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Description
**voiceover**
Those who are confused could be considered lost because they are confused of where they are going
Those who are sad could be considered angry as through anger you cause sadness to others
Those who are selfish could be considered selfless because those who see their selfishness are selfless towards them
So why are you confused, sad and selfish? Human weakness is the result of years of following what others have done, imitation, fear
For those with no care would believe this like law and believe it is a prophecy, but I do not and I will not
That is what I'm here to show you

**Change scene**
"Welcome class of 2012, every year I stand up here and celebrate your leaving us and I celebrate the achievements that you have made…"
The lights flash off during the principles speech at Melcott high school. The gym doors slam shut, and the lights buzz and they blackout. Many of the students are panicking and some year seven students are screaming in the darkness. The speakers buzz and a sharp monotone voice booms out of the speakers: "welcome class of 2012, this year it is no time for celebration instead it's a time of fear and redemption. Some of you have heard this voice and do not believe it could be true, and others are clueless of who this is. I will not tell you because that will ruin the game, that right we're going to play a game. Inside this gym there are 3 keys, they all together unlock a box upstairs which leads to your freedom. Inside that box is a key that will safely open the doors without the doors detonating. In order to get the 3 keys to open this box you'll have to follow the rules. The rules are simple, no one may leave until the game is complete and everyone must have their chance of freedom. If you break any of these two rules then there will be serious consequences. But for our 1st part of the game, inside this gym there is a place where all is revealed, a place of isolation but knowledge, for when you are inside you can see inside people and their faults and problems but outside you can only stare into yourself, when you have entered this place of insight you seek a spark of insight which will lead you to the 1st clue. You have heard the rules, you have heard the clues, let the game begin"

The teachers look to Mr. Vendell the communications manager. He's toggling with switches, and buttons of his device, trying to find out where the voice came from. Mr. Auldrin grabs him by his shirt yelling "where did the sound come from". The principle yells for everyone to stay calm but the students now are in great distress, many have fainted and others have began to show signs of hyperventilation. Some teachers too have become uneasy, some even broke into tears. I look at my classmates around me; they all look scared as if this voice has suddenly taken complete control over them, a control many of them have not felt before. I sat there quietly remembering the voice, in its seemingly apathetic way, he referenced many things in his message but it was confusing having them all build up in my head. At first I thought it was a practical joke, but I soon learnt other wise.

The gardener who I called Goatee because of his thick black goatee and facial hair, he must have panicked and started slamming against the door and before I knew it he was knocked back by what he later described a jolt of lightning. He screamed in pain as his hands were burned by the fierce electric shock, a student before that had ran for another door but stopped himself when he saw what happened to the gardener. Only moments after the gardener shocked himself, a large video on the projector appeared, it showed a large tank of petrol surrounded by barrels labeled, C4, I gulped. Knowing every movie ends badly when C4 was involved, the camera then swerved and we all saw the arch with our schools name and emblem on it about 50metres away from where we saw the C4 and petrol. The video kept playing showing every exit to the gym surrounded by petrol and C4. By now many students had fainted and those who weren't hyperventilating were now. The teachers were arguing among themselves of how no one could have noticed all the barrels of C4 during the assembly.

I returned to my thoughts about the mystery man's voice, thinking about what all of it could have meant. I looked around, knowing no doubt that the clue was in the gym somewhere, as he obviously doesn't want us to leave, I looked at my form's head teacher. Mr. Beezle, he teaches chemistry year 11 and 12. He taught my oldest sister too. I looked around and found many students trying to ring the police, there was no signal. It was like a horror film coming together better and better, I only hope that the result in this horror film is a one with us surviving.

I stood up now ignoring my teachers who told us to sit down and stay calm, I walked up to Mr. Beezle and began telling him about my idea: "I think I know of the place that he's talking about. Inside the sport office, there is reflective glass, from outside we can't see in but we can see ourselves, and inside we can look outside and watch the faults of the students playing sport just like his clue". He signaled Mr. Auldrin, my sport and health studies teacher, to come towards us. All 3 of us entered the sport office, as the lights didn't work, we used my phone to light the inside of the room, we could barely see but the light helped. Mr. Beezle and Mr. Auldrin were searching through the office while I was shining the light so they could see. I re-thought about the clue. I tried the lights again, nothing; I didn't expect them to work. As I flicked the switch I had a burst of insight like the clue described. The light switch, the light bulb casing and the idea of insight came together like the pieces in a puzzle. I stood on a chair as I tried to unscrew the light bulb casing, by now both teachers were staring up at me wondering what I could be doing. I took off the light bulb casing and found a small laser pointer shaped light bulb in its place. I jumped down, knowing that couldn't have been the light bulb from before, lighting the room. Both teachers stared at me with a sense of disbelief and shock. I flicked the light switch, buzz, and the laser pointer light shines against a wall in the shape of a key. Mr. Auldrin steps on a desk to grab at the key shaped light; he feels around and displaces a brick. Inside he finds a key and a 2-way radio, he pushes speak: "ahhhh help help us we're at 174 Weldon Avenue, Melcott high school, please someone help us". All three of us looked at each other with the same scared expression on our faces, we recognized those voices, and they were the women at the front desk.

We didn't have time to panic that no one would realize that we were missing until 3:30, it was just after 9. We wouldn't make it that long, 6 hrs with over 1000 worried kids and 100 scared teachers, we wouldn't make it that long, and we wouldn't make it till lunchtime. Over the PA system we heard the monotone voice once more: "I see you have made it past the 1st game, I congratulate you. I feel I should warn you, the next game will not be so easy; the key you found will open 2 areas, the 1st lock which leads to your freedom and the second to your indoor pool. Be weary though it is no longer water which resides in the base of the pool, instead it is Hydrofluoric acid, for students who don't do chemistry this is an extremely corrosive acid, it has the ability to vaporize skin in a matter of seconds. Also in the room is a deadly nerve gas for those who history you will be familiar with mustard gas, used in World War 2. To advance from this game you'll have to swim, to the bottom of the pool and get the key, be weary though things are not as they seem and they results can be swung either way". Some students scream as they see the key fall from where it was hanging into the corrosive acid.

I go back to sit down with the rest of my classmates as some of the teachers talk about what to do. A group of teachers and a few students start walking to the change rooms' entrance through to the swimming pool. I begin to stand up but Mr. Beezle tells me to follow him and Mr. Auldrin instead. We head upstairs where we attempt to open the two upstairs classrooms; both have been blacked out so we can't see inside. A boy called Adam runs up the stairs and hands us back the key, he leaves just before we open the door with the key. The entire room is wrapped in darkness, I shine my phones light to look around, all desks are in a circle around a large box, and we jump over the ring of desks. The box is bigger then the desks, with 3 small edged key holes in its side. We insert the 1st key and turn, nothing happens but we hear the sound of gears and chains moving inside. We take out the key and try it on the other door but the key is too small for the larger key hole.

We go downstairs after searching for any other clues, but there is nothing of any use up there. We hear the screams of classmates and coaches, teachers and peers. I run down to see the bodies of five professional swimmers bodies bubbling and floating to the top of the swimming pool with more being thrown into the water by Mr. Jarrett, the muscled swim coach. He's got an evil smile on his face, then I see a couple of other teachers handing him kids to throw in as well, other students and teachers are slamming on the door trying to save them. I guess Mr. Jarrett and the others, don't care about the kids and just want to get out of here. They run out of students so Mr. Jarrett throws in the teachers that were helping him. None make it; the water has turned a dark shade of purple/red. He has run out of things to throw and he has run out of air, he leaps towards the door but he has already breathed in too much of the mustard gas, he starts pulsating and wriggling on the ground, foam seeps from the corners of his mouth, then he stops. He lies dead in a pool of blood seeping from every opening in his body. The teachers finally break down the door and are able to get into the change rooms. There were no survivors anyone unlucky enough to have been trapped in the room, was now in the water, vaporized. Many students at this point were crying at the loss of their dead classmates. 40 were presumed murdered by the swim coaches attempt to get the key. All students sat down, a united group of fear and sorrow. I stood up again; Mr. Auldrin was guarding the door to the change rooms so no one could access the pool. While the other teachers were discussing what to do. He knew at this point and said that I could enter until the teachers made up their mind of what to do. I entered the change rooms and stared at the pool, I looked at the benches next to the pool, and the showers next to the pool to wipe off excess chlorine on our swimsuits. I was about to step out of the change rooms when I thought of the showers, I think it was adrenaline at this point which drove me to enter the pool area. I held my breathe.

I knew the teachers would be mad but I had to take the risk, I ran to the showers and started them, I knew it, the water started and poured onto my school uniform. The water made oxygen so I could breathe, other students saw me and started to shriek, Mr. Auldrin poked his head out of the door to the pool area and started yelling at me to come back in. I had to block out his voice so I poked my fingers into my ears and looked to the benches. I saw a sparkle off on the far side of the benches, I could reach it if I was fast enough in one breathe, but I couldn't make it back with my remaining amount of breathe. I was remembering my history and chemistry classes. "Mustard gas, mustard gas, chlorine gas, CHLORINE GAS! Chlorine oxidizes when it's mixed with air" It had been a miracle I had remembered that. Mustard gas was also chlorine; when chlorine is mixed with air it oxides making oxygen gas and chloride. I unblocked my ears yelled at Mr. Auldrin that everything was fine and I began my run. I could hear the shrieks of my classmates and the screams of the teachers. I slid towards the far side of the bench grabbing the sparkling object; I picked my self up and ran to the edge of the pool. And took a deep breath hoping I was right, "ahhhh" I took a deep breath of air and ran back to the showers. I examined the object before I ran back into the change rooms, out of breathe and tired, I slipped down and bowed my head, resting.

I woke to the sounds of Mr. Beezle yelling and shaking me asking if I was alright. I was dazed but I stood and apologized but he seemed more happy then worried. He was saying how heroic I was, that was cut short by Mr. Auldrin saying how stupid I was to go in there without telling him of his plan. I looked up with a startled expression; he must have understood that he wouldn't have let a student run into a room filled with poisonous gas and corrosive acid. Mr. Beezle also must have realized that I didn't go in there with a plan, but he kept that to himself. I looked at the object again, it was small, curved like a hook and silver with a hole on each end, the hole wasn't any bigger than a pencil point would have poked through it. Mr. Auldrin began to say that It was trash and useless, but Mr. Beezle didn't quite agree. He grabbed the object and began for the door; Mr. Auldrin stopped him by grabbing him at the back of the shoulder. Mr. Beezle, who was mostly timid and shy, talked in a calm but energetic way: "if a teenager at this school who has his entire life to live for can risk his life to get this, this metal hook, then I can have the courage to find a use for it". Mr. Auldrin immediately let go and lowered his head with a sense of disappointment. Mr. Beezle turned around, gave me a small sudden wink and stepped out of the door, he too ran for the showers. He started searching for a place to put the metal hook, until he had an idea, he ran over to the edge of the pool and opened up the connection to where the water usually comes out of, he saw it bubbling, knowing that this meant that the hydrofluoric was coming in and out at the same pace, he looked just to the left, he discovered the use of the metal hook, it was to transfer the acid out of the pool. He dipped his hand into the acid, screaming in pain but he must have finally got the hook into the connection where the acid was coming out of, he turned the metal hook to face a drain and ran back to the showers. He was still screaming in pain and I saw some of his skin slip off his hand, but apart from that he was unharmed, he ran back into the change rooms and slid down next to me and he too rested.

After 10 or 20 minutes Mr. Auldrin went into the pool area and retrieved the key from the middle of the pool. He came into change rooms just as we heard the beginning of the monotone man's voice start again: "ha-ha I have to congratulate you, you have beaten two of my games, and unfortunately this time you were not so lucky to have no casualties. I told you this game was all about choices, you can see the men who prefer sacrifice over logic. So let's quickly talk, the next game will start soon and we'd hate for you to miss it. The next game which so happens to be the last is all about choices, in this case who makes those choices Is up to you. In each section of your gym, there is an equal amount of C4 under the floorboards, don't try and look for them as they will merely detonate immediately, but don't worry you will soon see that they are very real. But now the game is all about choices, its simple one batch of C4 must detonate which ever one is up to you, the one with the greatest weight will detonate, the others with less will be safe. But heed my warning those who are selfish will see that the result is not what they understand. You have 3 minutes until the heaviest weight detonates. Good luck". A timer appears on the projector counting down from 3:00. Students run and scream finding a place where there isn't many people, the gym is in chaos, and the timer is slowly reaching the number 2:00.

We stay in the change rooms now with probably over 100 people in it, the pool too is full. Everyone is still screaming and panicking but Mr. Vendell and Goatee are unusually relaxed. The timer ticks down onto 1:00, more screams and more shuffling and running around the gym, Mr. Auldrin looks at me with a look of severe fear. I look back at Mr. Vendell and Goatee, then back at Mr. Auldrin, he's staring at Goatee's hand, then I realize why he's looking so scared, Goatee's hand is dark red and is beginning to heal. I remember now health studies, a burn can heal as early as one day from up to a month depending on size, depth of the burn and intensity of the burn. Recovery symptoms can be noted as pus, scabs or reddening to white recovery of the skin. It's been just over an hour and his burn that sent him flying back a meter in the air has already started healing. I see Mr. Auldrin clenching his fist; the timer is less than 0:30. Mr. Auldrin runs at Goatee, pushing him out into the hallway, but Mr. Vendell strikes him from behind knocking Mr. Auldrin down to the floor. I slide to knock Mr. Vendell off his feet; he strikes me to the floor as well. Goatee grabs me and throws me back into the change rooms, through a crack in the floor I see a red light flashing rapidly; we don't have hardly any people in the change rooms though. "heaviest weight detonates", the clue, it was referring to Newton weight, since we have less people in the room there is more weight on the floor, I look at the timer 0:04, I jump out of the door way, 0:00, all doors in the gym close, I'm cut off from the change room door as I hear the screams of the explosion coming from the change rooms, through the crack under the door I see the flash of the explosion and feel the heat come through the bottom of the door. I yell but I get hit by Goatee. Mr. Auldrin grabs him by his hair and throws him into a wall, knocking him unconscious. Mr. Vendell grabs Mr. Auldrin in a choke hold, but I kick him between the legs and he falls over. Mr. Auldrin grabs him by the neck, as the next message from the monotone voice booms over the PA system. "I see that you have decided who lives and who dies, it's a shame you didn't understand the rules of the game, you had to offer the chance of freedom, but you all were selfish and let others do the work for you, now those who did not help will not survive, GAME OVER!" Mr. Auldrin and I look at Mr. Vendell who has a key edged at the back of his arm and in a place no one else could have seen. He stops fighting back: "we had too, we had to play by the rules, we had to sway the weight, there had to be an obstacle, we had to save those who we cared about, take it, take the key we are finished". He rips the key off his arm and we hear the strange clockwork again and both Mr. Vendell and Goatee burst into flames. The sprinklers start to turn on but it isn't water that is flowing, its acid. We hear the screams of other students trying to escape the shut doors, those who tried for the door saw the explosives that the monotone voice talked about. We run upstairs to the large box and insert the two keys into the final holes of the box. Click, the box door swings open; it's empty with enough room for three or four people to fit inside. We jump inside to escape the acid streaming out of the water system and close the door. Screaming then Silence, then it all goes Dark.

**Aftermath**
"This is lead investigator Jacobson at 174 Weldon Avenue, Melcott high school, witnesses said they heard multiple explosions and then the school gym and office were on fire. Fire department chief Swellow is here at the scene. Fire chief Swellow, what happened?"
"To what we know the explosions originated at each entry of the gym and were rigged to a large supply of explosives, there were no survivors"
"Sir, sir we found two"
"What, one second"
"Mr., Mr. what's your name?"
"I'm, I'm Allan Auldrin, of Melcott high school, and did you find the boy?"
"Are there any other survivors?"
"No we were the only two" Mr. Auldrin breaks into tears as I'm carried out of the gym
"What happened in there?"
"We had to play a game…" Mr. Auldrin fell unconscious
"What happened son?"
I stare at him blankly and look around. The fire chief seems to understand my distress and leaves me to the paramedics.
"Umm sir we seem to have found something, before the fire broke out a door opened, it seemed to have been a decoy door as there were no charges attached to that door"
My eyes widened, we could have escaped the entire time!
"Sir there is one more thing; the technicians' found a voice recording on one of the burnt bodies"
"Hello Mr. Vendell, you know me but you will not be able to tell from my voice, you are to do a task for me, and yes it is not optional. You and Gardener Mitchell have both been given parts to play in my game. You will be the brains and he will be the Braun, you will have to enable a new audio track to be played today and yes, I will be watching if you fail this task or try to contact the police I will kill your daughter and wife. Gardener Mitchell also has a task to complete; you will assist him under all circumstances. I need you to come to the back of the gym so I have to give you something of great importance.
"What was that?"
I stand up and walk over to where the sound was coming from, the paramedics come up to me but the fire chief stops them. I pull the key to the 1st lock of the box and try it on a door lock; it clicks into place and opens. I look towards the fire chief and collapse but I don't get up for a while.

By David La Galia

Description
**voiceover**
Those who are confused could be considered lost because they are confused of where they are going
Those who are sad could be considered angry as through anger you cause sadness to others
Those who are selfish could be considered selfless because those who see their selfishness are selfless towards them
So why are you confused, sad and selfish? Human weakness is the result of years of following what others have done, imitation, fear
For those with no care would believe this like law and believe it is a prophecy, but I do not and I will not
That is what I'm here to show you

**Change scene**
"Welcome class of 2012, every year I stand up here and celebrate your leaving us and I celebrate the achievements that you have made…"
The lights flash off during the principles speech at Melcott high school. The gym doors slam shut, and the lights buzz and they blackout. Many of the students are panicking and some year seven students are screaming in the darkness. The speakers buzz and a sharp monotone voice booms out of the speakers: "welcome class of 2012, this year it is no time for celebration instead it's a time of fear and redemption. Some of you have heard this voice and do not believe it could be true, and others are clueless of who this is. I will not tell you because that will ruin the game, that right we're going to play a game. Inside this gym there are 3 keys, they all together unlock a box upstairs which leads to your freedom. Inside that box is a key that will safely open the doors without the doors detonating. In order to get the 3 keys to open this box you'll have to follow the rules. The rules are simple, no one may leave until the game is complete and everyone must have their chance of freedom. If you break any of these two rules then there will be serious consequences. But for our 1st part of the game, inside this gym there is a place where all is revealed, a place of isolation but knowledge, for when you are inside you can see inside people and their faults and problems but outside you can only stare into yourself, when you have entered this place of insight you seek a spark of insight which will lead you to the 1st clue. You have heard the rules, you have heard the clues, let the game begin"

The teachers look to Mr. Vendell the communications manager. He's toggling with switches, and buttons of his device, trying to find out where the voice came from. Mr. Auldrin grabs him by his shirt yelling "where did the sound come from". The principle yells for everyone to stay calm but the students now are in great distress, many have fainted and others have began to show signs of hyperventilation. Some teachers too have become uneasy, some even broke into tears. I look at my classmates around me; they all look scared as if this voice has suddenly taken complete control over them, a control many of them have not felt before. I sat there quietly remembering the voice, in its seemingly apathetic way, he referenced many things in his message but it was confusing having them all build up in my head. At first I thought it was a practical joke, but I soon learnt other wise.

The gardener who I called Goatee because of his thick black goatee and facial hair, he must have panicked and started slamming against the door and before I knew it he was knocked back by what he later described a jolt of lightning. He screamed in pain as his hands were burned by the fierce electric shock, a student before that had ran for another door but stopped himself when he saw what happened to the gardener. Only moments after the gardener shocked himself, a large video on the projector appeared, it showed a large tank of petrol surrounded by barrels labeled, C4, I gulped. Knowing every movie ends badly when C4 was involved, the camera then swerved and we all saw the arch with our schools name and emblem on it about 50metres away from where we saw the C4 and petrol. The video kept playing showing every exit to the gym surrounded by petrol and C4. By now many students had fainted and those who weren't hyperventilating were now. The teachers were arguing among themselves of how no one could have noticed all the barrels of C4 during the assembly.

I returned to my thoughts about the mystery man's voice, thinking about what all of it could have meant. I looked around, knowing no doubt that the clue was in the gym somewhere, as he obviously doesn't want us to leave, I looked at my form's head teacher. Mr. Beezle, he teaches chemistry year 11 and 12. He taught my oldest sister too. I looked around and found many students trying to ring the police, there was no signal. It was like a horror film coming together better and better, I only hope that the result in this horror film is a one with us surviving.

I stood up now ignoring my teachers who told us to sit down and stay calm, I walked up to Mr. Beezle and began telling him about my idea: "I think I know of the place that he's talking about. Inside the sport office, there is reflective glass, from outside we can't see in but we can see ourselves, and inside we can look outside and watch the faults of the students playing sport just like his clue". He signaled Mr. Auldrin, my sport and health studies teacher, to come towards us. All 3 of us entered the sport office, as the lights didn't work, we used my phone to light the inside of the room, we could barely see but the light helped. Mr. Beezle and Mr. Auldrin were searching through the office while I was shining the light so they could see. I re-thought about the clue. I tried the lights again, nothing; I didn't expect them to work. As I flicked the switch I had a burst of insight like the clue described. The light switch, the light bulb casing and the idea of insight came together like the pieces in a puzzle. I stood on a chair as I tried to unscrew the light bulb casing, by now both teachers were staring up at me wondering what I could be doing. I took off the light bulb casing and found a small laser pointer shaped light bulb in its place. I jumped down, knowing that couldn't have been the light bulb from before, lighting the room. Both teachers stared at me with a sense of disbelief and shock. I flicked the light switch, buzz, and the laser pointer light shines against a wall in the shape of a key. Mr. Auldrin steps on a desk to grab at the key shaped light; he feels around and displaces a brick. Inside he finds a key and a 2-way radio, he pushes speak: "ahhhh help help us we're at 174 Weldon Avenue, Melcott high school, please someone help us". All three of us looked at each other with the same scared expression on our faces, we recognized those voices, and they were the women at the front desk.

We didn't have time to panic that no one would realize that we were missing until 3:30, it was just after 9. We wouldn't make it that long, 6 hrs with over 1000 worried kids and 100 scared teachers, we wouldn't make it that long, and we wouldn't make it till lunchtime. Over the PA system we heard the monotone voice once more: "I see you have made it past the 1st game, I congratulate you. I feel I should warn you, the next game will not be so easy; the key you found will open 2 areas, the 1st lock which leads to your freedom and the second to your indoor pool. Be weary though it is no longer water which resides in the base of the pool, instead it is Hydrofluoric acid, for students who don't do chemistry this is an extremely corrosive acid, it has the ability to vaporize skin in a matter of seconds. Also in the room is a deadly nerve gas for those who history you will be familiar with mustard gas, used in World War 2. To advance from this game you'll have to swim, to the bottom of the pool and get the key, be weary though things are not as they seem and they results can be swung either way". Some students scream as they see the key fall from where it was hanging into the corrosive acid.

I go back to sit down with the rest of my classmates as some of the teachers talk about what to do. A group of teachers and a few students start walking to the change rooms' entrance through to the swimming pool. I begin to stand up but Mr. Beezle tells me to follow him and Mr. Auldrin instead. We head upstairs where we attempt to open the two upstairs classrooms; both have been blacked out so we can't see inside. A boy called Adam runs up the stairs and hands us back the key, he leaves just before we open the door with the key. The entire room is wrapped in darkness, I shine my phones light to look around, all desks are in a circle around a large box, and we jump over the ring of desks. The box is bigger then the desks, with 3 small edged key holes in its side. We insert the 1st key and turn, nothing happens but we hear the sound of gears and chains moving inside. We take out the key and try it on the other door but the key is too small for the larger key hole.

We go downstairs after searching for any other clues, but there is nothing of any use up there. We hear the screams of classmates and coaches, teachers and peers. I run down to see the bodies of five professional swimmers bodies bubbling and floating to the top of the swimming pool with more being thrown into the water by Mr. Jarrett, the muscled swim coach. He's got an evil smile on his face, then I see a couple of other teachers handing him kids to throw in as well, other students and teachers are slamming on the door trying to save them. I guess Mr. Jarrett and the others, don't care about the kids and just want to get out of here. They run out of students so Mr. Jarrett throws in the teachers that were helping him. None make it; the water has turned a dark shade of purple/red. He has run out of things to throw and he has run out of air, he leaps towards the door but he has already breathed in too much of the mustard gas, he starts pulsating and wriggling on the ground, foam seeps from the corners of his mouth, then he stops. He lies dead in a pool of blood seeping from every opening in his body. The teachers finally break down the door and are able to get into the change rooms. There were no survivors anyone unlucky enough to have been trapped in the room, was now in the water, vaporized. Many students at this point were crying at the loss of their dead classmates. 40 were presumed murdered by the swim coaches attempt to get the key. All students sat down, a united group of fear and sorrow. I stood up again; Mr. Auldrin was guarding the door to the change rooms so no one could access the pool. While the other teachers were discussing what to do. He knew at this point and said that I could enter until the teachers made up their mind of what to do. I entered the change rooms and stared at the pool, I looked at the benches next to the pool, and the showers next to the pool to wipe off excess chlorine on our swimsuits. I was about to step out of the change rooms when I thought of the showers, I think it was adrenaline at this point which drove me to enter the pool area. I held my breathe.

I knew the teachers would be mad but I had to take the risk, I ran to the showers and started them, I knew it, the water started and poured onto my school uniform. The water made oxygen so I could breathe, other students saw me and started to shriek, Mr. Auldrin poked his head out of the door to the pool area and started yelling at me to come back in. I had to block out his voice so I poked my fingers into my ears and looked to the benches. I saw a sparkle off on the far side of the benches, I could reach it if I was fast enough in one breathe, but I couldn't make it back with my remaining amount of breathe. I was remembering my history and chemistry classes. "Mustard gas, mustard gas, chlorine gas, CHLORINE GAS! Chlorine oxidizes when it's mixed with air" It had been a miracle I had remembered that. Mustard gas was also chlorine; when chlorine is mixed with air it oxides making oxygen gas and chloride. I unblocked my ears yelled at Mr. Auldrin that everything was fine and I began my run. I could hear the shrieks of my classmates and the screams of the teachers. I slid towards the far side of the bench grabbing the sparkling object; I picked my self up and ran to the edge of the pool. And took a deep breath hoping I was right, "ahhhh" I took a deep breath of air and ran back to the showers. I examined the object before I ran back into the change rooms, out of breathe and tired, I slipped down and bowed my head, resting.

I woke to the sounds of Mr. Beezle yelling and shaking me asking if I was alright. I was dazed but I stood and apologized but he seemed more happy then worried. He was saying how heroic I was, that was cut short by Mr. Auldrin saying how stupid I was to go in there without telling him of his plan. I looked up with a startled expression; he must have understood that he wouldn't have let a student run into a room filled with poisonous gas and corrosive acid. Mr. Beezle also must have realized that I didn't go in there with a plan, but he kept that to himself. I looked at the object again, it was small, curved like a hook and silver with a hole on each end, the hole wasn't any bigger than a pencil point would have poked through it. Mr. Auldrin began to say that It was trash and useless, but Mr. Beezle didn't quite agree. He grabbed the object and began for the door; Mr. Auldrin stopped him by grabbing him at the back of the shoulder. Mr. Beezle, who was mostly timid and shy, talked in a calm but energetic way: "if a teenager at this school who has his entire life to live for can risk his life to get this, this metal hook, then I can have the courage to find a use for it". Mr. Auldrin immediately let go and lowered his head with a sense of disappointment. Mr. Beezle turned around, gave me a small sudden wink and stepped out of the door, he too ran for the showers. He started searching for a place to put the metal hook, until he had an idea, he ran over to the edge of the pool and opened up the connection to where the water usually comes out of, he saw it bubbling, knowing that this meant that the hydrofluoric was coming in and out at the same pace, he looked just to the left, he discovered the use of the metal hook, it was to transfer the acid out of the pool. He dipped his hand into the acid, screaming in pain but he must have finally got the hook into the connection where the acid was coming out of, he turned the metal hook to face a drain and ran back to the showers. He was still screaming in pain and I saw some of his skin slip off his hand, but apart from that he was unharmed, he ran back into the change rooms and slid down next to me and he too rested.

After 10 or 20 minutes Mr. Auldrin went into the pool area and retrieved the key from the middle of the pool. He came into change rooms just as we heard the beginning of the monotone man's voice start again: "ha-ha I have to congratulate you, you have beaten two of my games, and unfortunately this time you were not so lucky to have no casualties. I told you this game was all about choices, you can see the men who prefer sacrifice over logic. So let's quickly talk, the next game will start soon and we'd hate for you to miss it. The next game which so happens to be the last is all about choices, in this case who makes those choices Is up to you. In each section of your gym, there is an equal amount of C4 under the floorboards, don't try and look for them as they will merely detonate immediately, but don't worry you will soon see that they are very real. But now the game is all about choices, its simple one batch of C4 must detonate which ever one is up to you, the one with the greatest weight will detonate, the others with less will be safe. But heed my warning those who are selfish will see that the result is not what they understand. You have 3 minutes until the heaviest weight detonates. Good luck". A timer appears on the projector counting down from 3:00. Students run and scream finding a place where there isn't many people, the gym is in chaos, and the timer is slowly reaching the number 2:00.

We stay in the change rooms now with probably over 100 people in it, the pool too is full. Everyone is still screaming and panicking but Mr. Vendell and Goatee are unusually relaxed. The timer ticks down onto 1:00, more screams and more shuffling and running around the gym, Mr. Auldrin looks at me with a look of severe fear. I look back at Mr. Vendell and Goatee, then back at Mr. Auldrin, he's staring at Goatee's hand, then I realize why he's looking so scared, Goatee's hand is dark red and is beginning to heal. I remember now health studies, a burn can heal as early as one day from up to a month depending on size, depth of the burn and intensity of the burn. Recovery symptoms can be noted as pus, scabs or reddening to white recovery of the skin. It's been just over an hour and his burn that sent him flying back a meter in the air has already started healing. I see Mr. Auldrin clenching his fist; the timer is less than 0:30. Mr. Auldrin runs at Goatee, pushing him out into the hallway, but Mr. Vendell strikes him from behind knocking Mr. Auldrin down to the floor. I slide to knock Mr. Vendell off his feet; he strikes me to the floor as well. Goatee grabs me and throws me back into the change rooms, through a crack in the floor I see a red light flashing rapidly; we don't have hardly any people in the change rooms though. "heaviest weight detonates", the clue, it was referring to Newton weight, since we have less people in the room there is more weight on the floor, I look at the timer 0:04, I jump out of the door way, 0:00, all doors in the gym close, I'm cut off from the change room door as I hear the screams of the explosion coming from the change rooms, through the crack under the door I see the flash of the explosion and feel the heat come through the bottom of the door. I yell but I get hit by Goatee. Mr. Auldrin grabs him by his hair and throws him into a wall, knocking him unconscious. Mr. Vendell grabs Mr. Auldrin in a choke hold, but I kick him between the legs and he falls over. Mr. Auldrin grabs him by the neck, as the next message from the monotone voice booms over the PA system. "I see that you have decided who lives and who dies, it's a shame you didn't understand the rules of the game, you had to offer the chance of freedom, but you all were selfish and let others do the work for you, now those who did not help will not survive, GAME OVER!" Mr. Auldrin and I look at Mr. Vendell who has a key edged at the back of his arm and in a place no one else could have seen. He stops fighting back: "we had too, we had to play by the rules, we had to sway the weight, there had to be an obstacle, we had to save those who we cared about, take it, take the key we are finished". He rips the key off his arm and we hear the strange clockwork again and both Mr. Vendell and Goatee burst into flames. The sprinklers start to turn on but it isn't water that is flowing, its acid. We hear the screams of other students trying to escape the shut doors, those who tried for the door saw the explosives that the monotone voice talked about. We run upstairs to the large box and insert the two keys into the final holes of the box. Click, the box door swings open; it's empty with enough room for three or four people to fit inside. We jump inside to escape the acid streaming out of the water system and close the door. Screaming then Silence, then it all goes Dark.

**Aftermath**
"This is lead investigator Jacobson at 174 Weldon Avenue, Melcott high school, witnesses said they heard multiple explosions and then the school gym and office were on fire. Fire department chief Swellow is here at the scene. Fire chief Swellow, what happened?"
"To what we know the explosions originated at each entry of the gym and were rigged to a large supply of explosives, there were no survivors"
"Sir, sir we found two"
"What, one second"
"Mr., Mr. what's your name?"
"I'm, I'm Allan Auldrin, of Melcott high school, and did you find the boy?"
"Are there any other survivors?"
"No we were the only two" Mr. Auldrin breaks into tears as I'm carried out of the gym
"What happened in there?"
"We had to play a game…" Mr. Auldrin fell unconscious
"What happened son?"
I stare at him blankly and look around. The fire chief seems to understand my distress and leaves me to the paramedics.
"Umm sir we seem to have found something, before the fire broke out a door opened, it seemed to have been a decoy door as there were no charges attached to that door"
My eyes widened, we could have escaped the entire time!
"Sir there is one more thing; the technicians' found a voice recording on one of the burnt bodies"
"Hello Mr. Vendell, you know me but you will not be able to tell from my voice, you are to do a task for me, and yes it is not optional. You and Gardener Mitchell have both been given parts to play in my game. You will be the brains and he will be the Braun, you will have to enable a new audio track to be played today and yes, I will be watching if you fail this task or try to contact the police I will kill your daughter and wife. Gardener Mitchell also has a task to complete; you will assist him under all circumstances. I need you to come to the back of the gym so I have to give you something of great importance.
"What was that?"
I stand up and walk over to where the sound was coming from, the paramedics come up to me but the fire chief stops them. I pull the key to the 1st lock of the box and try it on a door lock; it clicks into place and opens. I look towards the fire chief and collapse but I don't get up for a while.

By David La Galia