Y/N POV
The heaviness of my older body felt nonexistent as I walked, I stand up straight in front of the mirror in my old bedroom from when I was a kid, a teen. My mother's footsteps were louder (and prouder) than mine, my footsteps were quiet as I tried my best to be unnoticed. She made herself in control even in my dreams.
I admire my thirteen year old self in the mirror, now truly realizing I had changed so much more than I thought. I look over to my bedroom door when I hear a pair of fingers snap together. "I'm going out, I'll be back in the morning" my mother stares at the pocket mirror in her hand, why didn't she ever get that thing sewed onto her?
"You promised you'd watch a movie with me" I remind her. "You promised me back on Tuesday too"
She smacks the pocket mirror shut, shoving it into her red velvet purse and clicking her tongue. "Tomorrow, I promise" She shuts her bag.
"That's a lie, it's always a lie" I follow her when she begins to walk away, she always did when she was losing in the conversation. "What if someone breaks in while you're gone?" I try and get her to stay.
"You've stayed home alone over a hundred times N/N, you'll survive" She rolls her eyes, quickening her pace.
"But what if this time it actually happens? And you come home to me dead?" I raise my voice, trying to gather her attention that was slowly being torn from me.
She looks over her shoulder, staring down at me. She takes in a deep breath before replying. "There's some old takeaway in the fridge, heat it up and do something" She ignores my paranoia.
"What if?!" I yell. "That one man tried to break into our house after you kicked him out, so what if he comes back--?!"
"Then check the cameras!" She snaps back at me, turning her body to face me. "I mean honestly, for fucks sake you're absolutely pathetic when it comes to anything, you can't even defend yourself? You can't use your fucking brain and think to check the cameras that I bought with my own money, to protect you--! Us!" She places a hand on her chest. "If you're scared, check the cameras"
We never owned cameras.
I open my eyes, waking up and staring at the ceiling. It felt like I knew of every single bump and dot on the ceiling, I could feel every bone in my body just lying still. Was my dream a warning? I sit up and stretch before looking around, my mirror was still destroyed. I lean over and grab my laptop off my nightstand, pulling it off its charger. I open it and sign in, I lift my head as it logs me in, I realize Teddy wasn't in the room, I wonder if she slept in the living room.
I look back down at my laptop, slowly dragging the mouse over to the camera app. I take in a deep breath, my dream truly worrying me. I smelt the faint smell of burning, but I didn't question it, maybe I'd go over and ask Lou if he burnt something while cooking. I open the app and check the recording, going to the beginning of the week. I tiredly watch through, seeing nothing but me going inside and out, sometimes with Teddy to go on a walk. I go to the week before that, again seeing nothing but me, and Lou leaving his flat once or twice, he hasn't been leaving as much as he used to. I deleted the footage that had nothing because I didn't want it to take up space on my laptop. I go to the next week, seeing only Friday and Saturday available, I had already deleted the footage I guess.
I watch throughout Friday, speeding through it since I didn't expect to see anything, maybe I should set this up next to the window. I freeze for a moment, seeing a man in an aheago hoodie, I tense as I watch him avoid showing his face to the camera. Just as he's trying to open my door Lou walks out of his flat and looks at him. The camera didn't pick up audio, but Lou made conversation with the man, which made him lift his head and reveal who he was.
Why didn't I realize sooner? This had to have been obvious.
I quickly shut my laptop, grabbing my phone and putting it in my pocket before getting out of bed and leaving my room, I walk out into the living room and see Teddy sleeping, the smell of burning was now much stronger, and I felt an increase of temperature, it was much hotter in here.
I shake it off and leave my flat, going over to Lou's door. I knock and wait for him to open it, (which took an oddly long time for someone like him). Once the door opens, I come face to face with Lou, he looked so much more tired than when I last saw him. "Hey-- are you okay?" I worryingly ask.
"Yes, yes.. ah, I've found those building blocks that are very fun, they have a booklet to show you how to build the things. I looked it up and it's called Lego, I remember seeing them in the store when I was a younger man but could not afford them. Now I can! I'm so sad that I had forgotten about them but now I can build everything!" He rambles to me, a smile growing on his face the longer he spoke. "I built uh, The Statue of Liberty!"
"That's nice, I'm glad you're okay, but do you remember seeing a man in an anime hoodie? Like about three weeks ago?" I question, Lou thinks and stares at the ceiling.
"Uh, I'm not sure.." He mumbles. "I believe so?" He crosses his arms and leans onto his door. "Yes! He said he was your friend and showed me proof so I told him about the broken window, I think he already knew though.." He tells me, finally remembering. "And have you also smelt the gross smell?" He brings up the burning smell.
"Yeah, I woke up a few minutes ago and smelt it immediately" I explain. "Maybe some place burnt down nearby.." I shrug. "But anyways, have fun building with Legos, I need to go call the police." I back away towards my door, waving goodbye Lou. He smiles and waves back.
I turn my head to my door, Lou does the same, we both see the smoke coming up from the crack below my door. I look back at Lou. "So your place was the thing that smelt bad?" Lou leans forward and looks more intently at the smoke.
"Lou, I think the place is on fire--? but.. I didn't cook or anything..? What could've even started it?" I open the front door, smoke pours out from the room, I step back and wave it out of my face, Lou leaves his room and stands by my side.
"Y/N, don't you er.. have a dog? Teddy?" He looks into my smokey flat. My eyes widen, I go to walk in but Lou stops me. "It's dangerous! We have to call the firemen!" He exclaims, going back to his flat, my guess was to grab his phone.
I glance at his open door, then at mine, the smoke had some orange tint to it, telling me there was a fire in there and it wasn't just smoke. How did it get this bad in just a few minutes? And who lit a fucking fire in my house? I was sure I didn't leave the oven on or anything, nothing else could even start a fire. Maybe it was an electrical fire? I hear barking and I quickly lift my head, staring into the smoke to see if I could see Teddy.
I look back at Lou's door and take a small step closer to my flat, one step after another until I'm in the doorway, killing my lungs because of all the smoke I'm inhaling. Teddy only barked more, I couldn't just let her suffer in there, what if she dies? I grab the collar of my shirt and pull it over my nose, squeezing my eyes shut and running inside.
I squint and look around, spotting Teddy walking over the couch, I reach out my hand and grab her collar, pulling her down off the couch. My shirt wasn't doing much and there were already tears forming in my eyes. Though, through the smoke I could see a fire growing in the closet near my front door, it was where I kept my coats and boots if I ever needed them. I carefully drag her, but she couldn't see me and just felt herself being dragged, so she was trying to get away from me. I felt wrong for harshly pulling her, but it was to save her. Teddy shoves into me, pushing me and almost making me let go. I hold back a scream, feeling the flame attacking my skin, she had accidently shoved me closer to the burning fire. I seethe, letting her go and holding my arm out of instinct, but it only hurt more. I see Teddy run farther into the smoke, but I think she ran out the front door, I follow, praying I was correct.
I feel around, touching a wall and sliding my hand against it, trying to lead myself to the door. Eventually, I'm grabbed by a hand and pulled out. I fall into someone's arms, they let me go and hold me up by my shoulders, not letting me fall. I cough, practically gagging due to all the smoke I inhaled. I could barely breathe, I was struggling to take in sharp inhales. I wipe my tears away and see Lou was the one holding me. "Lou.. Lou I need to get Teddy--"
"She ran out" He looks around at the floor for her. "I believe she ran down stairs-- d-do not worry! We will find her, just breathe. You are very dirty" He gently rubs his fingers on my face, showing me how gray his fingers became. "Let's leave the building, it's fire safety" He leads me away, patting my back as I coughed. "Y-You walk down, I'll go get water and a wash cloth" He let's me go and rushes into his room.
I listen to him, walking down the stairs, when I make it to the bottom I see Teddy, also covered in ash. Daniella was holding a cat, which I never knew she owned one. She looks at me and quickly covers her mouth so she doesn't gasp. "What happened?!" She walks over to me, Teddy running over as well.
"I had to save Teddy, the fire-- the fire started in my flat, I don't.. don't know how though" I cough out. Lou comes down the stairs, not even saying a word and leading me out the door, holding it open for Daniella and Teddy (who easily followed). He brings us all far enough away from the building, he sits me down on the sidewalk.
"Y/N, take this.." He whispers, passing me a cup of water, it was a blue plastic cup. I grab it and take a large sip from it before placing it on the ground next to me. "Your arm!" He yells, grasping my hand and examining my arm, I look down and see a reddish mark, probably where the fire had touched me. He continues to speak but I don't know if enough air was getting to my brain because I couldn't understand him, I watched as he wiped my face with a wet cloth he soaked before leaving his flat, he also wiped down my arms (avoiding the burn).
I stared at the building, seeing smoke fill up the lower floor windows. Teddy rests her head on my thigh and looks up at me as I begin to cry. "What's wrong?" Daniella asks, her tone seemed sincere. "Don't worry, their gonna put out the fire before your stuff burns, trust me" she reassures me.
Lou nervously looks at me as I cover my face with my hands. "U-Uh, it's okay! They are coming to put it out, Y/N! You.. you are a hero! You saved Teddy!" He tries to get me to stop crying, but that wasn't the problem.
"I don't want to lose my record player, it's important to me. I can't lose it. There's also a record of F/S, I can't lose it" I ramble, the skin below my eyes burning from how harsh I was wiping away my tears. "And all my evidence! All the evidence I was gonna turn in, Lou! I could've finally caught the man that's been harassing me for so many fucking years! Now who's gonna believe me?! He's just gonna live his life now-- he probably did this!" I shout, sobbing into my palms.
"I-I believe you! I will believe you, Y/N! I will always believe you.. do you know that your are my best friend?" He pats my head, which only made me feel how much ash was in my hair.
I can't lose my evidence, I've spent so many years gathering all of it. And now it's just gone? It's gone, I've lost everything, my only photos of my mother, my only photos left of my father. Of course Auntie has more of my mother, but I don't want to take those from her. I can't lose my computer, it's more than my months rent!
And the record.
I couldn't lose the record Wilbur bought me. I know I never bring it up to him or talk about it to anyone, but I've listened to it more times than I can count, sometimes right before bed. It's a gift he bought me, him to me, it was one of the first happy (and not awkward) interactions we had. That record is more important to me than anything in that flat.
I can't lose that record.
Froggie speaks!
GUYS I FEEL LIKE THE FIRE JUST POPPED UP SUDDENLY AND MAKES NO SENSE 😭 SO SORRY ABOUT THAT BUT TRUST ME, THIS SITUATION WILL GET BETTER
AND I DONT CARE TO PROOF READ THIS ONE CAUSE ITS LONG SO SORRY 😍
YOULL ALSO LOVE THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERSSSSS 🤭