"Oh" breathes Sam, staring with glossy eyes as the cathedral's spires burn to a crisp. Around them people are singing hymns of prayer like Ave Maria and Hail Mary to honor the art and architecture that had been standing there for eight hundred years and was being devastatingly destroyed in a matter of hours. Everybody around them was either on their knees in prayer or staring in a repressed stupor at the fire clutching rosaries to their chests.
In the distance, she could hear the sounds of the sirens starting to wail through the air. The people parted as the trucks sped by flashing their red, white, and blue lights. They watched in a muted silence as the firefighters climbed up to battle the worsening flames. Sparks were flying off of the cathedral and Sam was holding her breath as she waited for something else to catch on fire. But luckily, nothing else did.
The gothic cathedral had been such a part of all their lives, a part of Paris', of France's; that to see it burn was like watching a loved one die.
Crack! A gasp came over the crowd, the arrow was tilting at a drastic angle, slowly toppling to its utter doom. As it fell an immense plume of ash scattered the sky like stardust. There were sobs and wails in the crowd. Beside her Camille was gripping Marci's hand so hard that her knuckles leaked white. Louis's arms were around Remy's waist, with his head resting upon his shoulders. Sam could see tears staining Rem's cheeks, making his face an artwork of smeared pales and rouges, his face flushed.
Though no one took particular notice, the bookshop was being smoldered by water as well. You could no longer see the magic which had been locked up inside since the beginning. All that remained to the eye was papery shards and ashes of novels which generations had been bewitched and haunted by. Sam knew that Rem's tears were for the bookshop as well as the cathedral. He had grown up there, that had been his home. It was all of their homes. Now it is gone.
YOU ARE READING
A Heart Among Ink and Flames
Historical FictionFive 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.
