Light shines through my window, awaking me. I slink out of bed, yawning, and shuffle to the window.
But it isn't the light of day that has caused me to waken.
Through my window the world is ablaze.
My mom is yelling for my father, and for me, she runs into the room and snatches me up.
"Honey get from there," she urges me, pulling my arm. I cry out in confusion and pain from the grip she has on my arm. What is going on?
All three of us go outside and I see it. I see the house. My friend's house down the street. It's engulfed in flames. people lining the streets stand and watch, the spectacle too great to ignore. My breath catches as I wait for something more to happen. Is she and her family going to run out? Where is the fire brigade? They should be here by now.
In a few hours, after my mom and dad have torn me away from where I stood rooted gazing in horror at the dancing flames, I lay on my bed. My mom comes into the room, her eyes downcast.
I'm young but I know. Age can't protect anyone anymore, especially not from the truth. My youth doesn't stop me from already knowing the words before she speaks them. Just like how youth didn't protect my friend from the fire that just stole away her life and the life of her family.
"Sweetie, something's happened," my mom says, her words echoing loudly in the room. She comes closer to me, holds me, telling me what she's heard. A terrible accident. None of them survived. But I'll be alright. All of these words bounce around in my head, looking for a place to settle. Cotton fills my mouth and I choke back a sob. Then all the tears come out, soaking my face.
For the rest of the day I lay in bed, not even going to school. How can I when my best friend won't be there? How can that be possible? Instead I just lay there, trying to dream away the horrors of the day, because I know what everyone else knows.
This was no accident.
But not even sleep can provide a relief because behinds my closed lids I can still see the flames, dancing, leaping up, engulfing everything.
And slowly they start to reach out to me.
YOU ARE READING
The Unwanted Ones - Book One
Azione©All Rights Reserved Property of Kathleen Morris Alexandria lives in a future world where war has torn everything apart. In what used to be the United States, a tyrant is President, and his cruelty knows no bounds. Alex will be left with a hard choi...
