Back To The Future

Flames

A/N: I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!xx

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Clive's POV

It was a usual day in London. My parents had prepared a lot of new dough for the bakery when they sent me to get some new food for dinner at the market.

"Please be careful, my dear!", my mom had said worriedly.
"I'm not a little child anymore, mum! I'm thirteen!", I had protested which resulted in my mum's disagreeing laughter.
I quickly ran off through the streets of London- night had started to fall already, so the streetlamps started to light up one by one.
Oh... streetlamps... that reminds me of a puzzle... no not now Clive! You have to get the food!

Making my way towards the small market, I passed by some friends of my parents that greeted me friendly.

"Oh good evening Clive! Are you getting some food again?"

"Yes, Mister Smith!", I smiled.

"Then you are very lucky today, little Clive! The picking has been especially rich today, that's why we have more vegetable than ever before!"

My eyes lighted up as I started to choose what to buy for dinner.
It felt as if my eyes were starting to turn into hearts when I started to imagine it already...

Pulling my oversized hat down a bit more every now and then, I hummingly made my way back home.

What happened next would destroy my life.

As I approached the street my parents and I lived in, I suddenly heard a loud explosion sound.
It was too late when I had started running in the direction- all surrounding buildings had already started to catch fire.

I ran as fast as I could when a man suddenly held me back.

"I need to go back! My parents are still inside!" I protested while tears streamed down my face.

The man unexpectedly slapped me in the face which left me with a shocked expression.

"There's nothing to be done! Jump back and you'll die too!", the man yelled.

"Nooo! Noooo!"

Giving in to the man's strength, I turned my glance to the flames.

My parents. Their bodies are burning in there and I can't do anything.
My dear parents.
I felt the flames mirroring in my eyes as the trauma started to grow inside me.
My parents... I would never forget... my parents... in the flames...

Reader's POV

I had never experienced such a horrible night before. Even though Clive was comfortably cuddled into blankets next to me as always, I got a bad feeling as soon as it started to rain.

No... not this again...

Due to the trauma caused by the death of his parents, Clive would react very sensitively to a lot of things he connotated with it.

One of the things he was afraid of was fire- it wasn't candles that worried him, they sometimes comforted him in our apartment- but fireplaces or any big flames as he was scared that something similar would happen again.

But the worst thing Clive was scared of was thunder. Loud noises were often not a problem for him, but the loud thunder during a thunderstorm was a hell- he seemed to relive the worst night of his life somehow.
Sometimes he would faint- sometimes he would just sit there and stare into the distance- and I would try my best to comfort him, to take him back to reality.
Words could never describe how sad Clive's turmoil made me but I would try to spend my life trying to make it easier for him.
Right now he was twitching softly in his sleep and mumbling and I just hoped what he experienced wasn't painful for him.