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you seen Nathan? I mean you probably don't even know who he is what am I thinking," I blabber and continuously scan the crowd.
    "Was that guy you were standing with at the snack bar all night? I haven't actually. Sorry," she apologizes and releases me from the hug.
    "That's okay, but I better get looking., I say a little rudely and push through the crowd which has thinned drastically since I initially came out. I realize it's because the fire trucks are trying to get in closer to the building and all of us are standing in the way. I follow the crowd out across the road and out of the way.
    Here, people are crying and parents begin showing up to make sure there kids are alright. Word spreads fast. There are even news crews interviewing students already.
    I stare at the doorway of the building I just left and wait for people to emerge. After starring for ten minutes and seeing no one come out, reality sinks in. I wonder how many kids are left in there dying. 100? 200? More?
    Paramedics are pulling people onto stretchers and driving away with their sirens blaring. It's like something off of a TV show. More ambulances are continuously showing up and cops continually push back the crowd so the emergency crew can do its job.
    A school bus pulls up front and people start getting on it. "You all must see a doctor before you go home today! Your parents may take you themselves if it's not urgent. If you are burned or are having trouble breathing or have some other urgent problem please find a paramedic. Otherwise, please get on a bus to go to the hospital," one of my teachers directs through a voice amplifier, her voice shaking.
    I watch as a boy with long brown hair approaches a paramedic while holding a jacket around his arm. When he removes it to show what's underneath I nearly gasp. He's burnt so badly that his arm is barely recognizable. He takes a small glimpse at it before falling to the ground. I hope he's only fainted from the sight of his arm and something worse hasn't happened to the boy.
    We're all lucky that the nearest hospital is only ten blocks away and within walking distance because the roads are so jammed up that there's only enough room for the emergency vehicles and school buses to get through. Parents must be parking blocks away and walking. What a mess.
    Just as I think things can't get much worse, a loud 'boom' radiates throughout the vicinity and flames shoot from the door and roof. Everyone on the sidewalk with me cries out with shock and terror but I just stand there gaping. My dad is in there and possibly Nathan and so many other kids. God, probably a quarter of the school population is still in there I estimate, while glancing around at the people who made it out. I crumple to the ground.
    "Ariella, I found Geoff. Are you-" It's Nathaly, I can tell she speaks through tears even though I'm not looking at her. I cut her off.
    "I think my dad was in there," I shout painfully and finally I feel the tears I’ve been holding back since the fire began, leak from my eyes and down my cheeks.
    I sit there for only a moment before pulling myself together and asking myself what my father would do. He would do anything to help. But there isn’t anything I can do, is there? There are firefighters and ambulances and cops and god, I’ll just get in the way.
 

Chapter 3
     
    After hours of sitting in my dad’s truck trying to hold back the tears that pour from my eyes, I realize that the only people left at the site are the firefighters still working on smothering the flames. I figure that it’s time to head home. I pull my phone from between clutch and look at my messages. I have a million of them. Most are from Mya, some are from other friends making sure I’m okay, but none are from Nathan or my father. I text Mya and my other friends back to let them know I’m fine, physically anyways. I also shoot my dad and Nathan texts both reading 'are you okay?’ Then I put my phone away.
    When