Love And Dragons | JiKyu • KyuHoon

6|The Fire

Junkyu remembered the fire was unrelenting that night.

It grew so high that it was almost like it had reached the sky. The inky black canvas of that night was painted with a bright blazing golden orange color. The roaring and cackling of the fire devouring the wood was dangerously loud and strong. There were thousands of burning red hot sparks littered all over the air, it was quite a magnificent sight. However, Junkyu did not have the luxury at that time to take in the scenery as something beautiful. Instead he was crying and screaming for help to stop or get out of the fire. He was trapped. He was locked inside a storage house. There were no windows and the door was too thick for him to try to barge down on his own.

"Help!!! Please!!! Help me!!! Somebody please, help!!!!" Junkyu shouted with all that his throat muscles could muster. But the thickened smoke from the growing fire that he consumed into his lungs slowly suffocated him.

Junkyu remembered the smoke mixed with the strong smell of the burnt fishes, herbs, spices and other food that were stored inside. The strong mix of odors made it harder and harder to breathe and scream for any saviours.

Junkyu remembered he banged with his fists and kicked on the stubbornly locked wooden doors that the fire had yet to reach. His knuckles were bleeding, he smelled the iron from his own blood. Then he heard something from behind him crack. He recalled seeing the fire had travelled upwards to the ceiling. He screamed and covered his ears when he saw a wooden beam give in and fall to the floor. Junkyu ducked down in fear of being crushed. He remembered feeling the increasing wave of heat on his skin. The sparks and embers flying off of the beam which allowed some to land at the foot of the door Junkyu stood. One lick of the flames on the dry wood and it too soon started to catch fire.

"No! No! Please! Help!!!" Junkyu screamed desperately and stood up to bang on the doors some more before the flames got worse.

He remembered the voice. The voice that haunted him with intensity.

"JUNKYU!!!"

"Junkyu! I'm here!"

"I–I can't open it! It's locked!"

"Don't worry Junkyu!"

"I'll get you out!"

Junkyu knew there were many other bits and pieces that happened on that fateful night, but somehow some of the memories were like a blur. Junkyu figured it might have been from the suffocation he felt from his lungs. He remembered his nasty coughing due to the thick smoke of the fire. And perhaps it was also the blackening of his vision that he lost full grasp of his surroundings. He really couldn't remember how, but then there was the feeling of the familiar hand encasing his own that always brought assurance and safety to his often troubled heart. And then that voice again.

"Junkyu! Come on! Let's go!"

He remembered running. He was running for his life. And then there was this stinging pain in his head. He felt like a knife or a spear stabbed his head.

"Junkyu!"

"Get up! We need to go!"

Then there was an ear splitting roar.

"Junkyu!"

He remembered the sound was followed by a loud thump against the roof.

Junkyu could recall the structure weaken. The beams and pillars started to give in even faster. Junkyu could also recall there was a crooked hole on the door. He now wondered how was that now there.

"Junkyu!"

Junkyu remembered the harsh shove on his back and the sudden rush of fresh cool air that contrasted from the heat he suffered. Then as he fell out the hole, he rolled on the ground, he felt the rocks' sharp edges rub against his skin under his clothes. He let out a nasty cough and quickly scrambled to get up to see if the person had escaped along with him. When he turned around and there was no one with him outside the burning storage house, the ugly truth kicked him hard in the face.