The White Witch

The White Witch - 27

"Bridget? Are you ok? Where's Leah?" Lucas asked, placing his warm hands on my shoulders. My eyes snapped to the shed behind him, unable to say a word. 

"Shit." He whispered, running a hand through his hair. My eyes met his and he gave me a pained look, shaking his head. I wanted to ask him what that look meant, but something told me I wouldn't like the answer. 

Another loud crack filled the air and I looked up to see more of the roof was caving in, finally bringing me to my senses. The world was moving at full speed once again and now that the haziness was gone from my mind, I knew I needed to do something. 

Lucas reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. I didn't have time to see who he was calling, because in the next second I was darting forward. 

I reached the shed in seconds and wrenched open the door. It felt almost as though someone else was possessing my body, my legs were acting before I even had the chance to think about it. The bitter smoke filled my nostrils almost as soon as I walked through the door.

I looked around me, my eyes watering a little from all of the smoke. 

I gasped as I took in the sight before me. One of the women was lying on the floor, emitting low groans of pain. The table had collapsed from the force of some of the roof that had fallen on top of it and the woman appeared to be trapped under it. 

Leah was also on the floor. She didn't look hurt, but her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving.

I couldn't see the other two women anywhere, I just hoped they weren't under the large pile of rubble which sat in the right hand corner. 

"Leah?" I choked out, shaking her gently. I didn't want to move her too much if she was hurt. Beads of sweat formed on my head, the fire was spreading and the room was growing hotter and hotter by the second. I needed to get her out. 

I almost sagged with relief when Leah slowly opened her eyes, looking confused for a moment. 

"Leah, are you ok?" I asked as I held out my hand to her. 

"Yeah, the other two ran, one of them pushed me to get past.." She shook her head, "Never mind that now though, we need to go!" 

I nodded, turning back to the entrance. The flames were now licking at the handle of the door. The wood was old and weak, we could probably barge it down easily, but we needed  to do it quickly before the fire spread to the whole of the door. 

Then we would be trapped. 

"Wai-" A gravely voice sounded behind me. I looked back over my shoulder at the woman on the floor, watching as she wheezed and coughed as she attempted to speak. 

I bit my lip, looking between the woman and the door. I couldn't leave her. 

"Bridget-" Leah gave me a troubled look, trying to decide herself whether or not we should help. 

"Leah, you ok. I can't leave her." I said. 

"No. I'm not leaving you, I'll help. It'll be quicker that way." She said, hurrying over before removing bits of rubble from the table so we could lift it. 

"Leah if you don't go, we'll all be trapped!" I exclaimed. 

"S-side door." The women wheezed. I gave Leah a confused look but didn't waste any more time before I began helping her with the rubble. 

"There's a side door." Leah said, nodding at the other side of the room. "See it there where the poster was earlier? It's how the others got out." 

I looked up for just a second, now noticing the other door. Relief flooded my body. We could do this! 

The two of us shoved at the table, trying to move it forward. The woman let out a cry of pain as her ankle twisted slightly as the table moved about a centimetre. It was no use, the table wouldn't move any further and if it did, we would have been hurting the woman even more in the process. 

"Ok Leah, I need you to lift the table." I told her. Leah nodded, bending to grasp the edges of the table. 

She let out a short scream and ducked her head as dust and rubble fell in front of her from the roof. If we didn't get out soon, the whole thing could give way rather than just the small amount that already had. 

"Hurry!" I shouted over the roar of the fire that was still raging both behind us and above us. 

She quickly bent her knees before straightening out, lifting the table along with her. Leah was already panting as she struggled to keep hold of the table.

"You need to hold it up for me until I can move her away from it." I said before looking at the woman. "I need you to help yourself as much as you can, I will do my best to lift you and help you walk but I don't think I can take all of your weight." 

She nodded, not having time to feel insulted by my comment about her weight. 

Soon enough, the three of us were on our feet and ready to leave. Leah lowered the table, dropping it at the last second and causing a ton of dust to fly up into our faces. 

We coughed through the dust and blindly walked towards the side door. When we could finally see a little better, Leah rushed forward, struggling with the latch on the door as I helped the hobbling woman towards it.

Leah let out a cry of frustration as she punched the latch, for a moment I was sure I could see tears. 

Leah shook out her hand, her face crumpled in pain. I almost laughed as the door swung open, apparently beating the thing up had worked. I walked slowly with one arm under the woman, her weight was too much for me to handle and I could feel my knees buckling a little beneath me. Closing my eyes, I tried to tell myself that I could do it. 

That everything would be Ok.

Suddenly the woman felt lighter. Confused, I opened my eyes to see Leah on the other side, one arm under the woman just like my own, 

"We can do this, it's only a few steps away." She said, smiling at me. I nodded back at her, she was right. 

****

The wail of sirens met my ears as we stepped out onto the grass, trying to get as far away as possible before the whole thing collapsed. 

Better late than never right? 

Paramedics rushed over to us, fussing over the three of us. I waved them off, telling them I was fine but I was told I had to be checked over anyway. 

I felt someone tugging on my arm as Leah and the woman were taken over to the ambulance. I turned to see Lucas standing there looking devilishly handsome with damp hair and a serious look on his face.

My heart dropped to my stomach as I took in his expression. His bright eyes were giving me a hard look, his mouth set into a straight line. 

"It was you, wasn't it?" His voice deep and threatening.