I'm Your Enemy (Gilbert Blythe X OC)

Cursed

Gilbert and I keep walking, but something pulls me away from our conversation.

"Do you hear that?" I ask Gilbert. He looks at me before realizing what I'm talking about.

"I do." He focuses on the sound a little longer before looking back at me. "It sounds like screaming."

He's right. It sounds like horrible screams. My heart sinks to my stomach.

"It's coming from the café." I say. My steps hurry into a run. Gilbert follows behind me. We turn the corner to the café and there it is. People scream as fire surrounds the café and the apartment above it. Memories of my parents' death filters my head. tears sting my cheeks as I keep running. Fire men surround the building and I approach one. Panic speaks for me instead of my consciousness. "Is everyone out of the building?!" I practically shout at him. Men are throwing buckets around, filling them to the brim with water, and throwing it onto the building to reduce fire. 

"Stay calm, Miss." He says. His voice tries to keep calm as he shouts orders at the other men.

"Stay calm? Stay calm?! The building is burning down to ashes!" 

"Florence!" A voice shouts over at me. I know that sweet voice. Dani runs to me. She looks like she just bathed in dirt and cinder, dress ripped to shreds, face dark with ash from the fire, smudged with tears running down her cheeks like waterfalls. "Florence!... Ron..." She coughs. "Ron and dad! They're still in the building!" She roars. Her hands wipe over her ash stained face.  My head turns dizzy. That's it. They're going to die just like my parents did.  My breath hitches. I feel Gilbert's presence behind me. I look at me. His eyes lock onto mine, for a second I feel comfort. Just by looking at him. I look back at Dani. 

"It's going to be okay." I tell her. Before she has a chance to respond, I feel my feet approach the burning house.

"Florence, don't!" I hear Gilbert yell behind me, but it gets muffled by me getting in the house. I'm surrounded by fire. The heat radiates onto my skin, but the adrenaline makes the pain numb. Everything's on the floor. I'm still on the lower level, trying to find my way to the stairs. The café tables are broken on the floor, already caught on fire. I cough as the toxic air fill my lungs. The ash burns in the air, stinging my eyes, making it harder to see.

I finally reach the stairs. Dodging falling objects as I go up. I refuse to let more people I love die. Especially like this. Burned in their own house. Just like mom and dad.

"Mr. Hawks!" I yell. "Ron!" The hem of my dress catches fire. I step on it, drawing out the fire. I reach the second level. And I find the door to Ron's room. My hand reaches for the metal knob, but the heat on it stabs my skin. I grab the skirt of my dress and cover the knob and put my hand over it so the heat doesn't burn me. I turn the knob. It's not opening. "Ron!"

"Florence?" I hear his voice from the other side of the door. "Is that you?"

"Yes!"

"What are you doing?! Get out of here!"

"No! I'm not going to leave you here! Open the door!"

"I can't." I hear him trying to not sound panicked. Poor Ron. He must be so scared. "There's something blocking the door."  I take a step back, careful not to come too close to the increasing fire. I look at the door, trying to find what's blocking it. There it is. I piece of the ceiling has cracked inwards, into the house, it blocks the door completely from being opened.

"Shit!" I exclaim. 

"Just get out of here, Florence!" 

"Don't tell me what to do! We're both getting out of here alive." I look around for something that can bust the door open. I find a chair laying on the floor. That can do. I grab it, lifting the heavy object with all my strength. I hit the knob with the chair, using every muscle I can.

Finally, after a few hits, the knob drops on the floor an I throw the chair to the ground. Adrenaline curses through me as I kick the door open. Relief fills my consciousness as I see Ron unharmed. His closet and bed are nothing but angry fire. I reach him, pulling his body into an embrace.

"I'm so glad you're okay." I kiss his ashy cheek.

"Come on, we need to get out of here. The building is collapsing." He tugs on my arm, trying to get me to the door.

"Not yet. Mr. Hawks is still in here somewhere. He's gotta be upstairs." I tell him. 

"There's not enough time for that." He says, voice raspy from breathing in all the smoke. "The ceiling is about to collapse along with all of us if we don't get out of here." We reach the stairs as he holds a tight grip on my arm. 

"No. We need to save him."  I release from his grasp, breathing heavily. my lungs are filled with nothing but smoke, making my body ache for fresh oxygen. Ron takes my hands in his.

"We can't save him. We don't know where he is, it would take time to find him under all this debris. We have mere seconds to get out of here, before everything is gone. We'd be lucky to even make it out the front door just the two of us." His eyes plead for me to go with him. But, what about Mr. Hawks? Another parental figure gone in a house fire. I must be cursed. I cave in. nodding, already feeling my eyes sting even more, tears forming rapidly. "Good. Come one. We don't have a lot of time." We rush down the stairs. We can already hear the yearn of the house, warning us of the few seconds we have to get out. I see the exit of the building on the other side of the room. We run. Finally the ceiling collapses. I hear the house falling to pieces above me, and my life flashes before my eyes. I'm not going to make it out in time. Debris falls from above us. Ron still grips me firmly. We keep running. A big explosion rises from the inside of the house and just in time, we jump out of the exit door.