Flames

Chapter 21: Hospital

I'm still tied up. I try to force the rope to break but I can't. I can feel the strong heat of the fire getting closer. The ceiling and the walls are starting to fall down and the smoke is getting thicker and blacker by the second, filling my lungs. I start coughing when I feel I'm running out of oxygen; trying to gasp for air. I try screaming for help, but I can't seem to get the words out my mouth; I can't breathe and I'm starting to get dizzy. As I'm about to faint, I hear Sam's voice, "thank God I found you. I'm gonna get you out of here." He unties me and cradles me out. Just before passing out, I hear sirens in the distance and with blurred vision, I see the orange flames dancing with fierce, consuming everything on its way, burning the whole house down.

I wake up later in a hospital bed with a serum and needles sticking in my skin and an oxygen mask providing me with air. I have a cast on my right hand and humid gauzes all over my arm covering minor second-degree burns. My parents are sitting on the chairs by my bed, resting. My sister is in my dad's lap sleeping. Sam, on the other hand, is pacing by the door, looking extremely worried.

I take off the oxygen mask to speak, "hi".

Sam instantly stops pacing and heads towards me. "Thank God you're okay. I was so worried," he says, his voice full of concerned.

My parents instantly wake up at hearing Sam talking. "Oh sweetie, thank God you're okay," my mom kisses my forehead. Lisa launches herself on top of me and with tears streaming down her face, she hugs me.

"Oh baby, I'm fine, see?" I tell her, trying to make her feel better. She just clings harder onto me.

"How are you feeling sweetheart?" my dad asks.

"I feel fine, dad," I answer truthfully. He smiles at me lovingly.

My mom turns to Sam and looking at him indignantly tells him, "you should go now".

"Mom?" I mutter, confused as to why she's kicking him out.

"I said I'd let you stay until she woke up," my mother tells him again. "My daughter almost died because of you, so I think it's time for you to leave."

"I'm really sorry," Sam apologizes to her. "I never meant for her to get hurt, I swear."

"Melissa, he's just a kid like her," my dad reminds her. "None of this is his fault. And Amanda's okay, there's no need to take it out on him."

"I want him out," my mom insists.

"It's okay, she's right," Sam says. "I'm leaving." He kisses the top of my head before heading out.

"Sam?" I call out to him; my mom has no right to kick him out. At all of this, Lisa is still clinging onto me, but now she's scared of what's happening in the room.

"I'm really sorry," he apologizes one more time before leaving.

"Why did you do that for?" I ask her angrily. "This is not his fault; it's his father's."

"I'm not gonna argue with you about this," my mom says raising her voice.

"But..." I shot back at her.

"Let's all calm down," my dad suggests, trying to maintain the peace. "It's not good for you to be altered. I'll go talk to him, but you need to rest, okay?"

"Fine," I agree.

My mom sits down again and doesn't say anything more. My dad goes out to look for Sam. I caress Lisa's hair until she falls asleep and not long after, I fall asleep too. I wake up the next morning to find myself alone in the hospital room. The clock reads, 9:30 a.m. My whole body is in pain. I guess the anesthesia is wearing off. I try to stand from the bed to go to the bathroom, but my dad stops me when he enters the room.