Invisible Bonds

Chapter 4 ~ Abby

The next day I was in History, my last class of the day and I had it with Zoey. I got to class early and was resting my head on my pile of books I closed my eyes for a second. The screen was down and half the lights were already off, it was going to be a long period. After texting Josh I read more of Emma's journal until my alarm went off.

"Hey, you better put your head up before Mr. Edger sends you to the nurse," Zoey whispered shaking my shoulder.

Picking my head up I rubbed my eyes, "Thanks I had trouble sleeping last night."

Zoey tilted her head, "Sorry, any reason why?"

I looked into her eyes, my stomach turned. Glancing down at my books I took a deep breath. Do I tell her the truth? Could she handle that I was having nightmares again? According to Cory, Zoey didn't handle my kidnapping well at all.

"Nightmare," I muttered in a hushed tone.

Zoey started to open her mouth just as the bell rang causing Mr. Edger to waltz back into the room.

"To those who have started the do now, bravo, to those who have not, get to it, we have a lot to accomplish today."

The do now was written on the board in his choppy handwriting. It was a question about what we did the day before. Quickly I put down an answer as Mr. Edger was at his computer before a black and white picture of a tall burning building was projected onto the screen.

"Who can tell me the purpose of fire drills?" he stood up and clapped his hands together as he paced the front of the room.

A guy behind me raised his hand.

"Yes Danny?"

"Because there needs to be a backup plan for stop drop and roll?"

There were some giggles in the room as my teacher smiled. He raised one eyebrow.

"Not quite, has anyone seen this image before?"

The room was silent as Mr. Edger pressed his hand device to work the PowerPoint as he continued to walk through the aisles of desks.

"I will warn you the images are actual photographs from the event, some might find them a little upsetting."

A couple of girls by me shifted in their seats. I rested my head in my hand.

"Now the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, it was a true disaster that would leave traces of change that still affect today's world. This is a turning point in many ways for American and the workforce."

Staring at the image on the screen I kept myself from trying to yawn too much. Mr. Edger tended to call on those who yawned a lot in class more. Yet, the lack of sleep from the whole weekend was strong.

"See there was this fire in a building that made shirts. A box of scraps of cloth in this factory caught fire from. Now can anyone tell me by looking at this image what the building is missing?"

"Color?" a boy called out.

"Well yes, color film hasn't been invented yet, but physically what is this structure missing?"

Raising my hand halfway up, "Yes Abby?"

"It's missing fire escapes and the doors were locked from the outside while the workers were working to keep them from leaving," my voice came out even, Mr. Edger grinned.

"Abby here beat me to the punch line, have you learned this already?"

Glancing over to him then to the pile of books before me, "Um no, my great grandmother lived in New York during this era."