The Despairing Tribulations of a Doomed Boy

Chapter 13

Friday, 2am.

Otto tried to jump off the bed, but he wasn't fast enough. Pieter wrapped his arms around him and pinned him to the bed.

"You're crazy!" Otto screamed. "Why would you want to push it?" He squirmed in the dark, freeing one of his hands and fighting off Pieter who was going for the nose casing.

"No one deserves to live in this world," Pieter said with his teeth clenched. "I'm going to end this all. No more suffering for anyone!"

"I'm not suffering," Otto said. He freed his other hand and shoved Pieter off of him. "I want to live!" he screamed as he ran for the door. He tripped over his clothes on the floor and fell to his knees. Pieter followed after him, tripped on his legs and fell on Otto's back, knocking him flat on his stomach.

"Help!" Otto called as soon as he regained his breath. He tried to crawl out from under Pieter, but Pieter sat on him and began pulling off the elastic on his nose casing. "Don't!" Otto cried. "Please!" The elastic slipped over his head and the nose casing fell to the floor. Otto struggled with all his strength to pull free without letting his face hit the floor. He swatted at Pieter and managed to push him off his back. He grabbed his nose casing as he jumped to his feet and ran for the door. He pulled the door shut behind him and held it, trying to figure out where to go next. "Help!" He called down the hall. He could feel Pieter pulling on the door from the other side.

The door across the hall started to glow and smoke like hot coals. As the center grew black, it burst into flame. The smoke alarms started in with their deafening sound and the hall lit up in red light. A guard came running down the hall. "Stop where you are," he called over the blare. He had one hand on his side arm and one hovering over his nose-button. "Put your hands above your head."

"I can't!" Otto said, still holding tight to the doorknob. "Pieter's trying to push my nose-button!"

The guard stood in confusion for a moment.

A hole was forming in the middle of the burning door and Margo peeked through from the other side. "I'm sorry, Otto. This was all I could do. But at least a guard is here, now."

The guard stomped heavily down the hall to get a better look at what was going on. Behind him, others ran in and unlocked doors to escort the anomalies out of the building. Firemen ran in with them, following the trail of smoke on the ceiling to Margo's door. "Stand back!" They yelled to her through the burnt out hole and axed their way into her room. Inside, her curtains and bedding were on fire and the walls were hot and smoldering. The firemen grabbed her—one on each hand—and pulled her down the hall, following the rest of the anomalies out of the building. Another fireman started into her room with a hose and started spraying down everything.

"What are you doing?" The guardsman put his hand on Otto's shoulder. "We need to get out of here before the smoke gets us." His eyes watered, as did Otto's. The hall was filled with so much smoke that Otto could no longer see either end of the hallway.

"I can't let go of this door," Otto said. "Pieter is trying to push my nose-button. He can't push my nose-button. No one can push my nose-button." He coughed and gagged on the smoke. It burned his nose and lungs with every breath.

"Let me handle Pieter," the guard said. He put his hand on the doorknob. "Let go of the door."

Otto let go of the doorknob, but before the guardsman could grab a hold, the door rushed open. Behind it, Pieter fell on his back. He quickly regained his feet and lunged at Otto. Otto ran down the hall towards the exit followed by Pieter and the guardsman who wheezed with each breath. A fireman grabbed the guardsman by the arm as he began to collapse on the floor.