I glance at the trees around me, searching the shadows. Seeing nothing, I text back, "Well it's too late now." I return my phone to my pocket and gaze at the inferno in front of me that used to be the local high school. The flames are reaching up into the night sky, fueled by the oxygen flowing throughout the school through the blown-out windows and the chemicals in the science lab. My eyes burn from the heat, but I don't turn away for another few seconds, watching the building crumble and burn. Then I turn and leave the parking lot, walking away from the fire. I walk two minutes down the road and climb back into my bedroom through my window, like I have a hundred times before. Once I'm settled on my bed, I glance out my window one last time, seeing smoke rising above the trees that block the school from view. Then I pick up my phone, which I'd left on my bed, and dial. "9-1-1, what's your emergency?" "I just looked out my window and saw smoke in the air!" "Okay, ma'am, calm down. Where are you?" I say my street name, and then let out a gasp. "Oh my gosh, I think it's the highschool!" I yelp. I hear typing on the other end. "Okay, I've dispatched first responders to the location. Has the fire spread? How big is it?" "I don't know," I say truthfully. I don't know how much bigger it's gotten. "I'm in my bedroom. There are trees blocking my view." "Okay." I can hear typing on the other end. "Just stay put, don't go near it. Firefighters should be there soon." I don't reply---what is there to say? I hang up and toss my phone onto my nightstand. I sit cross-legged on my burgundy sheets, watching the smoke rise higher and higher, stretching up towards the moon. Sirens break the silence as firetrucks screech past my house toward the school. They won't save it. I do my job well. Too well, in some peoples' opinions. In the morning the police will arrive, and see the footprints, the spilled chemicals, the way it spread too fast to be accidental. They'll question every single kid who goes to that school whose shoes match the footprints, and find no leads, because I wore the most common shoes in our town. It'll be ruled an accident, because why would someone burn a school? Or perhaps they'd arrest an innocent teenager. Because no one ever suspects the mayor's perfect daughter.
