"Liam?!" I coughed, looking around from where I was laying. The living room was in flames, I had managed to push open the basement door I was leaning on and tumble down the stairs before the fire could catch me, but my hands were still tied and I was practically handicapped as I laid on the steps.
Being almost at the bottom of the stairs, I could only see fire in the living room, but I don't think the whole room is in flames, Liam has to be alive.
"HELLO?!" I screamed as loud as I could, but no avail. Crying softly, I put my head down, laying on the steps with my hands tied behind my back, all I can do is hope that Liam backed up before the fire touched him.
"Sarah?!" I heard a voice yell from the living room, "Liam!" I yelled, trying to use my feet to get up the stairs without falling, but my legs gave out, and I fell.
"I'm on the basement stairs!" I called out, once again laying there. "Thank goodness you're alive," I let out a sigh of relief when Liam limped down the stairs towards me, I guess the whole living room isn't on fire.
"Only the center of the room is on fire for now, so we can get out if we hurry," he untied me and we bolted up the stairs.
I was hit by a wave of heat when we got to the top of the stairs, the fire was spreading, fast. "Where's Miss.Hurlbutt?" I asked after we walked past the fire and made it to the front door.
"Right here." She walked towards us, burn marks were on her face and she had a gun. "No ones leaving this house." She pointed the gun at us.
Liam slowly crept his hand towards the doorknob, getting ready to open it for me. "Don't you dare open that door, or I'll shoot both of you." She threatened. "You're going to walk back into the living room, and burn, unless you rather me shoot Liam." Hurlbutt looked at me.
"Shoot me then, kill me and let her leave," Liam looked at her. "Liam!" I yelled. "Or I could just shoot you and throw Sarah in the fire myself," Hurlbutt pulled the trigger and I screamed, standing there in shock.
But no one got shot. She pulled the trigger again and nothing happened, before she looked up at us I threw myself at her, taking her to the ground and snatching the gun out of her hands.
"It's out of bullets, idiot." She got up and walked towards me. "I can still hit you with it," I backed up towards Liam who took the gun out of my hands and got ready to beat her with it.
She dug threw her pocket and pulled out a bullet, but instead of stealing the gun back she handed Liam the bullet. "Shoot me,"
Me and Liam exchanged glances, is she serious? "I said shoot me, I give up." Her crazy, bloodshot eyes looked exhausted, and her body was trembling with fear and anticipation.
"Fine, I'll do it myself." She tore the gun out of Liam's hand and put the bullet in, pointing the gun to her head.
"Here's to everything, have a nice life Sarah." She looked at me, my eyes widened and I shook my head in disbelief.
"And you really are strong, you're not weak like you think. Because no other kid could put up with all the crap I've put you through. Just don't end up like a failure, like me. And don't be a disgrace of a mother, goodbye."
Liam covered my eyes as I heard the gunshot, when I pulled his hand away Hurlbutt was lying on the floor with blood coming from her head.
I stood there in shock, she's really dead.
"We have to go," Liam said in a worried tone, but I ignored the fire that was spreading and just stared at the woman who I had feared for nine years. "She's gone," I whispered. "Sarah we have to leave." Liam took my arm, but I pulled back.
"Olive and Matilda."
If I was like most people, I'd leave with no regrets and say they deserve it, because they've been nothing but jerks to me. But I'm me, and I couldn't let them die like that.
"We have to get them!" I started running up the stairs as fast as I could, which wasn't fast since I was limping and in pain.
I couldn't tell if Liam was following me because I disappeared in all the smoke, but I had a feeling he was freaking out.
"Sarah!" Olive cried when I bursted through the door, her and Matilda were sobbing and currently trying to get out the window. I ran to the window and threw the emergency rope that was under her bed out the window, tying it to the window seal.
"Hurry, crawl down." I helped Olive out first, Matilda walked towards me and looked in my eyes. "Where's mum?"
Hurlbutt may be sick and evil, but she's their mother, and they love her. "She's, um, dead." I said quietly. She just looked away and began to crawl down the rope, but my knot came undone and the rope fell to the ground along with Matilda.
"Are you okay?!" I called out as she stood up off the ground. "Yeah, how are you gonna get out?" Matilda yelled back. "I'll find a way." I nodded and ran out of her room, all I could see was fire downstairs, it was coming up the stairs too, "Liam?!"
After no reply, I figured he went out the door, probably done with my dramatic crap, so I ran I to my room to get my emergency rope and go out my own window.
But as I was about to escape, I remembered the box in my closet. The one with everything I had left of my parents, the one with the note from Liam, the old one and the new one I wasn't suppose to read yet.
"I can't lose that box," I said as I ran into my closet, digging through everything until I found it in the back. Quickly, I opened the box to make sure everything was still there, it was all in place. That note from Liam though, what if something happened and it fell out of the box and I'd never get to read it?
The fire hasn't reached my room yet, I could read it quickly and go out the window.
What am I thinking?! I have to get out of here! I tucked the box under my arm and limped to the window, cringing at my bloody bruised reflection in the glass, smoke was filling the room and I could tell the fire was getting closer, but I couldn't get the window open.
Maybe I'm too exhausted and I'm not strong enough, so I pulled with all my might, nothing. "Come on!" I cried, finally I decided to run into the guest room where I could escape there. Panting, I slammed the door shut thinking maybe that would keep the smoke and fire out for a minute or two.
After I set my box down I ran to the window.
"Why won't this one open? What's wrong with me?!" I yelled as I struggled to open the window once again.
But then I realized, the guest room's window doesn't open. It's been broken for years. I began to shake and panic, then deciding to run to the door, "ow!" I screamed in pain after I touched the door knob, it was way too hot.
Because there was nothing else to do, I grabbed the hardest object I could find, a lamp, and started hitting the window with it hoping maybe that it would break the glass.
After trying several times, I finally collapsed in exhaustion, lying on the floor in pain. Smoke was beginning to fill the room and I could hardly breathe, all I could do was wonder how close the fire was getting.
As I laid there I heard a faint call come from outside the door, "Sarah?!"
I lifted my head and coughed, "I'm in here!"
"It's Liam, I'm here, it's alright," he coughed also, I gasped and let out a sigh of relief, which sounded like some choked up sob. "The door knob is too hot, how close is the fire?" I asked, crawling to the door.
"It's coming, but my arm is bleeding really bad and my legs are both in too much pain to even try to break the door down, there's no where to run anyways, except for the window by the hallway, I'm too weak to break it open," Liam sighed, it was hard to hear him.
"Lay down by the door," I instructed, he did what I said and we could see a line of each other's faces through the bottom of the door, both laying on different sides.
"You're Liam Payne, you're not weak. Go save yourself." I told him. "I could barely walk around looking for you, I can't walk down the hall and break the window," he frowned. I could hear sirens and crying from outside, but I don't know how they could get to us.
"You know that time you wanted to kiss me, but I made you guess a number and you got it wrong?" I asked, "Yeah," Liam nodded. "Well, the number was nine, incase you were wondering," a small smile crept Liam's face.
"Well I got a kiss anyways,"
We both smiled at the thought of that day, but it turned into silence, suddenly becoming serious as we both remembered we're about to die.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, looking in what I could see of his eyes. "Not for just the stupid pointless fight, but for this. You're famous, you should have a girlfriend that's a model who isn't always into trouble or with a bad past. I mean come on, if it weren't for me you wouldn't have had to fight these douches that stole me or scare my bullies away or getting ready to die in a fire!"
I frowned at his sad eyes, but he looked at me as if he's glad he went through it all.
"You're right, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been lying here in pain right now, getting ready to die, but I'm with you, finally. And there's no where else I'd rather be, because I finally get to be with you." He smiled wearily, a tear rolled down my face and I couldn't speak, I had no words.
I tired to say something but I just choked on smoke, and started coughing. The sound of debris falling and fire crackling made it hard to hear the glass breaking from the window down the hall and the footsteps walking towards the door, our eyes widened and I saw Liam get drug up from the ground.
"Wait! There's someone in there!" He tried to say, but it was hard to hear over all the coughing coming from him and everything else.
"I can't hear you, tell us when we get out!" What I'm guessing was a firemen yell from outside the door, I tried to get up and bang on the door, but my arms were bleeding and in too much pain, like they could hear me anyways.
Struggling to life up my arm, I sadly only made a faint knock, I'm too weak. I could hear someone banging on the door and yelling what sounded like, "she's in there! Can't you hear me? Yell Sarah! Please get her out!"
But the fireman couldn't hear, too much gear on him I guess, with the blinding amount of smoke, the fire coming, and all the noises, he had no idea I was in here.
"No! Sarah! I can't leave here!" I could barely hear him try to say inbetween coughs, but his yelling became quieter as he was drug away.
I backed away from the door, still on the ground, realizing what was about happen.
It's funny, because I always thought I'd get away from this awful house and all the terrible memories in it, but here I am, dying with it. All the crap that's happened here, every scream, cry, and all the pain is going down, and I'm going down with it.
Maybe it's because that's all I am, a girl with a terrible past and a terrible ending. So maybe I'm just like everything else that about to perish, a bad memory.
All the memories of everything that's happened here played before me, and suddenly I feel like I'm drowning in all the bad things thats ever happened to me. It felt like everything around me was getting darker and darker, expect for a tiny gleam of light coming from the corner.
My box.
I struggled to get towards it, smoke beginning to fill the room even more to where I had to put my head under a blanket. With shaking hands, I took the note from Liam he gave me four months ago out of the box and opened it, beginning to look at the last thing I'll ever read.
Dear Sarah,
This is probably really lame, but I'm a cheesy guy, and it's been on my mind lately. So I'll just start out with what I love about you.
I love the way you smile, the way you laugh when I do something stupid, the way you can't eat anything sugar free because you say life is too short to eat healthy. I love how you hate attention from too many people, you just want someone to care about you. I love it when you don't try to look good, because it shows me how beautiful you really are, and the way you squeal when you see a cute animal. I love it when you make stupid faces with me, and how you're always trying to be optimistic, even when it's hard. There's a lot more, but those are the things that stuck out to me most, the things most people don't notice.
You're probably blushing and grinning the way you do when I do something cheesy and adorable, or you're laughing your butt off because this is so stupid and cliche. Either way, you still love me.
The point is, I was just thinking about everything we've been through, and all the pain you've felt, and it makes me worry about you, because not everyone is strong enough to go through all that. Which is why I wonder why you think you're weak, because you're not. In fact you're one of the strongest persons I've ever met. I don't know what I'd do if you let you talk yourself into thinking you're to weak and give up, because you can do anything, I know you can.
Just remember that whatever you have to go through, since you go through a lot, that I believe in you, and you can get through it, you can escape your living fear, even if I'm not here to help. I love you, don't ever forget that.
Love, Liam.
Tears were running down my face, maybe he's right, maybe I can get out of here. But how?
The door caught on fire and I threw my blanket off and scanned the room, smoke was everywhere and I was literally holding my breath, the only thing left is that window.
But I can't get through it.
Backing into the wall, I thought how to get out. I don't know what it was, adrenalin, fear, anxiousness maybe? But I grabbed the lamp on the dresser and ran to the door as fast as I could, ignoring my limp, and chucked the hard lamp at the glass window as hard as I could.
The sound of the glass shattering was like music to my ears, I stuck my head out the window and breathed, screaming as loud as I coulda for help, the fire was inches away and it was jump or die.
But what if I die after I jump?
"We're here, jump into the net sweetie!" A fireman called from below as him and more firemen held out a huge net below me.
With fragile shaking legs, I stood on the window seal and looked back one last time at the fire behind me, saying one last goodbye to my terrible home.
Then I closed my eyes and jumped, falling through the air and preparing to land in the embrace of the net, thinking in my head,
I did it. I escaped my living fear.
**
Wow um thanks for all the votes and comments on my last chapter -.-
Sarcasm. Note it.