The Silver Owl

35

We ride Jewel to the spot where we first hunted for the compass, but I can't stop thinking about James.

How we used to hang out on my birthday, and he'd do whatever I wanted to do because it was always "my special day". So we always spent it together.

We arrive at the cliffs and I slide off of Jewel, who shifts her weight, nearly causing me to halve a heart attack.

"You alright?" Zac asks.

"Yeah," I say I bend over, "Let me finish having a heart attack, first."

Zac chuckles and slides off of Jewel, "Alright, girl, you can go for a while. I don't know how long we'll be out here though."

Even with permission to leave, Jewel chooses to stay and graze on the naturally short grass.

Zac and I peer over the cliffs, which we pay more attention behind us this time.

After about a half hour of looking, Zac and I are at a loss and return to the cabin. I breathe a sigh of relief that nothing happened.

"Are you okay, Lizzie?" Zac asks.

I jump a little, Jewel stops to look at me, "Oh! Um, yeah, I'm fine. Just getting lost in thought. Sorry, Jewel."

Jewel nods and continues walking evenly until we reach the cabin. I notice that everyday, when I wake up, she's always here. I wonder if she has any place better to be? With other unicorns maybe?

I feel my eyelids begin to weigh several pounds more than they were earlier, the warmth makes me drowsy.

"Hey, Zac?" I start,"I think I'm gonna head to bed. I'm wiped."

Zac nods in agreement, "I was thinking along those lines, too."

As soon as I hit the pillow, I fall asleep, but my brain decides to finish the memory from earlier.

I'm on the floor again.

Crack. I hear the support beam starting to break.

"Liz! Come this way!" James yells as me. The fire bites at me like a wild animal, each hurting more than the last, "Quickly!"

I stumble to my feet, I'm trapped in my own dream, and I know it's a dream, but I know from experience that I won't be able to escape from it until the memory is through.

My legs hurt, I touch my skin on my arm, it burns so badly. I cry out in pain.

"LIZ!" James yells, I've never heard him yell like that before, I stumble my way over to him who has his arms outstretched for me. I jump over a wooden burning support beam, and I cough as the smoke fills my lungs.

James slings me over his shoulder, like he always has before, he runs to the nearest exit.

Crack, smash, crackle crackle crackle.

Another support falls. Blocking our exit.

"Oh my- What the actu-" James began. I've never seen him in such an intense state.

He has me on his shoulder, my eyes grow heavy, it's too hot. I cough. I don't have the strength to cough. I lay limply on James's shoulder.

"Please," James begs, I'm not sure to who at first, "Please, just hold on a little longer, Liz." It was me he is talking to. I'm to weak to form any words, so I groan to show him I'm a fighter.

Crash, snap, crackle crackle crackle.

We run to the next point that we could possibly exit through. James runs, nearly tripping over the carnage of the fire.

I hear James mutter something under his breath, and I think I heard my name.

James runs, and it seems like all available exits are blocked at the moment. James finds a small opening, and he puts me down.

"Now, Liz," He says, "I know you can do this. I want you to lay on your stomach," he tells me.

I do so, and I cry out in pain.

"It's okay. It's okay. I promise. Do you remember how to crawl like I taught you?"

I nod weakly, as I lay on my stomach.

"Okay, Liz, everything is going to be okay. I promise. Crawl out this little area, and I'll meet you out there."

I army crawl out of the little area, as James holds the support so I can fit, as soon as I am outside of our house, I crawl a little further on the burned grass.

"He-help," I cough weakly, and paramedics rush over to me. They strap me to a gurney, and I make one last cry from my brother, I watch, as another firefighter, James's best friend rushes back into the house to help him.

Several firefighters fought to get into the house, but there was no way in.

James was locked in, while the rest of the world was locked out.

All I remember, as I was being rushed to the hospital, was the burning of my skin, but worse, the ache in my heart.

I wake up, and I feel my skin, which is still hot. My burns had healed nicely, so I don't look like I've been burned, but when I try to move, I feel the burning and hurting all over again.

My heart aches for my brother, who is dead, and there is no changing that. I begin to sob.

After several minutes of misery, as I cried and cried, this was apparently loud enough to wake Zac up.

He opened my door, and sat next to me. He didn't ask me what I was crying about, because he already knew. He gave me a hug, and we stay like that for a very long time.

When Zac finally released me, and he got up to go back to his room, I don't want him to leave.

"Please, don't go," I trail off, I don't want to be by myself again.

"I'll be right back, I promise," Zac says and exits the room, when he comes back, he has two blankets and a pillow. He lays them on the floor, and lays down on them.

"I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon," Zac tells me. I nod quietly.

I recognize the fact that there is no way I'm going to get back to sleep, so I watched as Zac slept. His chest rising and falling with a steady rhythm.

I slowly fall asleep to his controlled breathing, which acts as a lullaby.