Torn Apart

Chapter 5

Everything passed by so quickly, Lilly was hardly aware of the steering wheel in her vice-like grip. Her head was still spinning in the silent roar of her car.

It was as if her world had been taken by an invisible hand, and shaken upside down. This couldn't be her driving this car; she was watching from above, like a birds-eye view of everything this very familiar red-head was doing. This wasn't Lilly, how could it be? Lilly didn't jump to a resolution. She didn't jump into her car and just drive away, leaving her family behind. Lilly wouldn't. Not ever.

But she did.

Henry and Emmett were probably still at the hospital, stunned at her shocking exit. She winced at the thought of it; the men sitting in the waiting room, watching her dash out the door like hell was at her heels. How would they get home? Call a cab maybe? She was their only immediate available ride. They probably thought she had gone out of her mind!

She set her sights on the road with grim determination. None of that mattered at the moment. Jamie first; he was her priority.

Lilly's knuckles went bone-white around the steering wheel. Her foot lowered gradually, satisfied at the revving engine but completely unaware of the needle slowly moving past the '120' mark on the speedometer. She couldn't hear anything; she couldn't see anything other than the deadly road before her as the rushing blood pounded in her ears.

'Jamie.'

She thought forcefully, as if she could send all her thoughts to his very mind. 'Jamie, I'm coming!'

Through the corner of her eye, she saw thick black smoke billowing up above the trees, making her heart throb painfully in her chest. Grabbing the wheel, she jerked it to the right down a hollow, graffiti-stricken street. This was far from her usual route, but it definitely was faster.

Block letters in a dripping red paint on a brick wall read: "JESUS LOVES YOU!" And "SMILE!" Not two feet away from "Jesus Loves You," was very realistic, spray-painted skulls and crossbones. It was odd, the variety of people interested in vandalism. It was as if spray-painting happy, positive words on a storage wall; reversed the criminal actions of it.

As the tiny car leaped over a boulevard, the blazing building came into view. The car slammed against the ground and skid to a stop outside the house.

The heat was almost unbearable. Lilly shielded her eyes from the blinding light of the violent fire. Neck swiveling around, she looked up and down the street. The fire trucks and ambulance hadn't arrived yet, she had beaten them to the punch. Now it was all she could do, was to wait for them to arrive.

Moments passed; a minute; an hour. Where were they? Her heart pounded painfully and her eyes scanned the streets once more in panic. Jamie was still in that house, and if she didn't do anything he was going to die.

As if by impulse, her feet started forward. Somewhere, what rational part of Lilly's brain that was still coherent screamed in protest, 'Don't do it, that's suicide!'

Her legs kept moving, like a rollercoaster rolling downhill she broke into a jog. Sirens wailed behind her, their frantic cry splitting the peace of the night. She hardly bothered to look behind her, a desperate need awakening in her gut, propelling her forward. She could get Jamie out of there before they even reached the door.

CRACK!

A second-story window shattered in the heat. Shards rained down around her, a myriad of glass-dust and ash settling in her hair like snow. It didn't take a second thought for her to step into the fiery house of Hell.

At first, she blinked her eyes a few times to adjust to the blinding heat. She saw the kitchen table, containing bills and leftover supper, melting in molten flame. It was impossible to discern the charcoal from the food. Pictures that had once hung in the hallway were cracked and unrecognizable.