Lily

Chapter 6: Jake

"Bye, Lily."

"See you tomorrow!" I don't really know how I ended up dropping her at her house but it just kinda happened. I think I only had a 30 minute drive, so I'd be home soon.

I turned the radio up, every so slightly- my favourite song was playing! In my opinion, Whitney Houston is a goddess and should be treated as such.

We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. Wobbly Shopping Centre has been left in ruins after a fire broke out on all three floors of the building. Firefighters rushed to the scene and are currently working alongside the police to figure out how the fire had begun. As of right now, the number of survivors seems to outweigh the number of deaths but it's hard to say for sure until more updates have been released. Please note that the fire has now been extinguished.

Whitney Houston went right back to belting out a huge note, almost as if nothing had happened. As if I didn't hear what I'm pretty sure I did just hear. I quickly went to check the time.

'18:30'

I felt a gush of relief run down my spine. Sarah usually leaves work at around six, so she should be at home right now. She's probably fine.

She's probably not fine. Her entire source of income has been destroyed. Not to mention her friends and colleagues could be injured. I should park the car and give her a call.

No answer.

A tad bit strange but perhaps she's still in shock.

Still no answer.

The gush of relief I had once felt, began to swivel back up, and felt more like the proceeding of a vomit.

I'll give Hannah a call.

Ring 1. Everything is going to be fine. Ring 2. Come on, Hannah. Ring 3. Sarah and Hannah are dead and I'm never going to see them ever again.

Ring 4.

"Hello." If I didn't know any better, I would say Hannah sounded like they were crying.

"Hi. Umm... I can't quite get a hold of Sarah. Is she with you?" My legs kept wobbling like jelly.

"No."

"Oh, okay, well... you dropped her off right?"

No response.

I cleared my throat and tried to project. "You dropped her off at her house. Like you always do, right?"

I heard keys jangling, the honking of cars, the wind blowing but no words.

"Hello?"

"She was late for work. She was doing overtime."

"Overtime? What do you mean by overtime?"

"Sarah was in the building at the time of the fire. I'm on my way to the centre now but the road is full of traffic."

I paused and took my time to let the news sink in for a while. After trying so hard to think of what to say next, all I said was "D'you think she's dead?"

"I don't know, Jack. I really don't know"