Alice was a strange girl, her hair a fiery, strawberry blonde, she had Heterochromia, a condition in which ones' eyes would be two different colors. One eyes was a sparkling emerald while the other was a marvelous icy blue. People at school bullied her for this, however she never let it bother her, she had one friend and that was more than enough. Her friend was Samantha Jones, the girl down the street. Samantha had dark brown hair and brown eyes. She loved to play dolls and pretend with Alice, the two were always inseparable.
One day Alice way invited to a birthday party for Samantha's older brother, she gladly accepted and ran inside to tell her mother. "Momma! Sammy's mom wants us to go to a party!"
"Really now? When did she say it was?" Her mother smiles, while continuing to cook.
"She says it's on Sunday!" Alice enthused.
"Well then, I'll have to get your dress ironed." Alice jumps up and down.
"Okay Momma! I can bring you the one I want to wear."
"Good, now run along and play. Supper should be done soon."
Alice nods, and goes back outside.
~~~~~~~~
Sunday came up quickly, Alice wore her nice lacy black dress. It was loose and comfortable but still pretty, she got a card for the birthday and her mom put a twenty in it.
"Alice! You came!" Samantha giggled.
"Yeah!" Alice ran up and hugged her best friend.
Alice and Samantha ran out to the back yard laughing, no one knew that this may be their last day together.
The kitchen was a bit messy, Samantha and Alice's mothers were cooking together. You could easily tell that they worked well together, Alice's mother was baking, and helping with the grill while Samantha's mom set up the trays for the food. The timer went off and Alice's mom had turned her attention to the oven, this was the first mistake. She took the cake out to let it cool, the grease from the grill dripped and missed the grease trap. It hit the floor leaving a puddle.
"Oh! I'll get that in a bit." Samantha's mom smiled, that was the second mistake. They called the guests in, and the birthday boy. They lit the candles and sung. When the candles went out one re-lit, a trick candle was the final mistake. The boy blew it out again, and they took the candles off. The candles were set on the counter while the cake was cut. Everyone was distracted by the cake, no one noticed when one candle fell off the counter. The trick candle re-lit as it caught air on the way down, it fell in the grease.
"Fire!!!" One kid shouted as the flames grew quickly in the dense kitchen.
"Run!!" Some others said as they abandoned the placed.
Alice was going to run, but froze when she saw her friend, her mom, and her friend's mom. They were surrounded by the grease fire that was growing.
"Alice! Run!" Her mom yelled.
"No! I can't leave you momma!" Alice had heard of what to do in an oil fire. She wasn't sure if her friends house had a fire extinguisher. She ran to the bathroom, searching as fast as she could, she found one! She held some of the cloth from her dress to her mouth as a filter, as she dragged the extinguisher out to the kitchen.
When she got there her heart sank, she couldn't make it in time. Her Mother and friend were burnt up. She ran through the flames as if it were nothing, holding the bodies of the only ones she loved. Fire had made it's way onto her, but she couldn't feel it at the time. She only felt hatred for herself, why did she have to live? Now she had no one.
She stayed there crying for a long time, she didn't even recall hearing the sirens approaching. She just held her mother's corpse. When she woke up, she was in a hospital. She couldn't move or feel anything, she waited for a nurse to check in.
"Oh!" A petite lady smiled, "You're awake. Good, the police have some questions." Alice nods slowly, she can feel the pain now.
A few police officers walked in, they weren't armed. That was good, one sat down next to the bed with a smile, "Hello Miss Alice, We just have some questions regarding the fire. We would appreciate as detailed of answers as possible."
Alice nodded.
"Ok, so the three people you were found with, who were they?"
Alice hesitates, "M-My friend Samantha, Her mom, and.. M- and My mom. " she whimpers.
"Ok, now they seemed to be more burnt than you. Do you know why?"
"M-Mom told me to run.. but I- couldn't leave them." She cries under her bandages. "I- I heard that if a fire is from oil, then y-you have to use a fi-re extinguisher. S-So I tri-ied to find one." Alice continues, "But wh-en I came bac-k.. They- I- I- was too late."
"Take your time Alice, we're here." A woman reassured her.
"I r-ran to th-em a-and held onto momma.. I didn't want her to go to sleep, but.. she did."
"I'm sorry that we couldn't help Alice. You were very brave, and did the right thing. I'm sorry that they didn't make it."
The weeks went by fast, Alice was to go live with her father, who was nearly always busy. The day came for the bandages to be removed, her father and some of his 'friends' were there. Her face was a bit paler than before, and her upper left face was burnt to a reddish pink, the Icey blue of her eye didn't change, but her left eyebrow was singed to an almost black along with a portion of her hair.
She was even more strange than before, Auburn hair with a patch of singed black hair on the left. Burn scar on her left face, just below the eye socket and up to her hair.
She was to go home this week, she was scared. What would people think of her. What about school? Would she make friends? That was answered soon enough, "You'll be home schooled." her father stated. She was happy with that.
She was homeschooled, she had a nice home, she didn't need friends. She wanted to help her father though, he seemed stressed.
"Dad? You look upset. Can I help you?"
"Hmm? Oh, Alice. Sorry sweetie, it's just my work."
"What about it?" She pestered.
"You know how Daddy is a Scientist? Well I'm having trouble with finding.. people to help test things on." They were always open with each other, so he didn't mind telling her. She probably wouldn't understand right?
"Like new medicine? You need people not animals?"
"Y-Yeah.. Daddy's work needs people to try the new medicine, to see if to works."
"Can I help?" Alice didn't realize what she just offered.
"Uh- Um, I don't know sweetie. Are you sure? Sometimes the medicine does weird things."
"That's why it needs to be tested. So that they can fix it, if it does."
"I- I'll ask my work.. they might not like having a child for the test.."
"Well, that's fine too!" Alice smile brightly for what may very well be the last time.
