Two hours after going to sleep, I awoke to a shrill alarm with a start, kicking off the bed and into the air. Three things went through my head in the second or so before I touched down.

1. Hmmm, that's not my alarm. It's much too high-pitched, and isn't intermittent.
2. Gosh, there's a lot of smoke in here.
3. Hey, is that the ground?

"Wow, it must be a fire. As in, stuff is actually burning," my sleep-addled brain mumbled to itself. "I guess if the building is going to burn down, I should probably grab my EM homework. It would really suck if that went up in flames and I had to do it all over again before Friday." Pulling on my bathrobe and grabbing the backpack which contained the precious homework in progress, I checked the door for heat, made my way down the stairs, and out into the cool night air.