The Last Few Embers

Chapter Five

That night I lie in my bed, trying to sleep.

I can never sleep anymore.

The doctors told me it was a side affect of my 'other issues'.

I try not to remember it, but the nightmare creeps into my mind anyways.

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It's dark.

I can't see.

Then I see my father and mother.

They're dead.

I killed them.

I start to scream, but my father jolts me awake.

"El, it's ok. I'm here, it's ok." He says in English.

My mother comes in too.

"Eldrid? Another nightmare?" She asks in Norwegian.

I can't get the image of them dead out of my mind.

I start to hyperventilate, and my lungs feel tight and dry.

I need air.

As a human being, but also because a lack of air is extremely dangerous for an Ember.

"Take deep breaths." They tell me.

Then I lose control.

Fire starts to build everywhere, and the only thing I can hear is my parents coughing and calling for me.

"Run!" My father yells.

I jump through a flame, it's heat not hurting me, and look back just in time to see the roof collapse onto them.

In that moment I freeze, drop my natural immunity to fire, and let my flesh burn.

The firefighters found me, still alive, and I was brought back to the hospital.

I killed them.

I killed them.

It was me.

Me.

Me.

They died because I killed them. Me.

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I wake up sobbing and Arnim quickly hops from his bed and sits beside me.

He quietly shushes me, stroking my hair while he talks.

"I can't anymore." I cry. "I don't know how to deal with this."

"I know." He assures.

We listen to the sound of quiet snoring.

"Will you stay?" I ask.

Nodding, Arnim slips his legs under the sheet and I curl up against him.

His chest rises and fall under his muscle shirt, and his feet are like blocks of ice against mine.

He hums into my ear as I try to calm my breathing.

I hear Tom and Jorge giggling.

"Incesttttt.." Tom whispers.

"Would you shut up?" Ashleigh whispers back.

"Bitch!" Jorge hisses.

"Asshole!"

"Whore!"

"Dick!"

"Floozy!"

"Shut the hell up!" Hamish says loudly.