After the hysteria and panic simmered away to a dull but constant feeling, after the door swung open and the window watchers rushed in to help, after the girls dragged Chiaras body out with heavy and abrupt tugs and pulls, and after Chiara finally stopped diving in and out of consciousness and settled into a troubling unconscious state, the girls stood and argued about what to do next.

They had lifted her body onto one of the only tables left in the school, which they had found in the teachers staff room. The 8 girls that still remained conscious after the ordeal (therefore excluding Chiara, Steffi, and Olivia Shew, who had claimed she only felt light headed from 'blood loss') stood around chiara in a circle, debating over what was best for her.

"we need to get rid of her foot, its only gonna get infected and cause her more problems" Sophie had said, quick to chip in on the conversation.

"and how do you suppose we do that? we can't exactly wish it away can we" Abigail asked with just a pinch of attitude in her tone, dropping her hip down to one side and folding her arms.

"we chop it off, and then burn the wound" Sarah had retaliated, again offering her words of wisdom.

"yeah, and where do you think we are gonna get anything to cut it with, let alone burn it" Izzy debated, being a little sick and tired of Sarahs 'Know It All' attitude.

"well we could always get a knife from the astra foyer, from the table-" Joanna began, her voice was raspy from screaming and desperately tying to hold back tears.

"No way! there is no way I am going back down there!" Jemima rejected, her voice slightly raised and a look of disgust on her face.

"this isn't about you,Jemima! its about Chiara! we need to do whats best for her!" Alex added, feeling a sense of protectiveness over Chiara.

thats when the room bursted into a mix of voices, all of them rambling over each other, hoping their voice would be the loudest and stand atop all of the rest. The only girl that hadn't associated herself with the fight was Saskia, who stood back from it all next to the girls who had passed out. these guys are being ridiculous she thought, shaking her head. She looked to the girls who were unconscious and thought that they would be a better help in this situation than the live ones. She took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh, then proceeded to slam one of the cupboard doors shut. The girls stopped arguing and turned to her, the noise was so loud that Sophie had thought something had toppled over and broken a wall.

"Jesus christ you guys. you're acting ridiculous, get a hold of yourselves! we are here to help chiara, and we can't do that if you guys are just gonna argue and act like fucking 2 year olds!" She scolded, being genuinely astonished with how childish they were being. She took another deep breath and organised her thoughts. "ok, what are we gonna do" she spoke with her voice so soft that it was almost a whisper. She saw several mouths open at once, and quickly interfered to ensure the same burst of voice didn't Start again. "ONE at a time, please - Now, Abigail, would you like to start" she gestured to Abigail, who was sitting on the table.

"Well, I agree that we need to get rid of the foot. It'll get infected otherwise. And I know we can get a knife from... the foyer. But there is nothing to burn it with, which is kinda crucial." Abigail explained.

"yeah, but even if we did have something to burn it with, we couldn't just burn chiara. what if she wakes up? what if she wakes up before we can finish? we don't have any pain killers that we can give her." Alex added, raising a good and notable point.

"true. so, anyone have any suggestions on what to do?" Saskia questioned, looking tentatively around at everyone, beckoning them to provide a solution. After a long silence, girls started suggesting an array of ideas. Some were waved off as unlikely, and only a few were actually considered as possible solutions. Olivia had mentioned that there was a gas stove in the teachers staff room, which could light a rag taken from someones dress. Everyone had agreed, and Joanna had offered to go back down to get a knife with Abigail, as well as taking some rags from Lily's dress. Alex still protested against it, reiterating her point about the pain, so Sarah had said the best they could do is hold her down, tie a really tight rope around her leg to numb it a little, and hope for the best.

Finally, Joanna and Abigail returned with a lengthy serrated knife and multiple strips of fabric layered over their bent arms, Everyone exchanged nervous and scared looks, but no-one dared speak up.

Alex and Sophie took some of the rags and tightly tied down Chiara's hands and... foot. Sarah took the knife and held it tight in her hand. She readied her hand at Chiaras ankle, took a deep breath, and-

"Wait!" Jemima yelled, and immediately looked taken back by herself, she didn't even know she had said it until a few seconds later. She took a slow glance around the room and saw curious and impatient faces watching her. She searched her mind for something to say, but whatever she had intervened for had escaped her mind.

"uhh... nevermind" she cowered, then proceeded to move to the back of the crowd.

Sarah turned her focus back to Chiara's ankle, now filled with even more tension than before. The cuffed edge touched with Chiara's skin again, and instinctively Alex's and Sophie's grip on Chiara shoulders tightened.

Sarah slowly began to saw away at her flesh, a sickness entering her mind with each blood spilling stroke. She swallowed dramatically and cut faster, one hand bracing the mess of a foot that was left. Blood trickled and spurt from the cut, bits of flesh escaped on the knife and her hand was quickly becoming an even bigger mess of other peoples blood.

A terrible grinding and dusty noice filled the air causing Sarah to cringe at the sound. She briefly stopped her knife to realise she had hit the girls bone, its colour not white as you would expect but a damp red and yellow mixture. She felt her stomach in her throat and her heart pounding in her ears, but before she could lose her will and strength she started sawing again, much more aggressively and much more power in each movement than before.

Izzy looked on, being extremely anxious in her own skin. She couldn't deny the feeling bubbling around in her gut that something was going to go wrong, that Sarah would angle the knife wrong, or she wouldn't do it quick enough. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her hands were fidgeting on their own accord, and no matter how much she tried, her prying eyes always landed themselves back on Chiara's foot, the blood, spilling and dripping and flowing...

Sarah felt the knife's edge hit the table, so she explosively pulled the edge out of chiara's ankle. She took no time to be careful or sweet with it, she put the severed foot aside and quickly asked for the rag. Olivia - who was standing by the stove through the operation waiting for that order - lit the rag carefully on the blue flames and rushed it over to Sarah's hand before it could burn too much. Sarah grabbed the flame and brought it forward to Chiara's ankle. A slight movement sifted in Chiara's leg. Sarah felt the dread in her eyes as she looked towards Chiara's head. Her eye flittered and moved, Sarah realised that she was waking up. Almost on cue, Alex whipped her head around to Sarah, who had continued to frantically try to finish the wound,

"Sarah! Sarah! She's waking up oh my god! Sarah!" She Hyperventilated, but she had evoked fear in more than just Sarah.

"I knew this would happen! I knew you'd stuff it up Sarah! You've got to stop! She's waking up!" Izzy screamed, anger and desperation firing up in each fastened heart beat.

"No! I Have to finish the fucking burning!" Sarah screamed back, trying to prevent tears from running out of her eyes.

A noise had escaped from Chiara's mouth just then, and stabbing eyes from all around the room turned to look at her.

Her head shook slowly from side to side, her mouth letting whimpers and soft screams escape. Then, almost as if the entire world had stopped and the only sound in the room was the quick and anxious breathing of the girls, her eyes opened. Her scared pupils dilated and draining. She let out a scream that pleaded for them to stop, that begged for them to let her go, she cried and wailed all in that one scream, even though no words were ever said.

"You have to stop! Im telling you right now! Stop! STOP!" Izzy cried and screamed along with Chiara, and for a moment she thought she would stop, she thought that maybe she would drop the flame and stop. No. She continued, she had to finish this, to save Chiara, its for Chiara's own good.

Izzy felt courage and rage mix and twirl inside of her as she rushed over to Sarah almost as if in slow motion. Sarah didn't notice her coming in amongst the panic around her and the flailing of Chiara's body. Izzy swiped the fire out of Sarah's hand, immediately feeling the burn of the flame of the palm of her hand. Sarah's careful eyes followed the Flame, and instinctively did her best to catch it. Izzy stood in her way, using her rushing adrenaline to hold her back.

A horrifying chorus of screams echoed through the room, Izzy spun around to see what had happen-

The laughing crackle of fire burst into life atop of Chiara, the flames arms danced and stretched all around her body. The fire immediately roared to life, and second by second it started to eat at Chiara's pale freckled skin. Chiara's screams seemed muffled and even quiet in the presence of the fire's mocking.

Izzy froze, standing amongst the floating embers, feeling the heat on her skin. She watched Chiara, her restraints holding her down, she flailed on the table, attempting to roll from one side to another, gasping for breath, screeching and crying and being in such incredible pain. She saw panic, felt panic amongst her, blurry shadows of colour fleeted by which she concluded were people. She stood there, watching her skin turn from red to black and charred, she saw her flesh bubbling and popping and boiling. She saw her skin melting from the bone, she saw her hair curl and crack as it caught fire, the colour of lending itself to the bright complexion of the flame. Her restraints had caught on fire, finally they had burnt enough to release her weak and burnt limbs. Chiara lifted up an arm, desperately tried to, but with that her skin had ripped from her and stuck to the table, it stretched and parted and snapped (imagine when you pull apart a cheese toasty).

Izzy stood among the smokey and dry air, just watching, the warm yellows and orange's of the fire had hypnotised her, taken her into an ever slowing yet infinitely faster version of reality. She felt a hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of the room, twisting her around and heading toward the door. She saw girls with hand full's of water rushing back into the smoke, droplets spilling from their fingers and hissing as it touched the ground. She heard dry screams pounding at her ears and a crazy whistling filling her head. She felt an ever growing heaviness around her yet the air itself tasted burnt and ashy.

She turned her head around one more time, her dashing red hair bounced through the air and beautifully matched with the fiery war in front of her, she saw a charring body on the floor, barely moving yet still fighting with the strength of all of the girls combined. The room quickly became a smokey cloud, only the faint glow of the dancing fire could be seen through the thick grey darkness.