The Witness He Loved

Fire Outbreak

CHAPTER 5

Fire Outbreak

Bianca’s Pov

The morning was noisy as usual

Lydia, my roommate, was already in the corridor, chatting loudly with girls from other rooms, and I could hear their voices from outside.

“Gosh… this early?” I muttered, pulling my pillow over my head, to block my ears, but it didn’t work.

I barely had any sleep, because the thought of Mateo’s stolen project wouldn’t leave my mind. It was our fault.

I sighed loudly, then got out of bed and went into the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror, I had dark circle under my eyes, and also had red eyes, due to lack of sleep.

“You look terrible,” I murmured to myself.

I had a quick bath and got ready for the day. Being a final-year student wasn’t easy. My schedule was packed with lectures, seminars and practical sessions. But first, breakfast with my boys.

I ran into the elevator as my phone vibrated.

“Hello.”

“Where are you, Bumblebee?” Ethan asked.

“Almost downstairs.”

“Good. Hurry.”

I got out, and was greeted by girls passing by, then I saw Ethan waiting outside.

“Have you been waiting for long?” I asked him.

“No.” Ethan studied my face.

“You didn’t sleep.”

“Neither did you.”

He sighed loudly.

“We’ll find whoever stole Mateo’s project.”

“I hope so. I wish there was something we could do to help.”

“At this point, let’s not make anything worse and just leave it to the police and professor Harris.”

“Yeah. Come on, let’s grab breakfast before class.”

“Ok Let me call Mateo to meet us at the cafeteria, let’s hear how it’s going with professor Harris.”

I nodded, and we headed toward the school cafeteria.

The campus was already busy with students rushing to lectures. Some laughed loudly, while others hurried along with books clutched against their chests.

As we approached the cafeteria building.

“Bianca,” someone called, and I turned.

“Professor Cindy asked me to give you these documents. Could you please drop them off in Laboratory B? They’re needed urgently.”

I accepted the pile of documents. Professor Cindy was a science professor, but my mother’s sister. She liked sending me on errands.

“It’ll only take a few minutes,” I said.

Ethan shrugged.

“I’ll order breakfast first. Meet me inside.”

“Don’t finish everything before I get there.”

He smiled “No promises,” he winked at me before going inside.

I rolled my eyes and walked toward the science Laboratory building.

As I entered the big building, a yellow MAINTENANCE IN PROGRESS sign stood near the entrance. Two maintenance workers were arguing with a supervisor.

“The sprinkler system on the second floor is still disconnected,” one of them said. “We won’t finish testing until this afternoon.”

“Just make sure the fire extinguishers stay where they’re supposed to be,” the supervisor replied impatiently.

I walked past them without paying much attention, because it wasn’t my business.

Inside was unusually quiet.

Most students had already gone to class or the cafeteria.

As I climbed the stairs, I noticed a young girl standing in the corridor.

She backed me, and I quickly noticed a blue ribbon tied around her ponytail.

She held something in her hand, turning it over repeatedly

She looked like a freshman.

For a brief moment, I considered asking if she needed help.

But I remembered why I came there, the files.”

I hurried upstairs to drop the files. While coming back down, I saw that same person. I frowned, but this time, she was hurrying and went out through the back door before I could come down.

Weird, but maybe she’d finally found her way, I thought

The lab was on the third floor, but no one was there, so I kept it down and began coming back down, I started thinking , something about the building felt different today. Maybe it was because I was tired, or maybe because my mind was still stuck on Mateo’s project.

Urgh, muttered and shrugged my shoulder, then a strange smell hit me. I stopped for a second. It wasn’t the usual chemical smell from the laboratories. This was different. I shook my head, it’s definitely coming from one of the chemistry labs.

Then I saw smoke rising and was filling the room. I quickly ran down, and towards the door to come out, but just as I grabbed the handle, burst of flames shot across the doorway, and the heat hit my face hard, and I stumbled backwards.

I looked up instinctively, expecting the sprinklers to come alive, but nothing happened, then I remembered the maintenance workers at the building hallway .

Fuck, I muttered, the system wasn’t working yet.

I looked around for an extinguisher, but saw none, only the empty metal bracket remained.

I put my hand on my head, is this a carefully arranged plan, I thought . Then I put my sleeve around my mouth and ran towards the back door, but it was locked. I tried opening it severally, but to no avail. I fell to the floor in disappointment.

The room spun around me.

Coughing violently, I struggled to stand, but the smoke was becoming thicker.

Suddenly, Through the thick smoke…

Someone stood at the top of the stairs. For a moment, I thought I was imagining things, so I looked away, and looked up again, but the person was still there, looking , as if enjoying watching me struggle, but I couldn’t see her face clearly.

“Hey!” I shouted, but she started walking away.

Wait!” I stumbled on the stairs, as soon as I got to her…

“Who are you?” I asked slowly trying to see her face, but it was dark and smoky in there.

She didn’t answer, instead, she lifted her leg and kicked me hard, and I fell backward. As I tumbled down the stairs, I caught a flash of the blue ribbon again. Pain exploded through my head and Blood dripped down from my head. Warm tears fell from my eyes uncontrollably.

I coughed softly, then Pieces of burning wood crashed onto the floor.

My vision blurred.

So this is how it ends, I thought to my self.

Fire!” I started hearing people’s voice from outside, but no one came to save me.

Just as my eyes began to close…

“Bianca!”