One hour remains.

It was at this moment that Josef only had one goal in mind, getting the lighter, but the problem was that it was located on the second floor, and Josef didn't have any experience scaling walls, especially if they weren't designed to be climbed.

He walked towards the school walls, shivering as he took every step, his cold and shirtless body shaking as the blizzard attacked him from every direction. As he looked for a way up, he couldn't find any sort of foothold that he could use as leverage. There was a window in front of him, but the width of the ledge wasn't enough for even a toe to fit, so it wasn't an option. Not to mention that it was locked from the very beginning, so because of that, the window route was a no go.

Josef looked around his surroundings again, finding it difficult to see anything in the distance due to the heavy fog. He walked a few feet away from the main building, and saw something huge and thick, a large tree. Josef remembered that he loved to nap under that same tree during lunch, but he had sort of forgotten it was there, as he couldn't nap there like he used to because of the seemingly neverending blizzard. He could definitely try to climb up and jump the distance to the window, the only problem was that he didn't know how to climb a tree either. Josef wasn't discouraged by the fact that he didn't know how to climb it, but he felt fear rise within him as he stared at the thick brown tree that could be the key to their survival. He was a bit scared, which was a normal reaction, as he knew that he needed to at least give it a try for the sake of his classmates.

Josef hyped himself up, he jumped up and down to get his blood pumping. He approached the brown tree, and he was now ready to climb. He first tried the running approach. He walked away from the tree by a few feet and dashed. He felt the shivering cold as the harsh winds blew on his body as he ran. He was now only a few dozen inches from the tree, and it was at this moment that he lifted his legs and planted them on the trunk of the tree. He thought that he could simply use the momentum from the sprint in order for him to run up the tree and grab the lowest branch to hold onto because there was a slight incline on its trunk, but Josef soon realized that it wasn't a good idea as he fell to the ground face first.

The snow cushioned Josef's fall, and it left him with minimal wounds, but now that he knows the running approach is off the list, he begins to ponder what to try next.

Fifty five minutes remain.

Josef thought of another approach, he would simply hug the tree and scooch himself upward. He approached the tree again, placing his arm around the thick circumference of the trunk. He lifted both of his legs, and now he was ready to climb.

It was quite a weird sight to see if you have no context of what's going on, a half naked man hugging a tree, it was a bit hilarious from the outsider's perspective, but if you know that it was a matter of life and death, it would definitely change the mood.

As soon as Josef lifted his legs up, readying himself to climb, he soon realized that there was another problem, he couldn't move up the tree. He tried his hardest to push himself up, but he simply couldn't for some reason. He thought that it was because of his inexperience, his lack of strength, or both of those factors combined, but what he did know was that he just couldn't do it. Josef placed his feet back on the ground, his body was now covered in wounds and splinters from the repeated, intense tree hugging action. He punched the tree in frustration, further adding a small wound to his fist, but he didn't even flinch from the pain as he knew that his classmates have it worse.

"What's taking him so long?" said Caden.

It has been almost twenty minutes since Josef left the group of students in order to talk to Mr. Fatmouth.

"I wonder if he's still talking to Mr. Fatmouth." said Matt.

"Maybe he hasn't and he's still trying to get Mr. Fatmouth's attention." replied Josh.

"Who knows, maybe he's just slacking off." said Matt

"Let's have a bit more faith guys, I know he wouldn't do anything stupid at a time like this." exclaimed Caden.

He knew that Josef would always try to keep his word whenever he was up to something, and he knew that he could easily trust Josef even with his life if he needed to.

Forty minutes remain.

The total headcount of the fallen students now reached a dozen, and as Josef still hadn't returned, Caden grew anxious. He thought of a few scenarios in his head, and when he thought that Josef might have collapsed himself, he grew worried.

"I'll go and see what Josef's up to." exclaimed Caden as he got up from the not so warm ground that he has been sitting on, snow sticking to his butt and still shirtless.

No one disagreed with Caden, and he quickly dashed towards where Josef went, he could feel colder and colder as he ran faster from the cold wind hitting his shirtless body. As Caden got closer, he could see a figure in the distance. He squinted his eyes to see who it was, and he was relieved to see his best friend.

During this time, Josef tried countless more tactics on how to climb the tree, but as he stood on the ground, all of them seemed to fail.

"Dude! What the fuck happened!?" yelled Caden, who was terrified to see Josef's body covered in wounds, blood dripping from countless spots.

"Oh!" Josef was surprised from Caden's sudden scream, "Nothing much, just climbing a tree."

"Why the fuck would you climb a tree?" asked Caden

"Do you see that room up there?" pointed Josef

Caden nodded as he saw the open windows of the room with the lights open.

"I saw Mr. Fatmouth use a lighter to light a cigarette, and he left it in the room." stated Josef

"Wait! Mr. Fatmouth smokes? since when?"

"More importantly, help me climb this tree so we can get it." said Josef.

"You know I can't climb trees." said Caden.

"Just give it a try, you're much stronger than me."

Caden tried Josef's earlier strategy of hugging the tree and pushing himself up, he was able to move up a little bit, but it still wasn't enough for him to reach the lowest branch.

The two pondered for a minute until Josef had a thought.

"What if I stand on your shoulders? I think I can reach the branch." proposed Josef

"What if I'm the one who's gonna climb?" asked Caden.

"Do you really think I'm strong enough to carry you?"

"Fair enough." Caden replied.

Josef slowly climbed Caden's back as he was knelt over so Josef could easily get over his shoulders, Josef was now sitting on top of Caden's shoulders, Josef braced himself as Caden slowly got up from his kneeling position as he tried to stand, he easily got up as Josef wasn't that heavy to begin with.

Now it was Josef's time to shine. The plan was for him to stand on Caden's shoulder, climb the tree by climbing the lowest branch, slowly climb to higher branches, jump to the open window, and grab the lighter. It was quite a simple plan, yet it wasn't. Josef could still feel the fear of falling, but he knew that it was a small sacrifice for the better. He knew that if he did this successfully, he would be able to save his classmates, and they would be able to be accepted back into the school, surviving Mr. Fatmouth's punishment.

Josef slowly stood up from Caden's shoulders, almost losing his balance, but luckily Caden's head was there to act as a stabilizer to hold on to. With Josef now standing on Caden's half naked body, he was now able to reach the lowest branch of the tree. He grabbed the branch, but he couldn't pull himself up since Josef wasn't strong enough to even do a pull-up. Caden immediately noticed this, and he helped him up by pushing Josef's feet up using his hands, and with the additional help, Josef was able to pull himself up the branch, with both arms and legs clutching the sturdy branch tightly like a cat stuck on a tree.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Josef bravely stood up from the branch, he didn't lose balance this time as he grabbed the next branch above him. Since the next branch was a bit lower, he was easily able to climb it. Josef repeated this process until he was as high as the window, he could see the light where their hope lies, all he needed to do was jump, but at this moment, his fear struck the roof as jumping was the most crucial and dangerous process.

Josef took a deep breath as he readied for the jump, he knew that he needed to do this and he will, he must do it for his classmates. With their not-so-memorable faces in his mind, Josef jumped as high and as far as he could. He reached out his hands midair, and in the decisive moment, he was able to grab on to the ledge of the window.

"COME ON! PULL!" yelled Caden

Josef was struggling to pull himself up, he couldn't do it with the branch, and now he has to try with the ledge. He pulled as hard as he could, but his grip slowly loosened.

"COME ON!" Caden yelled again.

He repeated his yells as Josef continued to struggle, he knew that he wouldn't last ten more seconds holding on to the ledge, so in one last ditch effort, he shouted as loud as he could and pulled himself up. Because of the increased adrenaline, Josef was miraculously able to pull himself up the window, and he entered the room.

Josef wasted no time as he grabbed the orange lighter from the table. He was ready to slowly climb down from the window, but as he heard footsteps walking towards the door of the room, he made a last-second decision and hid under a table.

The door opened. Josef was silently hiding, covering his mouth and nose just in case the person heard him breathing. He knew he was going to be in trouble if he got caught. It was only after a few seconds that Josef finally heard the entity doing something.

"beep beep beep." he heard

He inferred that the person was trying to call someone.

"Hello?" said the person to the phone, because of the softness and high pitch of the voice, Josef was easily able to deduce that it was a woman who was in the room with him, probably in her late twenties or early thirties.

"The plan will now be carried out" said the woman.

"Yes exactly"

"The substance isn't done yet!?"

"But we're already prepared here! The others are already in position!"

"Have they been gathered in the room?"

"Good, just hurry up with the substance."

"I don't care! Finish it as fast as possible! I don't want any further delays. He's been waiting for a while, don't you dare disappoint him."

The woman hung up as she said the last line, footsteps could be heard again, and as Josef heard the door creak as it opened and closed, he sighed in relief as he was safe.

Josef got out from under the table, confused about what the woman was talking about, he couldn't understand the context of what the call was about as he wasn't able to hear who was on the other end of the call. Josef placed it aside for now.

He looked around the room. He saw a lot of thick document binders that filled the large bookshelves that made up the left and right walls, there was a large black carpet that looked expensive as it had golden embroidery, a lampshade for light, and dozens of picture frames containing images of people that Josef didn't know. He took interest in one particular photograph, it was that of an ordinary looking family. He grabbed the photograph and looked closer. In it, there was a man standing up, a woman sitting down on a wooden chair, and a newborn on her arms. He didn't pay attention to any detail, especially since the photo was in black and white, and because of the photo beeing too worn out, he couldn't even see their faces clearly, he simply thought that they looked like such a happy family. He put the photo back and headed for the window.

It had just occured to him that this was the principal's office, and the family on the picture must have been the principal's, but he didn't know if the principal was the man or the woman since the principal hasn't appeared during this school year yet for unknown reasons, it was always the secretary that appears in their place. Now that he thought about it, the woman earlier could have been the secretary.

"But if this was the principal's office, then why was Mr. Fatmouth here?" He thought to himself.

Josef almost made the mistake of just taking the lighter, if he did, they wouldn't have anything to set ablaze to warm them up. He took a few binders filled with paper and tossed them outside the window.

"Heads up Caden!" lightly yelled Josef.

"Oh shit!" yelled Caden as he dodged the falling binders in the last second, "Be careful, you fucking idiot."

Josef was now ready to go down. With a lighter in his pocket, he hung down from the window, his hands clutching the ledge of the window. He let go, and he landed safely with the additional help of the layered snow that cushioned his fall.

They had done it, they now had their one and only hope in Josef's pocket, hope in the form of an orange lighter that can produce a small flame. It was small, yet they knew that it was enough to save everyone's life.

Josef and Caden dashed back to the group.

Thirty-five minutes remain.

The unconscious were on the brink of death while the boys were shaking more and more, there were now fifteen students who had passed out from the cold, and only half the class remained sitting. During the time when Caden and Josef were gone, others had also tried to escape outside the school but ran into the same situation of magically going backwards even though they went in a straight line.

Josh grew impatient as he couldn't stand the cold any further. He slowly lost hope as he felt like it had been an eternity while he waited for the two boys. Just as Josh slowly closed his eyes, succumbing to the unforgiving blizzard, he saw two figures dashing toward him. He swung his eyes open and stood up in excitement.

"Josef!, Caden!" yelled Josh, waving his hand.

In response, Josef lit the lighter, and a small and bright flame appeared in the middle of the blizzard. Josh saw the light, and excitement arose from within him, the others saw this as well, and some began to tear up. They knew that it was fire, a warm fire that could save them, a flame that gave them hope.

When Josef arrived at the site, he wasted no time and grabbed nearby rocks, lining them up in a circle while he shoveled out the snow from the inside of the circle using his hands. While Josef prepared the fire pit, Caden looked for sticks that they could use. When he finished gathering, he placed all the sticks in the middle of the circle, scattering them while the ends met in the middle, Josef lit up a piece of paper, which burned quickly as he held it up to the sticks, hoping that the flame would transfer to the sticks. The paper completely burned out, it had failed to do the job.

Josef said "Fuck it." as he burned the entire binder. A large flame erupted in his hands, and he threw the burning binder on the sticks in surprise. After a few seconds filled with anticipation, they heard a crackle, and the sticks started to burn. Josef sighed in relief as they now had a source of warmth, and the boys carried the unconsious and laid them near the fire.

Most of the girls started to cry from relief, while the boys had a huge smile on their faces, they were still shirtless, but at least the fire warmed them. They had done it, they had secured warmth, their classmates were saved, and they simply needed to wait until the punishment was over. During this moment, no one talked, they all stared at the fire. It was their friend, their savior, their hope. One by one, the unconscious woke up.

"Thanks... everyone." said the leader.

They were surprised when the leader had finally woke up when they weren't looking. The girls swarmed and tightly hugged their leader as she had finally woken up from her shivering sleep.

Twenty minutes remain.

Ten minutes remain.

Five minutes remain.

One minute remain.

With just a minute left, class 1-F approached the school gate. Mr. Fatmouth was waiting inside, staring at his watch.

"Ten, nine, eight...", Josh counted down.

"Seven, six, five..." the entire class joined in.

"Four, three, two, one.."

As the time hit zero, Mr. Fatmouth clapped his hands almost sarcastically and walked towards the door. Everyone's face lit up with joy as Mr. Fatmouth pulled out the key from his pocket, inserted it into the lock, twisted it to the right, and opened the door. The entire class felt the surge of heat that came from the heater near the doorway, they basked in its warmth for a minute until it was interrupted by Mr. Fatmouth.

"Go back to the classroom, I have some.. good news to tell you all." said Mr. Fatmouth. For some reason, he looked a bit down.

The students happily followed Mr. Fatmouth, they already knew what he was going to say.

Josef kept looking around while they walked back to the room. He found it strange that there was no noise to be heard anywhere, the only noise was from his class. There were no other students or even teachers outside. All the doors were closed so he couldn't peek inside any of the other classrooms. He was a bit curious but ended up ignoring it since he was tired from the punishment.

Mr. Fatmouth opened the classroom door, and the students saw the messy room that they had left, nothing had changed from the last time they left it, the chairs were still broken, the windows shattered, it was chaos, yet it was a warm chaos.

The students stood as they awaited Mr. Fatmouth's good news, they had no chairs to sit on, so standing sufficed.

"As of this moment, you are all students of Hanamaru Gakuen, welcome back, I hope that you have fun as you continue with your re-education." stated Mr. Fatmouth.

He quickly left the chaotic room and closed the door, but his sad expression still lingered on his face. The students celebrated in joy while they put on their beloved uniforms. Girls hugged, boys fist bumped, and Caden danced like a monkey, while Josef pondered about what Mr. Fatmouth just said, he has heard him say "re-education" twice now, and he was curious on what it meant.

The students continued with their celebration for a few more minutes, but it was cut short when they heard something from outside the door. It sounded like a vacuum. Matt approached the door, trying to find out what the sound was. A purple gas seeped through the cracks of the door.

"What the fuck is this!" exclaimed Matt as he coughed.

Matt tried to get away from the gas, the class panicked, and everyone rushed to the other side of the room as they tried to get as far away from the gas as possible. Even though there were no windows because they were shattered, the purple gas still covered the entire room before leaving through the open windows. Everyone started to cough and one by one the students started to drop like flies. Caden was next to Josef, but as he glanced at his surroundings, he saw Caden lie face down on the floor. Josef's vision was now blurry, and he was only a few seconds away from succumbing to the effects of the purple gas. He saw the front door of their classroom open, and a figure wearing a gas mask entered the room as Josef's vision turned black.