The spring breeze blew through the open window disturbing the jotters on the desk. Mrs MacDonald was in the middle of an experiment, and let them fall to the floor with a slap. She glanced at them momentarily before looking back to the metal in the flame.
Magnesium burns brightly when it is on fire and Margot MacDonald gripped the tweezers tight having expounded her favourite lesson. She found that she couldn't quite bring herself to let them go.
She sighed, to mark the end of a long morning and looked round the room. The first time you give a first year a bunsen burner, there is always a need for the fire blanket. This Margot had to hand, just right there on the desk. She was tired of the routine. Tired to the bones. Not even magnesium held light for her now. But, nevertheless, the script must be followed and, remembering that safety was first, she told Amanda Reid that the blanket was there. Amanda was sensible. She’d know just what to do when it came to it.
So it came to pass that in the moments after the experiment, and right on cue, Stuart Petrie set a small fire on his desk. Afterwards the students reported that the fire was followed by the crash at the window. Though some remember this part differently and said it was almost eerily silent, apart from Stuart's screams at the other side of the room.
They said that half the students ran to Stuart with Amanda to douse the flames on his left arm while the other half ran, just in time, to see Mrs MacDonald hit the biology lab roof below. The tweezers she had been holding lost to the undergrowth. Magnesium, an element they’d remember.
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