Runaway Vivian

Chapter 4

I woke up and smelt smoke. I looked at the clock that read 3:47 am. I realized the moment I looked around my room that something wasn't right. Our house, was on fire. I immediately ran out of bed and over to Maria's room, but she was gone. Next I went to Sean's room but he wasn't there either. I started to panic. "Where are they?" I worried. Part of me knew they got out safely and the other part thought they were trapped somewhere in the house. I ran downstairs and was stopped abruptly by the thick, suffocating smoke and the intense heat.

I ran back upstairs and found myself in a predicament. I was on the second floor. My window wasn't too far from the ground but it also wasn't too close. I decided to jump out and hope for the best then burn in the flames. I didn't give it much thought but at the time it seemed like the best option. I jumped and aimed for the pile of leaves that I raked the day before. When I landed, it wasn't on the leaves. It was more so the fence that separated our house and our neighbours house. It hurt but I kept going.

I ran to the front to see Sean, Maria, and our parents. They left me in there and didn't go back? I could be dead right now but they're just having a small family reunion... With out me. I walked over to them, I was covered in ashes and burn marks. All of our neighbors were staring at our house. Sean looked at me and frowned. "You did this." He said. His words mocked me. I didn't do this. I know I didn't. I turned off the stove and there's no way it got turned back on by me. "No I didn't!" I exclaimed. My father stepped forward. "You bitch." He said. "You could've killed my family." My mother started to cry as she held on to Maria and grabbed Sean's arm, pulling him towards her. "I am your family." I said, trying to hold together. "I wish you weren't." My mother said, still weeping. I saw Dan and Sam in the crowd of shocked faces.

I pushed past my mother and siblings and ran straight down the street towards the path to the forest. I looked back to see no one looking back at me or coming towards me. At that moment, hearing my mother sob, seeing the anger in my fathers eyes, feeling the hatred my "family" had for me, at that moment I decided to run away from my problems and never come back.