I Can Hear Your Strength (A Heartstopper FanFic -- BOOK 3)

15. Punishment

15. Punishment

One moment the paper doughnut bag was in his hand and the next it was on the ground. The next it was blackened and curling.

Though Tao had not lingered to watch it burn.

The initial roar of flame had taken a lot of people a while to comprehend. Tao Xu and almost every other person surrounding him had been focused on the sky. You always heard about the dangers of fireworks displays, though no one ever really expected something like that to happen to them.

Luckily, the blast had landed several feet away from where Tao, Elle, Aled and the others had been standing. But fire was spreading, and people were panicking. Screaming. And Tao could only stand there, frozen in horror — until he felt a tug on his hand. Then another, more desperate this time.

"Tao!" Elle shouted. "Tao, come on, we need to get out of here!"

Finally, Elle got him to move his legs and he stumbled after his girlfriend. "Wait," he gasped, grabbing Aled's hand too. "Where's Charlie?"

Elle stopped dead and turned to look at him as if she'd just realised how long Charlie had been gone for.

"Elle, fuck — we need to find him." Tao whirled around, searching the chaos around them. People were running in all directions, some supporting injuries, horrible burns he quickly turned away from again.

"Tao! Elle! Aled!" came a cry. "Thank god. Have you seen Nick?"

Tara, Darcy and Sahar appeared from seemingly nowhere, the rugby lads trailing after them.

"Shit," said Tao. "No. Have you seen Charlie?"

"No," said Tara. "We thought he'd be with you." She clung to Darcy's arm, looking ready to cry.

"Well, he isn't."

A sudden burst of flame illuminated the sky — all nine of them jumped. They stumbled further out onto the field, clinging to each other as they went. The air was a little clearer here.

"Jesus, shit shit shit," Christian kept repeating. He looked around, desperate for someone to cling to until Sai latched onto his hand and Otis grabbed onto Sai.

"Sahar," said Otis. "We should stick together. We don't want to get split up."

"Right." Sahar took his outstretched hand and drew out her phone. "We should call them. They must have found somewhere safe."

"I'll call Charlie," said Elle.

The other stood there, watching, restless as Elle and Darcy held their phones to their ears and listened. And listened. Their faces fell in unison.

"No answer," said Darcy.

Elle frowned down at her phone. "Okay, well, let's everyone message them and text them. Surely one of us will get through."

As everyone else joined the texting frenzy, Tao couldn't bring himself to do the same. He couldn't stand still. A sweat had broken out across his forehead, the heat palpable. He felt like he was going to throw up. No matter how horrific the sight was, he couldn't stop looking back toward the epicentre of the blast. Flames licked the ground in big, billowing bursts.

"Elle — Elle, they could be in there — Charlie and Nick. What if they're hurt and we're just out here doing nothing?"

He made to dart toward the flames, but Elle and Darcy grabbed the back of his coat.

"No," said Elle. "Don't be stupid. You can't go in there."

"Think about it," said Aled. "I know Charlie said he was going to find the loos, but do you really think he was telling the truth?"