Chasing the Browns

Chapter Twenty Six - Part One

Chapter Twenty Six - Part One

The last time I’d woken up, it had been to darkness.

This time, it was flames.

Flames.

I bolted out of my sheets, screaming.

I swore, I’d never moved so quickly in my life.

I could barely hear my feet padding on the floor against the roaring of the flames next door.

Next door.

The study room.

She had been here.

Heart pounding, I darted towards my window, yanking it open.

Thick smoke billowed out through the window, choking me before I could breathe in the fresh air.

Gasping, I drank in the fresh air like it was water, heaving and inhaling like I would die if I didn’t.

Then I turned around, prepared to make for the door when I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to get out.

The flames.

Eyes widening and choking on the thick, charred smoke, I stuck my head out of the window, my vision obscured by smoke, screaming for help.

No one answered my calls.

Heart hammering and palms sweating, flames raging at the other side of my room, devouring the floor and the study room next door, I yelled at the top of my lungs, screaming until my throat was hoarse and tears were running down my face as hope began to die inside me.

My pyjamas clung to me like it was part of my skin, and my skin was so sweaty and sticky that sweat ran down my forehead like rain.

The heat was rising and I was finding it harder to breathe.

Sobbing now, I grabbed the side of the windowsill so hard my knuckles turned white, and I was screaming again.

Nothing but the wind answered my calls.

Of course, it was far too early in the morning for people to be awake.

But I couldn’t accept it.

I crumpled against the windowsill, screaming against the pane, my sobs muffled, choking on tears, my throat hoarse.

I could feel my body weakening, and when I reached out for the windowsill, trying to grab it again to heave myself up and call for help, my knees collapsed beneath me, and I fell to the ground, slumped against the wall.

The flames were even closer now.

And my screams came out as whispers, barely audible over the roaring.

My heart hammered inside me like it would break if it thumped anymore.

The flames kept getting closer, and all I could do was watch helplessly, sobbing and whispering as they crept towards me…

I could feel them on my skin, even if they were just feet away.

They raged higher and higher, licking the ceiling, greedily engulfing the room.

And I felt my eyes slowly beginning to close…

And I felt one last tear leaking out of the side…

And I hear one last breath escaping me…

And then—

Nothing.

*

When my eyes opened to a world so bright it hurt them, and my head throbbed so much it felt like a tonne of bricks, my first initial thought was: I’d rather be unconscious.