Ignite

Chapter 28

"It started when I smelt the smoke," I say. "I was on the soccer field with Jake, kicking the ball around.

Smoke didn't usually bother me back then. People back-burn a lot in the country, try to fireproof their houses and fields. But this summer had been different — freakishly hot and dry. The authorities had been onto anyone who even suggested a campfire.

So, when I smelt smoke, it worried me. I asked Jake if he could smell it too, but he couldn't. That reassured me until black clouds rose over the trees behind our house. Jake saw it as I did and he turned white, like a horror movie character. Then he started running towards it.

I yelled at him, but he didn't come back.

I wanted to move in two directions: towards help and towards Jake.

I ended up choosing him. Always have, I guess.

When I reached the house, it was hard to breathe through the smoke.

I remember thinking how strange it was that the light wasn't coming from the sun above us, but from behind the house — like it was back lit by floodlights.

I screamed for Jake, but I couldn't find him.

It was only when I went around back and saw the fire that I realised what I'd run into. It was jumping from leaf to leaf, trunk to trunk, racing across the grass. Roaring. I never knew fire made such deafening sounds.

I turned and ran to our car, but it was gone. Instead, fire covered the driveway.

The smoke started choking me, stealing the oxygen.

I thought I was going to die.

I couldn't see or breathe. Everything was just a rolling mass of crackling heat and darkness.

But then Jake appeared. He threw a wet towel over my face and hauled me into our shed, slamming the door behind us.

I'd always hated that shed. It was tin and in summer the temperature inside skyrocketed.

We curled up in the centre, surrounded by wet towels as we watched the walls. It felt like I was breathing mud — thick, viscous stuff, but I was breathing.

Then, the roof began to whither and curl, the edges catching alight. One slab dropped and landed millimetres from Jake's legs, sizzling against the dirt.

I remember the horror I felt, even though I was half conscious. Jake was yelling, backing towards the walls and jumping away when one scalded him. I was crying.

And then I spotted Mum's pottery kilns. We had two because one broke a couple years before and she hadn't bothered moving it.

I screamed at Jake, but he barely heard me over the roar of the fire.

I grabbed him and threw him towards one before scrambling inside the other. My head smashed against its roof, skin scraping off my knees and legs, but I got in and pulled the towels up after me, smothering my face with their moisture.

Jake had only just got inside his kiln when a tree smashed through the shed and landed in front of mine, locking me in..."

I stop speaking, though I don't realise it, I'm still far away, my hand rubbing my side, pressed where the skin once burst and blistered.

"Is that when you got the burns?" Muhammad asks, his voice drifting through the fog of my mind.

"Yeah," I say. "Yeah, I was trapped there, and the tree still smouldered. One of its branches had wedged in the kiln's mouth. I remember screaming as it pressed again my skin."

I swallow hard, pain ghosting down my ribcage, and then I sigh and blink, my gaze moving to meet Muhammad's.

"Once the front passed, the firefighters found us. They said it was a miracle we'd survived."

Muhammad is watching me, his careful composure cracking.

"How long were you in hospital?"

"A few weeks. We both had carbon monoxide poisoning, and I needed skin grafts. While we were there, we heard about Mum. The police told us she'd dropped a cigarette and bailed when the grass caught alight. They said we'd have to go into witness protection."

Muhammad tears his gaze away, pulling his computer onto his lap and typing something.

"And you've never talked to anyone about this?"

"No."

"Not even Jake?"

I feel a stab, my heart thudding.

"No. He can't remember a lot. I didn't realise until later that he'd..."

I cut off, my breath heaving.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning causes memory loss. When I couldn't find him, before he appeared and we'd gone into the shed, he'd run into the fire. I still don't know why. But he was in the middle of it for longer than me."

"Have you ever asked him why?"

"No," I say, and my voice is solid, firm. For the first time, I sound sure of myself.

No, I never asked because when Jake saw the smoke, surprise didn't accompany the horror. No, I never asked because every time I get close, Jake deflects.

No, I never asked, because after a while, I started to realise I might not want to know the answer. 

...

😲😲 

What does everything think of this chapter? Some of Claudia and Jake's history has been revealed! 

Next chapter out in a week 😊

- Skylar xx