the therapy sessions, to the white-noise sleep aides. They had all seemed to take their sweet old time to work in bringing his beloved daughter back to normal. And once he had finally believed they had cured her of her fears, the nightmares resurfaced. He pulled his daughter into his arms then and held her close to his chest. As difficult as it had been to go through all of that with his daughter, he would still go through it again in a heartbeat because at least she had survived.