Flames and Starlight

17🌘

Peter

We found a place to sleep for the night near a small pond. Nicole and I both agreed we would continue to head east in the morning while Kendrick remained silent, only to say he would keep first watch while we slept.

I wasn't sure whether or not I trusted him, but the pull on my eyelids had me falling to sleep within seconds as I lowered myself to the ground.

"Peter! Peter! Help me! Help!"

The screech of my mother's panicked voice had me snapping my eyes open and sitting up straight, looking around my room in panic and alarm. Smoke was seeping into my room through the crack of my door, smothering my lungs and stinging my eyes, causing them to tear up and making it difficult to see. The heat was blasting everywhere, making the entire place feel like a furnace on full blast.

I threw the blankets back and leaped to my feet, blinking rapidly, trying to see what was going on.

I stumbled toward the door, coughing as the smoke continued to fill my lungs, making it almost impossible to breathe.

I reached the door and flew it open. I gaped as a huge fire was rapidly spreading through the hallway, devouring everything in its path.

"Peter!" I heard Mom scream again. It sounded like she was downstairs.

"I'm coming!" I yelled, my voice cracked and strained as I barrelled down the stairs, trying to see where I was going, the thick smoke making it too hard to see. I lost my footing as my foot bypassed a step and fell the rest of the way, tumbling down the steps and landing painfully on the floor below.

"Peter!" Mom screamed again.

I scrambled to my feet, looking around wildly. Horror plagued me as I realized that the fire was spreading even faster all throughout the house, destroying everything in its path, the smoke intensifying tenfold.

"Mom, where are you?" I shouted, coughing. I pulled my shirt up, covering my nose, and made my way through the dining room, trying to see where she was, trying to get to her.

"Peter!" she cried from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.

I moved forward to the kitchen and stepped in the doorway, my eyes rapidly searching the room, trying to spot her or Dad anywhere.

"Mom!" I yelled before coughing. "Where are you?"

She didn't respond.

"Mom!" I screamed, panic seizing me.

I ran into the kitchen, peering through the smoke. There was no sign of her or Dad in there.

A scream from behind me had me spinning around and I saw Laura on the ground in the living room, clutching her leg, tears streaming down her face.

I rushed towards her. "Laura!"

Before I could reach her, a huge piece of the ceiling was completely devoured in fire and I came to a screeching halt as it fell just a few inches in front of me.

"Laura!" I screamed.

The fire was reaching the ceiling, becoming alarmingly high.

"Laura!" I screamed again. "Are you okay?"

I didn't hear anything else over the roar of the fire.