SHE AIN'T LIKE A SISTER NO MORE

Chapter 64 ~ "Please...stop!"

JUSTIN

The toxic fumes hit me hard the second I'm through the front door. Realization and panic hit me in the exact same second.
I have no idea where I'm going, but my legs carry me up the stairs quickly, whilst I can hear myself screaming her name.
I open door after door before I notice smoke billowing out from under the end door on the right.
I don't hesitate, and I'm at the end of the hall and through the door within seconds.
"Jen?"
The smoke hits me in the face, pouring out into the hallway as the door is opened, but still the room is filled with thick black clouds of smoke.
I can't see a fucking thing aside from blue and orange flames spilling out from what looks to be another doorway to my left.
"Jen?" I yell, my eyes already burning from the toxic chemicals and smoke.
The flames crackle and pop, moving further into the room.
I drop myself flat on the ground, thinking back to the whole "heat rises, smoke rises" bullshit they teach you in school. Not true. I still can't see even half a foot in front of me.

"JEN!!!!" It's a scream, as I realize how fast the flames are growing and spreading.
I can't be 100% but when I think I hear a small whimper, I commando crawl along the carpet towards the direction of the sound.
I start coughing, as the smoke wafts into my mouth, burning as it goes down my throat and into my lungs.
Looking behind me, the flames only seem to be 7 feet or so away.
Another whimper. She's close. I reach my hands out in front of me, coming across skin and pull.
Suddenly she's fighting. Kicking me away, pulling what seems to be a bare ankle from my grip.
"Stop!" I growl, reaching out again and grabbing hold of what feels like her knee. I pull again, and out of nowhere she lets off a frantic scream.
"No more! Please! No more!" It's followed up by coughing, wheezing and spluttering.
"Baby it's me! Stop-" A painful cough rips through my own chest, followed by an intense head spin from the fumes. "Stop fighting me off!"
"Please...stop!" She begs.
She's crying, but I have no time to listen. The flames are not even five feet away now, the intense heat feeling as though it's melting my clothes to my skin. Still, she kicks and screams and coughs.
"Stop baby!" I growl again, giving her knee a squeeze as a bare heel of her foot pelts me in the jaw.
I'm not sure whether it should hurt. It felt like it should have...I don't have a second to even think about it.
I try and peer through the thickening black smoke, looking for the door. A window I can throw her out of even. It would hurt her, a fall from two stories, landing on the ground with a thud. She'd maybe even break a leg, but at least she'd survive.
I can hear her whimpering, still kicking at me. Sobbing.
The flames have closed in now, and from what I can tell, there's only one way of escaping, which is a slight gap in the flames.
Without a second thought, I drag Jen along the carpet, and stand up within the same second. I bend down, dodging her feet and hands as she screams at me, still attempting to fight me off.
"No more! Please!!"
It's only now that I realize she's completely naked. I try and grab a better hold of her sweaty body, struggling in the darkness that the smoke around us creates. My hand brushes along the back of her thigh, and she arches her whole body within my arms, a blood curdling scream escaping her.
"Baby, its Justin." I whisper against her forehead. "I have to get you out of here okay?"
I wrap her around my body, holding her as tight as possible, and peering through the smoke. I see that our only exit is quickly closing in, leaving us completely surrounded by burning hot flames.
"It hurts." She sobs against me.
I have no idea what's hurting her, nor do I have time to ask.
Covering her skin with my arms and body as much as I possibly can, I run through the one foot gap in the flames, hoping it leads to some kind of exit.
A window, a door, anything.
I hold Jen against me with one arm, feeling along the wall with my free hand, the heat from the flames scorching my back.
"I'm sorry J, I'm so sorry. I love you, I love you!" She's whispering, and even through the loud crackling of the flames I can hear her. It's strange though. I don't feel like she's talking to me. I feel like she doesn't even know I'm here.
"I got you baby, you're gonna be okay." I reply, but in that exact moment she becomes a dead weight in my arms.
Fuck!
My hand hits door trim, and I skip over it to find an empty gap. I back my way through it and can faintly see doors lining the hallway. I rush down the hall, towards the stairs and can hear the sound of sirens quickly approaching. Just as I exit the front door, three fire trucks and 2 ambulances come to a screaming stop on the front lawn.
Paramedics come rushing over, and I think I mumble something along the lines of "I've got her", but now that I know she's safe from the flames and the smoke, my legs don't feel right and are shaking beneath me, not to mention the head spins making it feel impossible to stay upright.
Now that she's lit up with flashes of red and blue from the surrounding emergency lights, I see her entire body covered in fresh bruises. If I ever thought my heart was completely broken before, it hadn't been. This is the moment it breaks more than ever before. The thought that it couldn't get any worse than this, seeing her entire body swollen due to blue and purple bruises, including multiple handprints. That feeling of this being the worst feeling in the world only lasts a second, and I stand corrected when I see the smears of blood between her legs, and trails where drips of blood have run as far down as her knees before drying against her soft delicate skin.
"Fuck..." Bile rises to my throat. I want to tell them to take her, but before I can form the words I black out, falling to the ground and taking my beautiful broken girl with me. In the few seconds before complete darkness takes over, I whisper "I'm sorry baby" because I was too late. I should have gotten to her sooner.