Never Let You Go// The 100

Murphy the Cat

 *Chapter 8*

 "Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence."

 - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 For the first time in three days, I smiled. A genuine smile that made me almost feel happy for finding this goddamn box. The fourth layer didn't have much to it. Flowers that were just starting to wilt, a tie with a perfect knot, and a wedding invitation. There was no death or illness that took them apart. It just wasn't meant to be. I was ok with that ending. We had one memorable night together then didn't see each other again. 

I put down the fourth layer with a sigh, hoping that the rest of them would be this happy. The first thing I saw when I looked into the box again was a folded up poster. When I unfolded it, I could see that it was a picture of an angry looking bear with a funky hat on that said "Smokey." On the side, it read: Only you can prevent wildfires. Except, wildfires was crossed out and replaced with kitchen fires. This ought to be good. 

 ↢********************↣

 Bellamy could smell the smoke before he could see it. Of course, he couldn't see anything once he had figured it out and smoke had filled up half of his apartment already. All the rules about fire safety he had learned in elementary school came back to him, but seemed pretty useless. Because there were no firefighters on their way and no safe spot to wait while his apartment went down in flames. Perfect. 

 "Shit." Bellamy muttered, staring at the monstrous flames that covered his entire stove and the majority of his countertops. And right in the middle of it all was the pot of spaghetti he had been cooking with his oven mitts that were too close to the flames. Awesome. 

 Bellamy had heard once that with grease fires you weren't supposed to throw water on it or the flames would just get bigger, but honestly he didn't know the difference and wasn't going to sit around and think about it while his kitchen burned. He got the biggest pot he could find that wasn't on fire and filled it with water. Surprisingly, the sink hadn't even been touched by the flames yet. That was great Bellamy thought sarcastically. Now he could fill pots with water that wouldn't be able to boil due to his lack of a stove that worked. Cooking was great. 

 Apparently, Bellamy made the right call by throwing water on the fire because the flames went down considerably. It only took about three more pots full of water to get it to go out entirely. Although, by then, nothing was salvageable. The stove was burned to a crisp along with all the food that was inside and Bellamy's poor oven mitts that were green with white polka dots. Even the cabinets were stained black, making them look like a piece of artwork. Bellamy was not pleased. Especially since it was seven o'clock and his date was supposed to arrive an hour ago. Bellamy had only one word for this situation. "Perfect." 

 As soon as he said it, the fire alarm finally went off. And with it came the sprinklers, extinguishing what was left of Bellamy's good mood. Now he was wet, angry, and probably had smoke poisoning. Things couldn't get any better. 

 There was a sudden knock on the door and Bellamy's heart leaped into his throat. What if it was his date? He did know her to be the carefree type. What if she just forgot? And now she was here and would get to bask in all the glory that was Bellamy's failure of a date night. 

 But when he opened the door it wasn't his date, but a vaguely familiar girl with blonde hair and concerned blue eyes. Well, they were concerned until she got a good look at Bellamy who was soaked head to toe. Then she started to laugh. 

 "Haha, so funny." Bellamy rolled his eyes, wiping the water from his face. "What do you want?" "I was just wondering if you were ok." the girl wheezed, barely trying to contain herself. "I could see the smoke coming out from under the door."