When the Fire Burns Out

Chapter 1

I still have nightmares. They replay inside my head every night. This night wasn't any different. We were all asleep, and the house went up in flames so quickly. Thinking my parents would be waiting for me with my younger brother and Stella, my cat, I ran out of the house. The neighbor called the fire department, who said it wasn't safe for me to go back in, who held me back with tight arms so I couldn't. The fire department showed up and pulled out my dad, my mom and my brother Cole were never found, little piles of ash in the wreckage. My dad died from smoke inhalation and severe burns later that night.

Or at least, that's what they told me happened that night. I know there's something missing from that story, but I can't remember what happened, really.

I woke up in a cold sweat, Stella shifting in her spot wrapped around my neck. She survived too, no one knows how. We think she ran out the door after me. Petting her soft fur, we looked at each other knowing I wouldn't be sleeping any more that night.

I looked at the clock that sat on my bedside table. '5:30' it read in bright green numbers. I got up, knowing that the only other option is laying in bed for another half hour waiting for my alarm to go off. I just couldn't start the day without hearing it.

I grabbed my iPod Nano and my headphones from the bedside table and pulled on a hoodie, already in sweatpants. I tiptoed down the stairs as silently as possible into the kitchen. Picking up my keychain off of a peg on the wooden coat-rack that we had hanging near the front entrance, I unlocked the door and slipped outside into the morning chill.

I shivered, shutting the door behind me, clicking the lock shut. I glanced around the acres of land, nothing but a few colorful trees in the distance. There was an old barn that needed repainting but otherwise in pretty good shape. My aunt had sold all of the animals that once occupied it besides a chicken or two in a small wire pen, but she was talking about buying a horse for me to ride on instead of walking by foot on the gravel road.

I put my iPod on shuffle mode, which is what I do most of the time since there's a variety of genres of music on it. A country song came on, and I blasted it into my ears.

I walked down the road for a little while, breathing in the cool autumn air. Half an hour later, I cut through the field and into the house. My aunt was at the dining room table, waiting for me.

"Darling, next time you go out would you mind leaving a note?" she said in her southern accent that apparently everyone had down here.

"Sorry ma'am, I wanted to get a walk in before going to school." She always wanted me to call everyone either "Ma'am" or "Sir". I didn't see what difference it would make.

I ran upstairs and changed into tight fitting blue jeans and a flannel-type shirt, left unbuttoned with a black tank top underneath. I grabbed my backpack and walked across the hall, setting it on the bathroom floor. I brushed my teeth and rinsed the sink out before going back to the living room.

"Bye Aunt Delilah, see you after school."

"Ok sweetie, have a good day."

'Like that will ever happen.' I thought as I walked out the door. '"Don't have a day worse than yesterday!" is how she should really put it.'

I kept an even pace all throughout the countryside, until there were more cars. I put my headphones in my ears and turned the volume up to block out any car making noise, something that I did a lot.

I crossed the street once I could see the school. It didn't seem very welcoming yet, but only been going there for a month means I still had to give myself time to settle in. I don't think it ever will be though, to be honest.