Beyond Bloodline - Unbreakable Bonds

twenty four

"Nigel," he took a bit of comfort that he wasn't in this alone, Amelia's small body pouring sweat he couldn't distinguish much from the tears that were now running free. Her lips trembled, hard, as she fisted a hand into his shirt, a scared whimper tumbling out of her mouth, "Nigel, I'm scared."

"I'm scared too."

He felt his head pound as her lips fell apart and she soon started wailing for all she was worth. Then abruptly shut up when the billowing smoke seemed to get to her lungs and soon sent her coughing.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," he managed, letting her bury her teary face in the arm she was now wringing out like a dishrag, in favor instead of fisting into his shirt. He let her gape in as many mouthfuls as she could manage in the burning room, that plan soon getting aborted when the flames came to tease at their curled up legs.

Amelia screamed, sending herself into a wailing fit and then a coughing fit, repeating the process not necessarily in that order even as Nigel moved like five inches to the side so she had more space to withdraw, with the rest of the room having been cordoned off by the flames.

They'd, he and their other friend, Emery, had been throwing a Frisbee that had been tossed aside by the older kids, when she found them with news that she knew where the snacks had been hidden. Emery hadn't wanted in, his stomachache keeping him in check even  as he sullenly said he was going to find someone else to play with.

Nigel had no such compulsions in accompanying her. Or maybe he just wanted something extra after the plain porridge they'd had that morning. Things spiraled after they'd shut the metal door behind them and Amelia looked like she wanted to swallow the room, paradise of snacks or otherwise, whole.

Who knew where the fire had started from but the metal door, absolutely scorching to the touch, had melded into its frame and the spreading fire had them retreating to the other end of the wall. He harbored a bit of hope still as there were two windows on its side, a bit out of reach for them to do anything but try to look out once.

They were almost four floors high so their only hope was waiting for someone to find and rescue them. They would do a headcount and should come searching. Plus, Emery was out there in the open and could easily tell them their whereabouts, right?

He didn't know what kind of luck his thoughts were blessed with but there was soon someone calling out to them from the window. He thanked whatever deities existed as he passed Amelia over first to the lady balanced on the ladder outside and who he was unable to recognize in the moment.

She balanced Amelia on her hips and her lip curled in a cold smile when she brought her gaze back to Nigel who was still waiting beneath the windowsill, wide eyes and mop of hair the only decipherable thing from her vantage point.

Nigel shivered coldly, pressing himself flat against the wall, the flames pressing closer and smoldering his clothes. He tried to make a lunge for it, only for the woman to calmly withdraw the ladder and as she made her getaway, Amelia wailing for all she was worth at being carted away by this strange person that refused to save her friend.

He wasn't sure when he lost consciousness but he soon woke up in a hospital. The rest was a blur of surgery, therapy and reliving that nightmarish like memory every hour of his life for the next couple of months.

Nigel sat up with a lurch, perhaps the same one he'd wished he'd been able to propel himself from that window, trying with all of him to hack out his lungs. His throat felt tight, tight with smoke, tight without oxygen, as he fumbled for the glass of water on his bedside table and drank one, two, three before realizing it wasn't helping and letting the glass crash to the ground from his trembling fingers.