Caution: Flammable

Italics: mental thoughts/thinking/internal reading
Bold: flashbacks
Dianne (Die-an)
Claus (Santa-Claus)

She can feel her feet bleed, and the smoke squeezing at her lungs, but there's no stopping her. When it comes to life or death, she plans to leave death in the dust. As she runs, she sees light and hears a perky...voice?

"Ms. Veronica-Hert?" a dark haired nurse asks as she walks into the room, her face plastered with a smile.
I wave her over and hurriedly write on my mini whiteboard. "Please call me Dianne; Veronica gives me bad memories," looking anywhere but her eyes. I hate having pity thrown in my face, I mentally note.
Hearing nothing but silence, I take the chance to look her in the eyes. As expected, I see her smile widened and filled with...pity.
"Of course Ms. Ver- Dianne, continuing onwards, your test results are the same as last week's; you are free to go. Thank you for your cooperation once again," she says, adding a slight bow in her head. I uncap my pen and start to write a question on my board, but the dark haired nurse walking back into the room with a bulky envelope...catches my eye.
I didn't even notice she left, I think as I raise an eyebrow, which causes her to present a thin smile towards me.
"It's for you, Dianne," she addresses in a calm voice, holding it out toward me. I bow my head slightly as a thank you and take it from her hand. She waves bye to me, or maybe it's a good luck wave when she exits. I take a deep breath while closing my eyes, not being able to open the envelope with the hesitation, holding my hands hostage. When I open my eyes, I repeat to myself, he doesn't know. He doesn't know. I continue to say my comfort phrase until I see what the envelope holds. It's a tiny wine bottle and a letter which reads, I heard Bubbles likes catnip so I thought I'd get him some wine as well.
I stand up and giggle to myself; Alex is such a bad influence. Alex, my older brother, is quite immature. I mean, he didn't even sign the letter, or maybe he didn't send it.
Not important though. Now that I'm out of the blood draw room, which I've been stuck in from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm, I imagine a nap and some alone time as I walk out the hospital doors, in my warm bed, and cozy, cabin house, snuggled up with Bubbles, away from humanity...away from the past–
"Burr, awfully cold out, no?" A voice takes me out of my thoughts. I look over to my right and see a man with short chocolate brown hair falling over his eyes, which appear to be hazel. When I make eye contact with him, he answers his own question. "Yeah, huh, well since I'm here, need a taxi, pretty lady?" Smooth, I smirk back at him. When I open the door to the taxi, I immediately take out a post-it with my address and hand it to the driver. He looks at me in obvious confusion but when I cover my throat with the palm of my hand, he seems to understand that I'm "mute". He nods in understanding and puts the car in drive.
As we drive to my destination, I take out my phone to text my brother to thank him for the cat wine.
Looking up from my phone and out the window, I see the forest where my cabin lies. I press send on my text and gather my items, ready to get out in a few minutes. The car comes to an abrupt stop, causing my body to jerk forward. I make eye contact with the driver in the rear view mirror and he shrugs.
"Sorry, pretty lady, I can't take this car off the road." I gesture with my palm facing upwards to the pathway leading to my cabin, not understanding the problem.
"Look, there's a difference, lady, dirt and cement roads aren't the same thing to a taxi's tires." I get out abruptly after paying the said amount without a tip and slam the door behind me.
"Ugh," I verbally scoff as he drives away. I start walking to my cabin and try to think positively. I was really trying, but a text from Alex broke that positive mindset.
Dia, I didn't send Bubs anything, I'm literally out of town for this week. Did you get another gift?!
*missed call*
Dianne ANSWER.
I froze. I wasn't going to let this happen again, so I ran home. As I ran home, I snatched out the chip in my phone, using a bobby pin, and snapped it in half.
When I made it to my door with my keys already out, I had no problem throwing my body into the house. I flipped onto my back after landing face down and got on my knees, then I slowly raised to my feet as I locked all seven chains and bolts, even the cat door. When the last chain was slid, I collapsed back down. The adrenaline and paranoia pumping through my veins made it hard to breathe, making it hard to stand.
Unable to stand, I crawled to the bell next to the cat door and flicked it to produce some sort of sound. As soon as the bell bounced once, Bubbles came trotting down the steps towards me. I crumbled onto my side with open arms and held Bubbles close until my legs didn't feel so limp. Once I felt stable enough to move, I stood up with Bubbles still held close and sat on the couch, exhausted mentally. After listening to Bubbles purr, I felt my eyelids grow heavy.
Jolting awake at the sudden burst of sounds, I look at my feet and spot the first source of sound, Bubbles being extremely vocal, then I look at the coffee table and see an alarm on my phone. Bubbles is screaming it read.
Damn right she is. I voice internally.
I stand up and stretch my shoulders, take a deep inhale, and an even bigger exhale to rid myself of the nerves from last night.
Walking over to Bubs, I follow her into the kitchen, watching as her tail stands straight up, occasionally twitching with excitement. What a great morning.
Setting my foot in the kitchen, I reach up to the cabinet and take out a bag of cat food. Making my way over to Bubbles's bowl, I kneel down- THUD. I snap my head towards the front door, rising to my feet, dropping the bag of cat food onto the floor. I peek out the window using my pointer finger to move the curtains away a smidge just so my eye can look out. Relief washes over me like a wave once I hear and see the skidding away of a bike.
It's just the mail boy. Weird I thought rent wasn't due till wednesday I still have two days, no?
Kneeling back down, I resume feeding Bubs, occasionally swatting Bubbles away from the fallen pieces of kibble.
As Bubbles eats I check the mail. Undoing the seven locks, and the cat door, I open the door to see a four by four box, with no returning label.
After bringing it inside, I grab the nearest object, which happened to be my keys, and began opening the package. Ripping open the right flap, I'm met with an off white, folded paper that hides the bottom of the box.
*Ding* *Dong*
"Veronica, honey, could you get the door please?"
"Okay Mom!" I yell back to her running down the stairs towards the front door.
"Package for Mr. Hert" the postwoman says, looking up after I opened the door.
"Oh, I'm his daughter. He's busy right now."
"Right...here you are then," she replies, handing the package over cautiously.
"Thanks, have a nice day!" I shake the box in my hands. "Weird, this feels light," I speak out loud walking back to mom in the kitchen.
"What feels light, hun?"
"This package for Dad" I say, handing it to her.
"It's quite small as well," she remarks, grabbing a package opener. "Ah, this is something to do with chess, and I guess your father heard me complaining about the stove so he ordered matches as well. Why don't you bring this part up to your brother, Veronica? He'll know what it means," she voices, handing me the off white paper.
Walking up the stairs, I knock on Alex's door. Hearing the door creak open, I look up at my brother who has a wet towel on his head, and shove the paper in his hands.
"Mom said to ask you to tell me what this means," I announce.
"Rude" he remarks. I watch his eyes swirl with confusion as he looks over the paper, re-reading it for a third and fourth time. "You're kidding, right, the king in chess can't move from E,1 to E,7. It's illegal. Plus you'd be pushing past a pawn and going straight for the opposing king," he says, shoving the paper in my hand roughly.
"Hey! I didn't even give it to you that hard,'' I pushed back, starting up a fight. As we bicker back and forth, we freeze when we hear a scream coming from the kitchen, and a bang coming from the left. We snap our heads in the direction of the bang and it's dad, but his face is paler than a ghost.
"Where's your mother?" he demands.
"In the kitchen," I say, already running down the stairs. Reaching the kitchen first, I see mom rolling on the walls trying to put herself out and multiple burnt matches on the now burnt counter. Spacing out, I feel myself get picked up and hear my dad yelling something at my brother as he rushes into the flaming kitchen. I'm placed onto the floor outside of my house and see the moving, flashing lights of the fire department and paramedics in the distance.
Trauma is what flowed through my veins, trauma as I watched my mom get treated in the ambulance for her melting skin. Trauma as I failed to communicate with the paramedics. Trauma as I watched the fire department fail to extinguish my house, yet anger as I watched my dad send a pleading text to his brother to never attempt this again.

Stop trying to hide. I hate that game, we were playing chess, sincerely C. The paper said. Crumpling the paper, I toss it into a trash can. When I look in the box again, I see the matchbox. Not bothering to even touch it, I toss everything in with the paper.
Seeing my phone light up on the couch, I began to make long strides towards it.
From Unknown: I hope Bubbles liked the wine, your poor brother could never.
After reading the first message, the next message made my hands shake. It was a picture of Alex, in his hotel room, sitting on his bed, while looking down at his phone.
What do you want, Claus? I send back. Seeing him begin to type a response, my heart rate increases.
Hide n' Seek is boring 45°40'46.8"N 5°57'26.9"E. Come find me here to end this game.
Not even bothering to type a response or give my brain a chance to react to his words, I switch tabs in my phone to Google maps and paste the coordinates into the search. I'm stunned by the results. It's a white house, one story, obviously abandoned because of its lack of privacy, broken windows, no door, furniture pushed outside, and dead bushes in the front of some sort of plant. After observing the seemingly "safe" house in the clean and "safe" neighborhood, I pack a bag knowing this will be a lengthy trip. Home address post-it, house keys, phone, cat wine, and matches. I finished packing the necessities along with the gifts from Claus, only because I plan to return them.
I walked out the door, not bothering to lock anything because after today there will be no more threats. Turning my attention to my phone, I follow Google Maps' directions to the abandoned house. As I walk I take out the match box and cat wine, stuffing them in my pockets. Arriving within 30 minutes, I'm stunned by the building's appearance; it's practically charcoal and the caution tape blocking me from the crisp house doesn't make me feel any better. Shaking out the nerves, I remember what I came here for.
Protecting the family, eliminating the threats, freedom.
Lifting up the bright yellow tape over my head, I make my way into the unstable building. Taking cautious and slow steps towards what I think was the living room, I spin on my heels once I hear an echo of footsteps behind me.
"Ah, Mademoiselle. I was starting to think you would not show," he announces. I narrowed my eyes at him in response.
"And this house, have you taken a look at the rooms? It was truly a beauty before it caught aflame," he continues, motioning with his hands and arms while his eyes wonder.
I muster the courage to find my voice and a tiny, "Why?" comes out.
He brings his attention back to me in surprise. "Why, you ask? Because your-" His rant travels through deaf ears and my hands start to shake.
"She was making dinner for us all! You're my uncle! We are family!" I shout, cutting him off, years of pent up anger and tears rushing out with my words. Reaching for the pocketed items with shaky hands, I bring a finger up to push the inside of the match box out, but Claus's voice stops me.
"Oooo, Ouais, I wouldn't do that. The way I rigged that box will make everything here catch on fire. Didn't you read the sign? It read, highly flammable." He finishes scrunching up his face like he's cringed out. I begin to take action, but he stops me again. "What about you brother, Chéri?"
I freeze but respond calmly, "If I don't make it out alive-" I open the small wine capsule behind my back, with one hand. Dropping the cap, it hits the floor with a ping. I watch as Claus's eyes dart to the cap widening as he makes eye contact with me. "-You don't either." I finish spitting out the last word like poison. Seeing Claus make a run towards my hand with the match box, I throw the wine onto his clothes, making him take a step back. Taking his step back as an opening, I let my finger finally take action and push out the sliding box, chucking it at Claus as the sparks and smoke take over the box. I watch as his clothes catch fire and slowly the house does too. The house becomes filled with smoke fast and it's becoming harder to see and breathe every second. Stumbling towards what I hope is the exit, I make it out of the abandoned building now engulfed in flames. Pushing my body through the caution tape like I've just won a marathon, I sink to my knees and watch the flames as black dots take over my vision, soon making me lose consciousness.
Waking up to a bumpy ride, I hear a familiar chipper voice. "Look who's up! How you feelin', pretty lady?" I was unable to get my eyes to focus and my throat was too dry to answer. I feel myself lose consciousness again. Jolting awake, I see hazel eyes with brown pieces of hair blocking parts of his irises.
"Hey, brought you home; you looked pretty rough so I took the dirt path as well and boy was it bumpy," he recaps with his hands on his hips.
"I will grab money; give me a...minute," I respond, my voice hoarse.
He looks startled by my sudden motive to talk but moves out the way for me to exit the car and into the house. After stumbling and tripping over myself, I make it through the door, falling on my side, weak. I reach towards the bell next to the door, and just listen to it ring with my eyes closed. Feeling my eyelids grow dense, I fight to stay conscious until I feel Bubbles's soft fur brush my face and I reach to where I think she is, petting her once before feeling my body go limp.