Let's Fly Away - Jodie Whittaker x female reader

Chapter Nine

Y/N hoped Jodie hadn't noticed. Half-running, half-waddling down all these stairs, she also hoped there wasn't a stain forming on the back of her jeans.

She sniffed, her nose still blocked from almost crying earlier. Annoyingly, her sense of smell still hadn't returned despite weeks since having the virus. She missed the sweet tea tree hair smell. She couldn't even catch the perfume she sprayed on the inside of her mask.

The toilets sign pointed left down the corridor. Y/N stumbled through the door and locked herself into a cubicle.

Somewhere, some floors down, she thought she could hear a whirring. No, a beeping. Screeching? A few minutes later as she washed her hands, the screeching was closer. Then some shouting. She exited and continued downstairs, coughing up nothing through her chest. The screeching was much, much closer now.

She stopped, gripping the banister, the ashes already scathing her skin before she could see the smoke. The metal was hot to the touch and she flinched, turning away. She looked up at the five flights of stairs stretching above her. Somewhere, Jodie was up there, and she had no idea what was happening.

"Fuck." She whispered to herself under her breath like anyone could hear her.

Up the second flight and her legs were already heavy. The smoke started snaking it's way down her throat and into her lungs and she coughed even more. She squeezed her eyes closed and open again, a few drops running down her cheeks and disappearing, before continuing, glancing at each door to make sure it was closed.

Kitchen? Fire blanket.

Y/N prised open the door and hunted for the red box before the spirals of grey clouds could reach her. She yanked down the straps and shook it out, wrapping it around her arms. She glanced at the shelves, took a glass and turned on the tap, receiving a hot burn on her palm instead. The glass smashed and she backed away, making it to the exit. Before she left, she looked around, quiet seconds ticking in her head, aware of everything,

"Jodie?" she called, on the off chance. "Jodie, you there?" No one answered.

Y/N left the room, closing the door and running up another flight, the orange curls not so far behind her. Sweat and heat built up beneath the cotton and her brain started to become light and fuzzy. The higher she got, the less smoke. Each momentary break at each top was a relief, but she had to keep going.

To find her.

She paused for another breather, leaning against the wall, trying to stop herself from stumbling forwards. Her head was suddenly the heaviest thing on the planet and her shoulders couldn't sustain it. She rested it on the concrete too, letting the ache sink in.

She didn't realise the dream sequence of her life began so early before she was going to die. Sure, she could feel the burns, the aches, the sensation of giving up, all over her body, but she didn't want to die, not yet. Not now. But nothing in her could muster the strength to pick herself up from the floor she'd found herself on.

She smiled to herself. It was like a dream. A super cut of her life. A trailer, even. Just the moments she thought were the most important, the moments that she felt she needed to see one more time before her eyes closed...

Her pocket vibrated.

Y/N opened one eye. It was still vibrating in her back pocket. She brought it out, the weight almost too much for her arm, but she swiped across anyway, pressing it to her ear.

"Who-" she coughed. "Who is it?"

"Jeez, you don't sound too good. Still got the Rona have you?"

"Trace?"

"Who else? Well, apart from your love life. We all know who that is." Tracy giggled down the phone.

Y/N stood up on both feet, clearing her throat and trying to move, even a little. "What're..yo...you calling me for...now?" she added.

"Just bored. If you're ill, I wouldn't wanna bother you."

"Can you uh, help me with something? It's to do with a...." Y/N dashed up as she spotted flames coming towards her. "A scene I'm writing. About a fire in a building." She shook herself and went up some more stairs.

"Ooooooh. I'm intrigued."

"So the protagonist, she's looking for her lover, in a fire. It's a, er, tall building and she's pretty sure the lovers right at the top, on the roof."

"Actual lover or just overwhelming crush?"

Y/N peered around a door. "That doesn't matter."

"I need context." Tracy complained.

"Fine, let's say it's kinda complicated." Y/N sighed. If only she knew. "So, protagonist looking for crush in fire in building, probably on the roof. But the fire started at the bottom and is only rising, and the protagonist is slowly dying with the smoke and the flames."

"Okay." A pause on the line. The fire crackled on the below staircase. "What if the crush isn't there?"

"What?" Y/N halted.

"Well, surely they'd have seen smoke bellowing from the sides and wondered what was going on. If the feelings are mutual, they've probably gone looking for the protagonist, if they know they're in the building that is."

"Oh yeah." Y/N breathed in and out heavily. Almost there. "Anyway, by this time the protagonist has realised someone's probably called the fire services. Anything else she should do?"

"Apart from searching for her crush? Hmm. Get something colourful, I don't know some fabric or something like that and hang it outside a window where she think she's gonna stay for a while. Then firefighters know where to find her."

"Huh." Colourful fabric. She yanked the beanie of her head. "Would a beanie do, do you think?"

"Yeah, if she could wedge it between the frame and the wall so it doesn't fall out."

"Okay, thanks Trace. See you later." Hopefully.

"See ya. Byeeeee."

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The corridors were dark and Y/N was beginning to loose her bearings. She'd checked the roof, twice, and no Jodie. But the distant finger drumming she could hear was getting closer. It was rhythmic, not a steady way, a musical way. That's how she knew she wasn't following a leaky pipe.

Heat still glowed on her back, wisps of smoke gathering on the ceiling. The drumming sounding like nails on a hard surface, a wall, perhaps. She kept her footsteps quiet so she could keep track of it, glancing behind each open door and each wall.

She turned the corner, peering into the gloom. There, coming from behind a pile of boxes, the familiar cut of blonde that brought a beautiful ache to her chest. She broke into a jog, her muscles stiff but her heart still beating. She hadn't enough air to yell.

Jodie's head lay on a box, eyes drooping, her fingers had stopped drumming. Her cheeks were dusted with dark soot, hair ruffled. She looked straight into Y/Ns eyes, and suddenly jerked up like waking for a nightmare.

"Y/N! You're...." her breath was wheezing. "Here."

"Yep." Y/N tried to bring Jodie up, worried if she sat down too she wouldn't be able to get back up.

Jodie gestured at the fire blanket. "You cold?"

"A bit."

They started walking, arms and hands together tangled in a wreath of support. As they reached the staircases, Y/Ns felt her left side being pulled down. Jodie was sinking down to the ground.

"Woah, woah." She gasped, hoiking her up again. "Come on, we've gotta go." Y/N tapped Jodie's cheeks. "Jodie, come on, wake up." She didn't respond. "Jodie." Y/N adjusted her arms to carry Jodie's weight as well, looking ahead at a flash of hi vis suits, closing her eyes.