Page 85 of Boundaries

My skin felt as if it were stretched over my skull, and I rubbed my hands up and down my face to wake myself up. It didn’t usually take me so long to come around, but it was dark outside and it wasn’t yet morning.

As I inhaled and peeled back the covers, I noted something knocking, possibly in the room beneath mine. I glanced at the door to see flickering light beneath it like there was a faulty bulb on the landing of my house and it was flashing on and off.

Annoyance bled into my confusion. When I was tired, I was grouchy.

Releasing a sigh of frustration at having been awakened by some type of drama (something I hated), I drew my breath back, and a strange smell lingered. It was almost like the one from the iron when I’d left it on my shirt for too long one time—a scorching tinge. Odd.

Narrowing my eyes, I pushed out of bed, padding across my room, and reached for the door handle. I was determined to get to the bottom of things so I could get back to bed.

SHIT! I snapped back my hand at the jolt I felt through my fingers from touching the brass handle. It was like a static electric shock, but as I reattempted, this time with more care, I realised that the metal was hot.

Fear knifed into my stomach and I grabbed a scarf which was hanging on the back of my door, wrapping it around my hand for protection. Taking a deep breath, I then yanked back the door. A blast of warm air hit me in the face, and I fell backwards, the heat was overwhelming.

There was a fire, in my house. My house was on fire!

I shivered violently. Panic beating inside me like a crazed drum and a myriad of thoughts crashed into my clogged mind all at once. Nothing made any sense. My pulse was thumping within my wrists and my legs were like jelly.

The compulsion to gasp for air was unstoppable and I tried to calm myself. I knew I needed to get out of there but who else was in the house, in danger? I scanned my overprocessed thoughts and eventually accepted that there was just Chrissy and me. My parents were still away, Jenna was with Nixon at his place and Mattie was with Alex.

Chrissy, I needed to find my sister and get her to safety. Don’t panic!

“Chrissy!” I screamed down the hallway toward her room.

As I peered along the smoky corridor to where the staircase was, the light from the fire below was flickering and shadows were licking up the wall like snakes’ tongues. A long dark plume of smoke was running along the ceiling of the landing and I pushed to my feet keeping my body low. My limbs felt like they were lined with lead, everything was heavy and slow.

As well as the blood rushing through my ears, I heard more banging from downstairs and then the terrifying sound of splintering wood, hissing, and fizzing.

I raced across to Chrissy’s room and burst through the door, my eyes frantically finding her bed, but she wasn’t in there. I yelled her name again, my neck twisting this way and that. Her covers had been pulled down and so she must have gotten out of bed. But where the hell was, she? Had she left already? Thick black smoke was snaking up into the sky outside Chrissy’s window and fear gripped my throat like a fist.

I turned back toward the corridor as my legs gave out beneath me, the smoke had started to drop a level and my eyes were stinging. I almost turned my ankle and had to stretch it to allow the blood to circulate properly. I attempted to blink away that feeling, tears running down my cheeks as I crawled along the corridor to the stairs. Dragging my body.

“Chrissy,” I said weakly.

Still nothing. I moved along the floor, using my brother’s leopard crawl technique, passing my room. The stairs loomed in the distance but appeared to be getting further away with each shuffle of my body. Adrenaline pulsed through my arteries giving me that extra push of energy I needed.

I came level with the bathroom, the door was open and the room was filled with thick black smoke. Pushing along on my elbows, I saw movement near the bath which I could just make out in the smog.

“Amy!” a male voice shouted from way beneath me. Mason!

Twisting my head, I yelled up into the colourless air, “Mason, help me!” I pushed up onto my knees and moved into the bathroom. Squinting, I attempted to see through the darkness and eventually, I could just make out the shape of a foot. Chrissy was there and she was laying on the floor. OMG! Was she dead?

“Chrissy,” I screamed trying to reach her, my hands flailing in the nothingness.

“Amy!” Mason’s voice was louder and I twisted my head toward the sound. He was coming up the stairs.

“In here, please hurry,” I yelled before another bout of choking overcame me. The noise of the fire below me was louder now as was that rushing sound in my ears and I thought I was going to be sick. I moved the scarf from my hand and wrapped it around my throat and mouth to block out that acrid taste.

Suddenly, a pair of feet appeared at the bathroom door. It was Mason, he was holding a shirt over his face. I could just make out his features in the darkness. Determined, a man on a mission. I was so relieved to see him.

“Amy, come on. We need to get you out of here,” he barked down at me, bending to his knees, his hand gripping the backs of my arms to pull me up. I struggled slightly.

“No, Chrissy is there. She’s on the ground. I don’t know if she’s breathing. Take her first Mason,” I choked out.

Mason peered into the darkness as he helped me to my feet, a mixture of emotions crossing his face. He was weighing up the best course of action.

“No, I’ll come back for her. We don’t know what state she’s in and I know I can get you out safe.”

I pulled against his hold but he was already lifting me. My body felt too weak to disagree. I had to trust him. He wouldn’t let Chrissy die; he wouldn’t leave her.

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