The Envy Game (completed)

45 - A Quick End

A shrill and excited yell rose above the flames; "I found a door! I found a door!"

It was Sarah; she has stumbled in the darkness and put her hand on a door handle.

"What are you waiting for? Open it!" Brooklyn commanded.

The others gathered around as the door flung open and a gust of fresher air hit their faces. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" Ariana cried and shoved past them.

The door was closed behind them just in time as fire gobbled up the entire cellar and bigger fist-sized chunks started falling from the ceiling.

They looked around for a way out but it seemed they had come to yet another trap; the doors and windows on the main floor were all thickly patched up with wood.

"There's no way out!" Cried Sarah.

"We will make a way out!" Leighton said, trapping an old table leg and shoving it at the window. However nothing moved.

"It's patched up thick." Sighed Brooklyn.

"Up here!" Hazel called. "I've found a staircase out!"

They all followed her up to the second floor where the air seemed to be fresher. Maybe a window was open?

Suddenly someone emerged behind them. The shadow of a girl in a long grey trench coat and red stiletto heels. Her long light hair sheltered her shoulders and neck.

Hazel spun around. "It was you all along!" She gasped. "The town library basement, the gazebo fire- all you!"

"I told you, I take pride in my envy and turn it into revenge." She smiled sickly.

"Is that supposed to be some excuse?" Brooklyn frowned.

"Oh no, I'm not going to explain myself to you, girls." She laughed.

"Please Fallon, let us out!" Sarah shrieked. "We will makeup for what ever it is we have done to you!"

"I don't want you- I want her." All heads turned to Ariana. Fallon took out a silver knife and made her way at Ariana with a ill mannered grin on her face.

"You're deranged." Hissed Ariana, dodging to the side as Fallon's knife struck a wall.

"No, I'm only getting started." She swung forwards but Ariana once again had time to dodge and pressed herself against a window. That's when the girls realized - it was open.

Hazel looked down at the staircase which had brought them up here, flames were eating it up and making their way up to them.

When their attention turned back to Fallon and her knife, it was a lot closer to Ariana's face, as she stood pressing her back against the thin glass of the window.

The stench of petrol suddenly came up to their noses.

Fallon sniffed the air with satisfaction. "Seems Marissa did her job. Now for you, Ari-" Fallon swung at her. "You will die the way you should have died on that Ferris wheel."

"No!" Leighton jumped forewords, and as Fallon pushed Ariana breaking the thin glass of the window, she herself lost her balance from Sarah's push and fell through.

As that moment a blast hit them from below. The petrol had met the flame. The explosion shattered all windows, throwing the girls to the sides.

There was a beeping in their ears. Brooklyn looked around. Her left arm was stinging. Glass had his it during the blast. She looked around for the others.

Hazel and Leighton were waking up meters away. Sarah was laying behind her.

In front of them lay a hung pile of rubble and ash; the House of Cards has collapsed.

Over by the yard of debris, lay two bodies.

Fallon and Ariana lay lifeless, side by side - the two versions of the same person both gone at once. Fallon was still holding the knife and Ariana's fingers were clutching the blade.

The four stood over them.

"She came back to warn us, but I didn't listen. None of this would have happened if..." Sarah broke down, kneeling by Ariana, stroking her hair.

"If she told you we wouldn't believe her anyway." Brooklyn sighed. "She was really quite unbelievable."

"I loved you." Leighton bent down to kiss Ariana on her cold, white cheek.

Hazel sighed. "We loved them both - regardless of how many times each of them betrayed us."

Several neighbors heard the blast and one by one came running along to calm their curiosity. The police was caller, the fire truck, the ambulance...
A crowd gathered thick around the two bodies laying side by side as red tape was hung around them, declaring the debris site a crime scene.

The following days, the Sherbore Alley headlines read - Missing Girl Found, House Fire; Two Girls Dead, Why You Shouldn't Let Your Children Near the Old Grimpen Manor.

Ariana's parents flew in from Pennsylvania that same night.

A funeral took place the following weekend. As the two lay, in coffins side by side, all that the girls could think was how they must be looking down and laughing at the world's feeble attempts to make things right.