Fraud

Why did I pull that fire alarm? Was it because Riley and the others dared me to do it? Was it because I wanted them to think I was cool? That I was tough? Was it because I hated myself? Yes to all. But the real question is: how did this all happen? It was no coincident that it happened right when, or before or after I pulled it. All I know is that I’m not really a hero. It just seems that way. It seems that way because someone through a lit cigarette in the washroom trash can, and a four-eyed freshmen, Neil Parker, was still in the washroom stall when the fire alarm went on, and he ran into the wall when he was panicking to get out, becoming unconscious. It seems that way because everyone in the school could have ended up like Parker if I didn’t pull that alarm.

Ever since then everyone around school has been cheering for me as I walk by, calling me a hero, even the jocks were giving me props when they walk by me. The girls seemed to dig me, but every time they smiled or winked at me, I started feeling guilty, because I didn’t deserve this attention. At the same time it felt so good to be called a hero. No one ever respected me in my life and the only reason they respect me now is because I pulled it, I pulled that red handle, the handle throughout childhood was marked to never touch as a joke. The anticipated punishment for such an act has always been enough for me to never have visual eye contact. That is why. I didn’t know about the fire. The horrific problem is Riley and his gang dared me to do it and I did it. Suddenly after everyone was outside for three hours, the principle comes out and asks who pulled the fire alarm. I say it was me. While I stand there, waiting for my punishment, the sure visit to the office, to wait the police cars, to await juvenile court or something, but instead he congratulates me, says I saved the school. This is the lottery of all lotteries. This is the epiphany of awesomeness. How and why. How can anyone run into this kind of luck? How is it possible? Do I have some great spirit looking after me?

The principle told me that there was a fire in the boys up stairs washroom. He said someone through a lit cigarette in the trashcan and left, and finally, that Parker nearly died in there. Then the last few days everyone’s been treating me like a god. They hosted an assembly congratulating me for my quick thinking. I just felt guiltier. I wish I didn’t pull that alarm but if I didn’t, the whole school wouldn’t be here. That wasn’t the worst of it. When I ran into Riley again he said he knew who through that cigarette in the trashcan.

It was Eric Demote. One of the only people in the school who smoked. He usually smokes in the washroom in between classes. He must have forgotten to put the cigarette before he threw it in the trashcan. That would have lit some paper towels and cause a fire to build up, and he didn’t know Parker was still in one of the stalls. After Parker ran out of the washroom, into the wall and became unconscious he would have started suffocating in there while he wasn’t conscious. After Riley told me that, he said he was going to tell the principal and get him expelled so that Riley would be a hero for turning him in. He was jealous of me because of my “good deed” that he wanted a piece of it. After all, he was the one who dared me to pull it. After my talk with the principal, I realized that the fire wouldn’t have started if I didn’t pull that fire alarm.

Riley went and told the principal and after he was done, Demote was called down to the office. I guessed that he was in for it but after he was finished they called me down. I went into the principal’s office, he told me to sit down, I sat down, and he told me that Demote told him that the fire started after the alarm went on. Now it all makes sense. Demote was in the boys washroom, smoking his cares away, and just when he was about to take his tenth drag, he hears the fire alarm pound against his ear drums. He panics, rushing to get out of the washroom, not bothering to put out the cigarette before he throws it in the trashcan. He was in too much of a hurry to get outside. Because of me. That was ten seconds before Parker rushed out and ran into the wall. Smoke from that trashcan start building up in that room, and the unconscious Parker suffocating while he’s out. Because of me.

After our talk, I go back to my class and see Riley in the hallway, starring, smiling, at me. Did he know? The next day, instead of people cheering for me as I walk by, they start staring at me, this time they’re not happy. The girls don’t bother looking at me, and the jocks are shoving me into lockers. Now I’m back to where I started, a nobody. I got a suspension, but I’m not alone. Demote got a suspension too for almost burning down the school, but that doesn’t mean we became friends later on. We didn’t. That’s right. That’s how this all happened. Because of me. It was because of me. It wasn’t a coincident that it happened right when, or before or after I pulled it. It was because of me. It was my fault. It wasn’t a coincident. It was my fault. I’m not a hero. I’m a fraud.