The figure looks over the sleeping girl, blonde hair covering her face. She snores softly, deep in her sleep, unaware of what's happening around her. In this state, the figure would almost say she didn't deserve what was about to happen to her.
Almost.
Its eyes fall down to the trails of diesel lining the floor. It wraps around her bed and there are more trails leading throughout the apartment. The smell is so strong it's almost painful to breathe. But the smell will go away. It will ignite to create to a maze of flames, a labyrinth of smoke. She set herself up for this. She deserves this.
The figure turns and follows the path out of the apartment, ensuring that there's no break in the lines. Once it's out in the hall, it looks back at the apartment. It strikes a single match, watching the flame ignite.
"Bitches get stitches," it snaps.
It throws the match down on the diesel, smirking as it ignites. The flames quickly runs into apartment sixteen as the figure turns and walks down the hall.
-13-
Yumi wraps her blanket tighter around herself, trying to stay warm. She looks up at the building, a certain unnerving air over the entire night. People are talking, mostly complaining about being woken up by the fire alarm. However, the only thing on her mind is that she hasn't seen Carter, Jade, or Hensley yet. She doesn't know if her friends made it out or if they're still trapped inside.
In the crowd, her eyes find a mess of pink and blue hair. She slowly gets up and approaches Jade, putting a hand on her shoulder. Jade whips around and instantly pulls Yumi into a hug.
"Jesus Christ, we were worried," Jade mutters, clinging tightly to Yumi. "Do you know where Carter is?"
"I was hoping she was with you guys."
Jade turns and exchanges a concerned look with Hensley.
"So if she's not with you and she's not with us, where is she?" Jade asks.
"I'm going to say somewhere we don't like," Hensley mutters, wrapping her arm around Jade and looking over at the building.
Jade overhears someone mention something with a sixteen in it. She turns back, seeing two guys and a girl she's seen lurking in the building before. She crosses her arms and slowly strolls away from her friends, joining the group of their neighbours.
"Hey," she greets. "Do you guys know what's going on?"
"One of the firemen mentioned something about apartment sixteen," one of the guys explains. "Something about it looking like the fire was set in there and the girl who lives there being trapped. I don't know. I don't know what the hell happened. It's the middle of the night. I think we all just want to go back to bed."
"Yeah," Jade agrees. "No kidding."
She turns and walks back over to Hensley and Yumi. She slowly starts gnawing on her thumb nail.
"Guys, it's not looking good for Carter. It sounds like her apartment is the reason we're outside," Jade mumbles.
Before anyone can respond, an ambulance comes speeding into the parking lot. Yumi can feel all the colour drain from her face and she assumes she started to sway because Hensley takes hold of her arms. Yumi turns to her and nods, half heartedly mumbling something about being okay. She watches the front of the building as a fireman comes out, a girl with tangled blonde hair in her arms. Tears start coming to her eyes and she grabs onto Jade's wrist, her nails sinking in.
"Carter..." Yumi mumbles.
"I grabbed my car keys. Let's follow that ambulance," Jade tells her.
Yumi nods and the two of them take off for Jade's car. After a second, Jade turns back to Hensley and realizes she hasn't moved.
"Aren't you coming?"
"I'm pretty much Carter's least favourite person in existence so I'm pretty sure she won't want to see my face when she wakes up," Hensley sighs. "You guys go ahead. Keep me posted on her and I'll let you guys know if anything changes here."
Jade swallows a lump in her throat and nods. She turns and heads to her car, getting in and starting it so she and Yumi can chase down the ambulance to make sure that Carter's still alive.
-13-
Oscar clings tightly to Pierre. His boyfriend sits on the edge of his hospital bed, arms wrapped around Oscar in attempt to calm him. As of the present moment, they're just waiting for discharge instructions so they can head back to the building and go to bed.
"I just don't get it," Oscar mumbles. "I don't know how this happened. It was just a nightmare. There wasn't any actual wound but the amount of blood they said I lost-"
Pierre shushes him, forcing Oscar's head deeper into his chest. Oscar clings tighter to Pierre, seeking any comfort he can get from his boyfriend's arms. After another minute, Pierre's phone starts ringing in his pocket. Without releasing Oscar, he pulls it out, seeing Hensley's name across the screen. He answers it, throwing the phone on speakerphone so both he and Oscar can listen in.
"Hey Hensley."
"Hey Perry. What's up? How's Oscar doing?"
"He's doing about as well as he can. He's awake and we're just kind of waiting for discharge right now. What are you doing awake right now?"
"That's actually why I'm calling. A massive fire broke out in the building; I guess in Carter's place. She got hurt and they're taking her to the ER. Jade and Yumi are also on their way. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up in case whatever hospital they're taking her to is the one you guys are at."
Pierre and Oscar exchange a look before Pierre takes his phone off speaker and puts it to his ear. He gets up and steps out of the curtain, looking around. The ER is shockingly quiet, no major panic yet.
"Do you know what happened? Like why the fire broke out?"
"I don't know. I overheard that the police suspect foul play but I don't know. Everyone's on edge right now."
"Are you, Yumi, and Jade okay? Did fire wake you guys up or fire alarms?"
"We're all physically fine, just pretty shaken up. I think it was mostly Carter's place that caught. The girls are just going to be with her, not also seeking treatment. I don- Okay. They're letting everyone back inside now."
"That's good. Yeah, I'll keep an eye out for the girls. Hey, do you by any chance have keys to Jade's place?"
"No. Why?"
"Well she has a key ring with keys to all our places. If you had keys, I would've gotten you to go make sure no one else's place got wrecked."
"Sorry. I don't have keys or I would. Call me if anything changes or get someone else to. Stay safe."
"You too. Let me know if the police have anything to tell you."
"Absolutely. I'll talk to you later."
"Talk to you later."
Hensley disconnects the call so Pierre ducks back into the curtain, leaving it open enough for them to see what's happening around them.
"What did she tell you?" Oscar asks as Pierre sits back down.
"Police suspect foul play but haven't said anything else. Yumi and Jade are okay so they're just coming to be with Carter. Fucking hell, Captain. What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know anymore. Whatever this is needs to end. We can't just keep going on with whatever is doing this to us. Something needs to stop it."
Oscar leans into Pierre, closing his eyes. Pierre wraps his arms around his boyfriend silently, hugging him tightly. They sit in silence for less than a three minutes before they hear people in the ER barking orders.
"Caucasian female in her late teens, early twenties. Brought in from an apartment fire. Unconscious but no obvious burn wounds. Definite smoke inhalation. Unknown medical history. Unknown allergies."
Pierre releases Oscar and steps outside the curtain just as they pass Oscar's little curtained off room, nearly running him over. Sure enough, the girl laying on the gurney is Carter. As they move her into a room, he approaches the desk where one of the nurses is working. He doesn't even get to say anything before she looks up.
"Hello Pierre. I'm just finishing getting Oscar's discharge instructions ready and then I will-"
"Actually, I want to talk to you about the blonde girl that was brought in from the fire," he explains, pulling his phone out. "She and I have been friends for a while and I was hoping I could provide some information for you guys."
He opens a picture of him and Carter from a couple months ago and hands it over to the nurse just to prove he actually knows her. She takes it from him, looking at the picture.
"Two friends in twenty four hours. What a day, huh? Just give me a moment," the nurse requests.
The nurse gets up and goes to the room Carter is getting treated in, coming out after a minute. She comes up to Pierre, giving him his phone back.
"What can you tell us? Name, age, allergies, medical history? What do you know?" the nurse asks.
"Her name is Carter Lovelock. She's nineteen. She has an allergy to penicillin and is apparently hypersensitive to morphine and dilaudid," he explains, hoping he's using the correct words that Carter gave him.
"Any history of respiratory infection or illness?"
"Not that I know of."
"Okay. Good to know. If you can think of anything else, please let us know."
He turns just as Yumi and Jade come in, looking around.
"Actually, Yumi might know more than me," Pierre says. "Hey Yumi!"
The girls look up, seeing Pierre talking to the nurse. They come over to him, eyebrows raised.
"You probably know more about Carter's medical history than I do. Do you wanna?" Pierre asks, nodding his head towards the nurse.
She nods and turns to the nurse. Jade grasps onto Pierre's arm, causing him to turn all his attention to her.
"Where's Oscar?"
Pierre nods towards the curtain he's in then guides Jade there. As soon as she sees Oscar, she pushes away from Pierre and runs to him, pulling him into a hug. He holds onto her for a few seconds before that familiar ache and loss of energy hits him. He releases her and lays back down, putting his hands to his head and closing his eyes. Jade scratches his head for a moment before reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling out a glasses case. She hands it to Pierre.
"I may have been the one to wreck them but I had a buddy who owed me a favour," she explains. "When the headaches starts because of his eyes, he'll need them."
"You're a life saver, Jade," Pierre sighs, pulling her into a hug.
The curtain pulls back and Yumi steps in, immediately heading for Oscar's side. Jade sighs, pulling out her car keys and handing them to Pierre.
"Here. I'm going to take a cab back to the apartments. I'll check on the rest of our places to see what the damage is. Plus, I kind of feel bad for leaving Hensley there by herself. Keep me updated on both of them."
Pierre nods, giving Jade one last hug before she slips out of the curtain. He then turns his attention to Yumi. She looks like she's on the verge of breaking down. Pierre comes to her side, rubbing her back.
"Hey," he whispers. "It's okay. They're both going to be okay."
"I don't know anymore, Perry," she admits. "I don't know anymore. I just feel like this is all building up to something that we're not going to like."
"I know. I feel the same way. We just can't afford to think like that right now. We just need to wait for Carter and Oscar to be ready to go and then we'll have to figure out the next step."
"Well that's just it, isn't it?" Yumi asks. "We're just planning out our steps one by one. Whatever is doing this to us is already twenty steps ahead. It's ready for us but we're no where near ready for whatever its next blow is going to be."