As Evil As Murder

27 | Careful What You Note Down

I read somewhere that it was the smoke which kills people, not the fire itself. I hoped that wasn't true because the smoke was all we could see.

"Where did they go?" CJ whispered, standing in my left, her hands clutching my arm tightly.

I was too terrified to reply.

"We need to get out," Lucas yelled, looking behind the table where I saw him fixing something earlier.

"Wow, glad we settled on that!" CJ snapped.

"Luke, what are you doing?" I sat down beside him, my eyes never staying at one place for too long. I wasn't looking at how fast the fire was spreading. It was too late for that, it had occupied everywhere it could. The wooden animals, the chandelier, most of the tables. I was cautious about what happened from here. How are we going to die? Burn? Suffocate?

"Don't breathe through your nose too much," Lucas said on cue. "Stay calm, we can get to the next room, wait for the fire to be-"

"Is that a blanket?" CJ shrieked, and I noticed what Lucas had taken out.

"Yes." He said, clutching the furry, pink material under his arms.

"We need to get--"

She was interrupted by a scream, which surprisingly, came from me. The tablecloth was on fire, and it was close to me, so I skipped to the edge of the room, my back against the wall.

On seeing the panic in my eyes, Lucas made an impatient sound and tore the blanket into three. He pointed straight ahead, where I saw a door partially closed.

"All rooms except that one are locked!" He yelled, after throwing the clothes at us. "Cover your nose and run!"

"Woah, woah I don't trust you!" CJ screamed over the fire. "How come that door is unlocked and the rest aren't? I'd rather die in this fire than willingly walk into a goddamn trap!"

"CJ!" I whimpered.

Fire wasn't something I messed with. I wasn't scared of it, but I actively tried to avoid it. There was a good chance we wouldn't make it out alive because of the said fire, so I had every reason to be scared.

"I don't trust him." CJ enunciated each word.

"I don't care if it's a trap!" It was my turn to grab her hands. "All I know is, I'm not dying like this--"

I coughed, which made CJ freeze up. The smoke was getting to all of us, and so was the heat.

"Now!" Lucas yelled and started leading us to the door. We covered our noses with the pink blanket and carefully followed him, stopping every second to make sure that nothing was going to fall on us.

"Damn it!" Lucas yelled when the edge of his cuffs caught on fire. He frantically brushed his hands over the spreading flames and I rushed over to help.

The door was close to us, CJ pushed us both inside and locked it behind her. We were now trapped in darkness, the only source of light being the fire on Lucas's hands.

"Stay still!" I yelled, trying to get near to him. But no matter what, he kept screaming and skipping around, his eyes terrified. He took off the jacket and threw it to one side, but the fire had spread to the sleeves underneath.

"Do something!" CJ said angrily.

"I'm not trying to make pancakes here!" I screamed back, and as a final attempt, threw the blanket over his face. When he was momentarily unable to see, I struck. I clutched his left arm and saw the cloth was charred, which meant it was easy to tear off.