Fire! Fire! How Can No One See??

Chapter 1

                What’s burning? My eyes open to my room full of smoke that is coming, no rushing in from my window.  Rushing to the window, the horrific view brings a scream to my throat. The apartment building next to our house is on fire. Turning on my heel I ran to the door, desperate to get outside. There was a crowd of people gathered in front of the building, everyone dressed in their night clothes. Suddenly a large booming voice rang out from behind me. 

                “Start the water boys, there is no one left inside.”  The fire chief looked so sure of himself, but I had a bad feeling that there were still people in there.

                “Wait! STOP!” I said, tugging on the chief’s arm “There are still people in there. You have to help them.”

                He looked at me with concern in his eyes. Please believe me. Please believe me. Please. I just knew people were still in there. Everyone around me stared. “Are you sure you think people are still in there?” the chief asked in a gentle voice.  I nodded my head vigorously, too scared to speak. “Ok then. I’ll send people up. I hope you are wrong though. They would be dead by now.” My eyes dropped to my bare feet.  The firefighters ran to the building, their heavy boots thudding on the ground with every step they took.

                The whole crowd of people was silent except for a small child crying, staring at the burning building, waiting for a confirmation of my ridiculous plea. I watched the flames lick up the sides of the building for what seemed like hours, until the fire chief’s radio buzzed. He held the radio to his ear, listening intently. His face formed a frown as he spoke in to the radio. “Let’s get them down here and start the water. No one is perfect.”

 He turned to me, confusion on his face. “Two people were still inside apartment 2B, a man and a woman. Both died of smoke inhalation. Did you know who they were? How did you know they were up there?”  I looked at my feet, unsure of how I knew. Apartment 2B? That was the one across from my room.

I blinked and looked up. Everything was gone, all the fire trucks, the crowd of people, the fire chief. I looked at the burning building, mesmerized by the flames. Sniffling somewhere nearby caused me to look around. A small boy, around two or three years old, stood near me. As I watched, the boy began to grow in to a person I could recognize anywhere, my best friend Shawn.

Beep Beep Beep. I sat straight up in bed smacking my head on the celling. Groaning, I looked at my clock. The red led light showed that it was 6 am. Rolling my eyes, I pulled the blanket over my head, willing time to reverse so I could actually try to sleep. Beep Beep Beep. Sighing, I slide out of my covers and climb down the ladder to the floor.

I hate Mondays, especially the first day of school Mondays. Trudging to the bath room, I look at myself in the mirror. The dark circles under my emerald eyes have grown worse throughout the past weeks, thanks to my reoccurring nightmare. This is getting really old. I can’t fall asleep in school. Shawn will notice, and I can’t tell him about my dream. Taking a quick shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and jogged back to my bedroom.  Putting on a navy hoodie, a pair of shorts and sliding on my favorite sandals, I sat in my chair and brushed my strawberry blonde hair.

“Caroline! Breakfast! And Josh is giving you a ride to school.”

“Ok Mom, be down in a minute.”  I put my hair up in a ponytail, grabbed back pack and ran down the stairs.

My big brother Josh looked at me his green eyes mirroring my own, and grinned. “Excited for your first day of junior year?”

                “I would be but I have to show up with my big brother,” I teased.

                “We are leaving in five. Hurry up freckle face,” he said walking out the door to his car. Kissing my mom I grabbed a granola bar and ran out the door before my brother left without me.  Pulling open the passenger side door of his black Mazda 6, I hopped in to his car. He ran a hand through his brown hair.

                “Hey, we have to pick up Grace. I promised her that I would give her a ride to school. Would you mind switching to the back when we get to her house?” I rolled my eyes. Grace, the head cheerleader, the petite blonde popular girl, with eyes like stars (I hope the sarcasm doesn’t go unnoticed), was my brother’s girlfriend. She also was my worst enemy. Every chance she got when Josh wasn’t around, she teased and taunted me about everything. Of course she would date my brother the head of the football team. That was supposed to be the ‘it’ couple right? We pulled in to her driveway, so I stepped out of the car, and moved to the back seat. She came out the front door, wearing her cheer uniform, and waved to my brother. She slid gracefully in to the unoccupied passenger seat and turned to face me. “Excited for your junior year?” she asked innocently.

                I glared at her. “Yeah, I guess.” The rest of the car ride consisted of my brother flirting shamelessly with Grace. When we finally drive in to the school parking lot, I got out of the car as soon as it stopped and ran toward the door. Turning down the hall toward my home room, I smiled. Leaning up against my locker was my gorgeous best friend Shawn. He smirked at me, his blue eyes sparkling. “Hey sleepyhead, what’s crackin’?”

                I smiled and ran over to him. “Not much. How are you this lovely first day of school?”

                He wrapped me up in a hug. “I’m alright I guess. I didn’t sleep well last night, probably too excited for the first day. I am glad some of our classes are the same though, like homeroom.”  Breaking the embrace, I opened my locker, and put my stuff away. Grabbing my notebook and a pencil for English second period, I turned toward our homeroom. He slung a tanned arm over my shoulder and together we walked to homeroom.

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Ok So I wrote this story a while ago. And I mean years. So If you are interested in the story please comment. Tell me what you like and what you didn't like. And voting is also an option. Thanks to all!!!