Poison Kiss

Chapter 16:

Poison Kiss:

Chapter 16:

Vincent's POV:

I awoke to the pungent odor of smoke and sat up quickly, coughing and rubbing my eyes. I hurriedly got up and searched for the source of the smoke. The scent grew stronger as I drew nearer to the kitchen.

Suddenly, I remembered, the cookies! I dashed into the kitchen and flung open the door to the oven. Thick black smoke billowed out directly into my nose and I began coughing and choking in an attempt to expel it from my lungs. While shielding my eyes from the burning heat, I grabbed my oven mitts off of the counter and used them to reach into the oven and retrieve my precious cookies.

After flinging the almost flaming cooking tray on the the counter, I switched off the wretched oven. Wispy trails of smoke rose off of the blackened mass of what was once delicious. I stepped over to the cookie tray and began to stab at the charred remains of my beautiful creation, almost in tears at my sudden lack of cookies to munch on for comfort.

My mourning was cut short, however, by a loud wail the resonated through the house and into my soul. I jumped up in panic. What if the smoke had somehow harmed my precious Raven? I dashed wildly into the nursery and snatched up my little girl. She appeared to be alright, although she was crying like no tomorrow. What if the signs were not obvious and she died of smoke inhalation? I wasn't going to take any chances.

I hurriedly bundled her up in warm clothes and wrapped her in a blanket. There was no time to waste, because every second that passed could be the difference between life and death.

I walked as fast as I could (without endangering Raven's health any further) into the living room. A slightly large sleeping figure lay on the couch in the darkness of early morning. How could I have forgotten that Ashlynn was here? We had both fallen asleep after watching Cinderella 3.

I rushed over and shook her shoulder in a frantic attempt to wake her. "Huh..."she mumbled, causing me to shake her harder. Finally she opened her eyes fully and glanced me. "What?" she asked, looking a little annoyed.

"I caught the cookies on fire and now Raven is possibly hurt." I choked out, gesturing to the screaming bundle in my arms.

The urgency in my voice caused her wake, even though I didn't think that she understood most of what I said. "We are going to the doctor. We need to go now." Ashlynn nodded, jumping up and scampering after me out the door.

After making sure that Raven was safely buckled into her carseat and that Ashlynn was with us, I backed out of the driveway and drove as fast as legally possible towards the nearest hospital.

The ride was mostly silent, Ashlynn only asked a few questions, before realizing that I was in no mood to answer them. Luckily for both Raven and I, the drive was not longer that twenty minutes.

My heart spiked with hope as the lights from the hospital blinked at me through a thin line of trees. We would make it, I knew that we would.

As soon as I had pulled into the parking lot, I jumped out of the car and released Raven from her carseat, before dashing off to the emergency room.

As soon as we had entered the waiting room, Raven and I were taken into a room. I guess that a wailing child in an emergency room screams bad. The doctor asked me some quick questions about Raven's predicament, and seemed slightly amused when I mentioned the cookies. At last, he began to examine Raven, checking her breathing and heartbeat.

When he seemed satisfied with his results, he turned back to me. "I can see why you were worried, but your daughter is fine. I could find no traces of smoke in her body, or detect any fire related injuries." he took off his glasses and gazed at me thoughtfully for a moment. "However, you did the right thing by bringing her in. Nothing is wrong with being cautious. Sounds like a case of new parent to me."