Olwyn's Bike

Prologue

Eliza lay peacefully on her bed of white, feather-filled cushions, listening to the quiet humming of a bird's quick wings, and the thumping of an over-fed tomcat carefully stumbling along the roof of the conservatory which was her room. She could also hear conversation downstairs; Her parents were comfortably sipping tea while chuckling over Timothy's mild jokes while Karen was both entertaining the baby and writing one of her stories. The clanging and clunking of pots, pans, utensils and what-not in the kitchen was made obvious. Maria and Léonard were making roast beef with mixed veg', potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Eliza smiled at all these lovely sounds. She sat up and looked through the French windows. They were half-covered with a slightly opaque curtain, but still the light shone through them like there was no tomorrow.

    She got off her bed and went to the windows, still gazing through at the wonderful scenery. Immediately behind her window was pure beauty; Animals of all shapes, colours and sizes; Clumps of colourful, glowing flowers; Trees in all colours from red to green; And all the different types of sunlight you can imagine. Eliza felt she could stare at the scene forever, but something brought her out of her daze. Her cheeks' rosy colour dimmed to a pale peach as her nose caught the faint whiff of smoke coming from the kitchen. She rushed through the door and towards the living room.

"Everyone get out! Karen, you get the baby, and Timothy, you get my parents out." she said, calmly shoving furniture out of the way of the door. Timothy shouted something to her as she ran to the kitchen but she couldn't hear it. As she reached the door she saw, through a curtain of thick smoke, Maria and Léonard throwing water on the golden flames.

"Liz, you must get out!  The telephone is there!" said Maria over the sound of gushing water.

Maria reached for the telephone and ran out of the room, grabbing Eliza's hand as she went. "Wait! I need to get something!" she shouted, pulling away and running back into her bedroom. She ran to the corner and opened up a cage, letting a parakeet fly out and through the open window. The flames had reached the hall. They were growing larger. The cloud of black smoke was flying higher above her head and she ran to the French windows. "Help!" she screamed, turning the key in the lock. It wasn't turning. It was staying inanimate. She could hardly breathe as the smoke surrounded her, not once paying attention to the open window. She could see the place getting darker and fell to her knees. Her lungs were filled with the smoke now and she could barely breathe. A silver tear slid from her eye to the corner of her mouth as she took her last breath and drifted into an eternal sleep. . .