Sam hears a scream electrify the air. Remy's, she thinks, already calling for him with her bandanna wrapped around her face and simultaneously rolling out of the cramped section. When the fire rises up to meet her, she freezes; it had risen so much that it blocked her way out the door. She was trapped.
Crash! Another bookshelf goes, this one just narrowly missing Sam's head. Around her was what looked to be the scene of a crime. There were splintered bookshelves, ashes and embers smoldering, along with the guts of the books lying all around her. Sam had found an especially sturdy artifact that looked like some type of hammer and was using this to dissipate the embers, but it was too much for her little tool to handle. Sam heard the cries of Camille and Marci ringing through the books but she couldn't tell from which way they were coming. She was just telling herself to stay calm and trying to ignore the newfound claustrophobia that was creeping in on her, and that she was doing the smartest thing by not freaking out, you're okay, okay, okay.
Once when she was trying to burn out an especially large piece of wood, a gust ran through and it jumped onto her shirt sleeve. For a terrible moment, Sam just sat there with flames licking up her arm but then she did what everybody had been taught to do as a child. She stopped, dropped, and rolled; but she had to leave her wheelchair behind to be able to diminish the fire. She lay there panting for a moment, adrenaline still coursing through her veins even though she was no longer alight. Her arm wasn't burnt too badly as she had been wearing a thick shirt, but still, being on fire was being on fire. When she began to pick herself up (her legs may not be very strong, but her arms are something to behold), it was a struggle. She started army crawling towards her chair, where it was teasingly tilted upside down between two bookshelves. She crawled over the splintered shelves and with strength pulled her weak legs back into a sitting position on her chair.
Sam wiped sweat off her forehead and then went back to fighting off the fire. She muttered to herself, "you got this."
YOU ARE READING
A Heart Among Ink and Flames
HistoryczneFive friends, one bookshop, one fire. A historical fiction set during the terrible events of the Notre Dame Cathedral Fire in April of 2019. A sweet story of living life and finding friendship in even the unlikeliest of places.
