Dynamic

I take three pills a day.

The doctor didn't have a explanation for why chronic migraines could bring the life of a sixteen year old girl to a screeching halt out of nowhere, so he chalked it up to anxiety and hormones - anything to avoid admitting it was a mystery. I told him the problem was all in my head - he didn't laugh, but he did write a prescription. It was meant to be one pill daily, but the fine print's inclusion of 'or as needed' provided me a loophole to up the dosage to three a day without raising eyebrows.

And I, forgetful as ever, had left the bottle in my locker. By default, I didn’t realize the meds weren’t on me until a minute before the start of my chemistry test.

“Dr. Finch?” I hurried over to her, pinning my eyes on the tiles in front of me. She smiled, turning to face me. Even considering the circumstances, I hated bothering her. She was my favorite teacher.

“Yes?”

“Can I run to my locker really quick?”

“You know I can’t give you extra time…”

“I know.” I nodded. “I’ll be quick.”

She smiled. “Hurry back.”

I went out into the hallway at a jog, careful to keep my eyes glued to the floor while passing a group of older students.

A clicking of heels on the stairs in front of me knocked me out of my trance. It was my old math teacher, holding a pile of papers that towered in front of her face. She was no more than five feet tall, with short red hair and a thick Russian accent. It had taken me two months before I could understand a word she said, but now that I didn’t have her for class anymore, there was something about seeing her barely peeking over that stack of papers that made me nostalgic.

I nodded in greeting, smiling.“Hi, Ms. Golovkin.”

She nodded quickly, flashing a toothy smile, almost falling over, but quickly stabilizing herself with a sway of her small body.

I started down the stairs to the basement.That’s where the junior lockers were, after all.

As I was heading down the straight stretch of hallway lined with lockers on one side and a single biology classroom on the other, I faltered.

The strong stench of what I thought to be burning rubber hit me like a brick wall.

My vision blurred.

I turned around slowly, making sure no one else was in the hallway. It was empty, which was surprising, considering many of my friends had free period this hour.

Chem test. I had to stay focused. I looked back down at the tiles, making sure I hadn't forgotten the table of molecular geometry I'd just copied down into my notebook for the fifth time today. 120 degrees, trigonal planar. 109.5, tetrahedral.

I took another tentative step towards my locker, but my knee buckled against my will. Suddenly I was on the ground, and the stench was even stronger. The smell was so overwhelming, I gasped for breath. I couldn't catch it. I panicked as I realized I couldn’t breathe…

Until suddenly I could. And when I pushed myself up from off of the ground, I noticed that the smell was gone.

I hesitated for a second, taking slow, deep breaths.What was that? I briefly considered going to the nurse. Nearly passing out isn’t a side effect of normal migraines. But my test adrenaline had already kicked in, and my mind was still reciting molecular geometry. Square planar, trigonal bipyramidal, octahedral. It was the last test before spring break, after all. I could deal with it.

I proceeded to my locker at a walk, and took out the bottle of pills, swallowing two, just in case, before shoving the vial into my pocket.

But as I turned around, preparing to head back to class, I was blinded with pain.

A burst of flame erupted in my temple, worse than ever before. I barely noticed as my knees hit the floor. Then I smelled it again – burning rubber – and I heard my name and footsteps rushing towards me.

“Selene!”

I opened my eyes just wide enough to see him.Scott.

But what I saw next made much less sense. He was moving towards me in slow motion, when the bricks from the wall beside him suddenly burst apart. In the distance, I could have sworn I saw two silhouettes at the opposite end of the hall.

I screamed. I didn’t care about the pain. I reached my hand out towards him, willing him away from the collapsing wall.

The cold of the tile on my face was the only thing that kept me conscious. Scott was next to me, his lips moving rapidly. My ears were ringing, and I couldn’t make out his words. A gash on his forehead told me that he’d rammed into the wall beside me, face first. It wasn’t until he lifted me up in his arms that I saw something was wrong.The hallway directly in front of us was blocked with bricks. Bricks that should have buried Scott.

I didn’t understand what was happening, but I felt the building shaking as he took off at a run. He was fast – a varsity athlete – but not nearly as fast as he usually was.There was a sway in his step that wasn’t usually there, and he was slowing down with each struggled movement.I looked up at his face – dark skin, soft brown eyes – a masterpiece that was inadvertently interrupted by the blood trickling down his nose.I could hear his staggered breathing.

I touched his shoulder, unable to control my motions. Overwhelming warmth spread across my body and ran through my hand as I inhaled sharply, my eyes forcing themselves closed. A light and airy feeling came over me, but as my hand left Scott’s shoulder, the pain immediately followed.

I could no longer move, hear, or see clearly. I forced one eye open and saw Scott’s face close to mine: healed as if nothing had ever happened.

I must be hallucinating.

Surely, it was the only explanation. Perhaps the doctors had been wrong- perhaps I actually had an aneurysm and they’d diagnosed my migraines incorrectly.

Surely, it was too late now.

Scott was running faster now, up the stairs and into the main hall. But he froze, and this time I was sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

The school was on fire. I listened closely and heard the piercing sting of the alarm. How could I have missed it?

Still, the school halls appeared empty to me. The ceiling fell down in pieces around us, and after getting over his shock, Scott ran towards the closest doors, throwing them open. But when he ran through, I heard a crack as my shoulder hit against what seemed to be an invisible barrier. I felt my shoulder explode with pain, then go numb, as I fell out of Scott's arms.

Looking up, I watched as he pressed both hands against the unseen wall. I turned, slowly, and placed my hands against the wall under him. A ripple shot outwards from where my fingers made contact, and I flew backwards, slamming into a bench.

My body felt like it was broken in two, as I yelled out in pain. Struggling to breathe and think clearly, I came to a sickening realization. I had probably gone insane, or it was the end of the world. Either way, I was going to die.

Then, looking up, I saw him. Scott. His eyes were filled with concern, mixed with confusion - it wasn’t a look I was used to seeing on him. His lips moved slowly, but once again I couldn’t process his words.

He lifted me gently, and ran away from the flames, towards the auditorium exit. He tried each door before placing me on the ground gently. “I’m going to get us out of here.” I could hear him now, but his voice was muffled. He stood up, aiming to move back towards the flames, but I weakly wrapped my hand around his ankle.

I shook my head, wincing in pain. “No. You’ll just get hurt.”

He turned to me, and I saw the tears and disbelief in his eyes.I was so used to him joking around, poking fun with me and teasing me every chance I got, and here he was: serious and emotional.

It had all happened so fast.

“This… this isn’t possible. A door that we can’t go through – nothing like that exists.” He was suddenly angry.

I took a painful deep breath.“Whether it exists or not isn’t the question right now.”

“And where is the fire department anyway? They’re only right down the street.”

I shook my head, unable to answer.

The tear forming in his eye trailed down his cheek as he realized what I was implying. “I won’t let us die here.” With that, he reached out towards the barrier, and I saw his hand light up with a shock as he flew backwards, landing on the floor beside me.He cursed, shaking his hand back and forth, trying to rid himself of the lasting sting. “What the hell is this?”

“There’s not much we can do right now.” I tried to cover the panic in my voice. “At least we’re not alone.”

I saw his face, his eyes filled with pain. Both of us could pass out at any moment, and surely, the flames would overcome us. He forced a smile, whispering into my ear.

I heard him, clearly. “I love you, Selene.”

With no warning, I was on my feet, facing him, and breathing heavily. I was completely numb. Scott looked at me, startled. My neck snapped to one side - I wasn’t in control of my own actions. My eyes landed on the doors, and out of nowhere, I could suddenly see a shimmering film between the outside and us. I somehow managed to take a few steps back. I knew what my body was going to do, and I didn’t want to follow through, but I was no longer in control. I didn’t understand what could be happening as I catapulted forward, throwing myself at the glass door, full force.

The barrier shattered, along with the glass, and I flew outwards, unconscious before I even hit the pavement.