Please don't hesitate to provide feedback! It would very much be appreciated!
Here is the prologue if you are interested:
I got a letter from my pen pal today. He’s incredibly special. He was the only one who really talked to me after my accident. Everyone else had sent get well cards or balloons and disappeared, but he stuck around, knowing that a friend had been what I really needed then.
**
I rushed to get everything in my bag, knowing in the back of my head that I’m going to forget something. Today was exam day and I could not afford to be late or unprepared.
“You’ve worked for this all your life, [name]. Don’t you dare screw this up now.”
MC: “Alright, pencil, pen, paper, tissues, erasers, extra clothes if I throw up on myself, lunch bag... What else?”
Mom: “[name] you better get going! Go, hurry up, you’re going to be late for the exam!”
MC: “I know, I’m just double-checking if--”
Mom: “Get out of here, go!”
She gave me a kiss on the cheek and pushed me out the door. I protested a bit, saying that I forgot to get something, but the woman is surprisingly strong and wouldn’t budge. I gave up and gave her a nervous smile.
Mom: “Good luck, honey. I believe in you. You can do this!”
“She’s right. I can do this.”
I arrived three minutes before the exam room’s doors closed. I was out of breath since I ran my way here, and I noticed that some of the people in the room--teacher included--gave me dirty looks.
“So much for staying invisible.”
A majority of the seats were already taken so I made my way to the very last seat, near the window, on the front row.
Teacher: “Alright, class. The first part of your exam will be handling chemicals. You are to conduct an experiment using three of the chemicals available in the room. What experiment you conduct will be entirely up to you. The second part of your exam is to write a 4-page essay on your experiment. State your thesis, step-by-step process, and the result.”
Teacher: “You have approximately 8 hours to complete the exam. Any late submissions will automatically result in a failing grade. You may start.”
I already knew what I wanted to do. I was going to demonstrate the similarities of the physical and chemical properties of different alkali metals and test the increasing reactivity of group one metals.
Basically, I’m gooing to drop some cool metal things in water and see if they explode or not.
I got up from my seat and went on the hunt for lithium, sodium, and potassium. Then, I set up my station, put on my safety goggles, gloves, and coat, and began my experiment.
First, I dropped the lithium in a dish filled with water and the reaction produced red flames.
”Cool!”
Next, I took the sodium, dropped it in another dish of water, and watched the spectacular reaction between the two elements. It was better and faster than the lithium reaction but...
“Pretty sweet, but I want more boom.”
Before moving on to the potassium metal, I took a quick break to wipe my goggles clean. Then, I felt a light tap on my shoulder.
Teacher: “How are you doing, Hughes?”
MC: “The experiment is going smoothly, sir.”
Teacher: “Ah, I see you’re handling alkali metals. Be careful you don’t spill any water, alright? It’s extremely dangerous.”
MC: “Don’t worry, sir, I won’t.”
And then, it was as if everything happened in slow motion.
The teacher had started walking away, so I turned around to get back to work.
And the next thing I know, my arm knocked over a vial of water, spilling it onto the potassium metal, which resulted in a huge explosion...right in front of me.
But something was wrong.
“Potassium didn’t react with water like this. At least not this big. And it should produce purple sparks... But it’s not. I should know, I’ve handled it before. So what--”
Before I could finish forming the question in my head, the teacher had already answered it.
Teacher: “This is cesium metal, not potassium! Who was the last person that used this and mislabeled the contents?!”
His voice started to drown out as I felt a stinging pain in my eyes and realized I had taken my goggles off before the explosion.
At that moment, I was alone.
I could not hear the screaming in the room, or the cries for help, or the authoritative instructions from the teacher. No, every sound was muddled and all I could see....
Was the dark.
Any advice or constructive criticism you want to give will be incredibly helpful (: