Lies

Chapter 3

^^Shadow^^

The smoke was pitch black against the lights in the house. When I focused on it, I could smell the charred furniture and walls that were downstairs. I tried not to panic, but it was a little hard with everyone rushing to get down the stairs before the flames reached the bottom of them. I got to the top of the stairs, but people shoved me back behind them. I was the last one down the stairs, but it was too late. The flames had reached the bottom of the stairs. I ran back into the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

I soaked towels and put them underneath the door, but some smoke had already entered underneath the door. I turned the fan on to disperse the smoke, which helped a little. I ran over to the window and tried to push it up, but it wasn't going to move. I groaned when I realized that it was stuck.

I looked around the bathroom to see what I could use to break the window, but all I found was a plastic hairbrush. I searched for something sharper, but nothing was in this bathroom, which must've just been a guest bathroom by the looks of it. At that moment I wished I still had my heels on. Those would pose a greater threat to this window than a freaking hairbrush. I shook my head as I grabbed the hairbrush by the bristles and hit the window with all of the force that I could muster. I looked at the window, but there wasn't even a mark on it.

I tried again and again, but the window wasn't even scratched. I tried one final time, but the handle of the brush broke. I cried out in pain as the sharp edges of where it had broken off scraped against my palms. I looked down at my hands and started to shake when I saw that blood was pouring from my palms. I grabbed another towel and held it in my hands to stop the blood flow. I looked around the bathroom, but nothing caught my eye to break the window with.

After a few seconds, I started to ram my shoulder into the window. Tears started to flow from my eyes. I didn't know if it was from the pain sparking through my shoulder from the hits, or the fact that I was getting more and more hopeless as the window stayed where it was. After a few minutes of useless pain, I finally gave up. I walked towards the door and put my hand on it to see how hot it was, but brought my hand back immediately when I felt the heat warm my hand. Someone must have seen the fire by now. Firemen had to be on their way. They just had to be.

I sat down on the floor and stared at the door, almost as if the flames themselves were going to burst in at any moment. I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. I heard a loud bang, but I just figured that it was because of the fire. Another loud bang sounded, but it was coming from the door, almost as if someone was trying to break it down. A few more loud bangs sounded before they stopped altogether.

I asked loudly, "Stuart?"

I heard something slam against the door and then, the door broke open and slammed against the wall. A cloud of smoke immediately flooded the room, which made it hard to see and breath.

I asked into the haze, "Stuart?"

A dark voice said, "Not exactly."

I tried to back away from the mysterious person, but I was already against a wall. The smoke was starting to fill my lungs, which made me cough, almost to the point of throwing up. The person shut the door again and readjusted the towels underneath the door. As the cloud of smoke started to disappear, I was finally able to see the person clearly. He was wearing a completely black suit that was perfectly tailored to highlight his muscles, but he was wearing a plain mask to cover most of his face. I almost gasped when I saw his eyes.

They were an electric blue color, and I knew that he had some sort of screens on his mask that covered his eyes. He seemed tall, but that could've been because I was still sitting on the floor. I knew that I had seen this man from somewhere, but I couldn't figure out where. He was looking around the bathroom for something, but I knew that he wouldn't find anything to break the window with.