Chapter 2: Embers

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Seth and I had all the windows in his truck rolled down and were singing at the top of our lung's to Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men- him doing the guy's part and me doing the girl's. It must have sounded quite interesting to anyone driving by because almost anyone singing at the top of their lung's doesn't sound very... pretty. I smiled up at the night sky and the stars that were twinkling down at me. We had skated for most of the day and we were now on our way home. Seth and I were trying not to laugh at how ridiculous we were being when a blaring siren started up behind us. Seth turned down his radio and pulled over as two fire trucks barrelled past. Only then did we notice the huge cloud of smoke rising above town. Seth eye's widened, "Don't turn left, don't turn left." He silently prayed.

The fire trucks turned left onto the street Seth's apartment was on. Seth cursed, floored the gas and flew down the street, barrelling around the corner and coming to a screeching halt. Flames in an apartment window were licking the night sky as people ran out of the building, still in their pajama's. Seth quickly got out of the car and I followed. The burning apartment was his.

"No," He ran his hand's through his hair, "God damn it, Ember was in there!" Ember was his pet corn snake that lived in his own terrarium on Seth's desk. I wrapped my arm's around Seth and he buried his face in my hair, "I'm sorry Seth," I could feel tears plopping down onto my head but I pretended I didn't notice. He loved that snake a lot. "I can't imagine what poor Ember went through." His voice quivered. I pulled away to look up into his eye's, "Well, maybe the fire hasn't spread to you room yet, and maybe the firemen will get it out before it can reach your room." Then I did something I wasn't expecting. I turned to the building and stared the flames down. I willed them to die, to grow smaller and smaller until there was nothing there. I willed the fire to calm down. I willed it to sleep.

I stumbled back in surprise as the flames actually did start to lessen in their ferocity. Then a small smile played across my lip's as I again willed the flames to die out. Of course the flame's beginning to go out could be a result of the firemen blasting water up into the window but I still willed the flames to go away, to calm down. To sleep. I shook my head. I have no idea why I suddenly thought that I could make the fire go out, to go to sleep.... my eye's widened at the thought. Sleep. Just like I put people to sleep in my dream's.

Finally, the flames died out and the people that lived in the building cheered, shaking me out of my stupor. A police man spotted Seth and came over to us. "Was that your apartment son?" He had a bit of a western accent.

"Yes sir," Seth replied, his voice still wavering.

"Then maybe you would have an idea as to how that fire got started." The police man whipped out a pen and note pad and eyed him curiously as Seth thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I don't own any candles so it couldn't have been that. I got up this morning, threw some clothes on, and left to go to her house," he jabbed his thumb at me, "So I couldn't have left anything on that would have caused a fire. I don't smoke, so a cigarette causing the fire is out of the question."

The police man nodded, "Does anyone except you have access to your apartment?"

Seth nodded, "Yes, she does but I was with her all day. The landlord has a key to everyone's apartment-" Seth gasped in horror, "Oh God, what if it was Ember's heater!?" The police man looked confused

"His snake." I explained.

"Ah."

"What if it caught fire and burned poor Ember alive!?" Seth cried.

"Seth, I'm pretty sure the pet store wouldn't give you a snake heater that spontaneously bursts into flames, and I'm pretty sure that those wouldn't even be made."

The police man spoke up, "I don't think that a snake heater would be strong enough to burn something since it's meant for a living thing."

"Exactly," I agreed. Seth looked like he was about to cry again at the thought of his little corn snake burning alive.

"Well, thank you for your time y'all. Maybe the firemen will figure out what happened." He walked back to the other policemen and women who had arrived. Seth looked absolutely miserable. I came over and wrapped my arm's around him again in an effort to comfort him.

"I'm sorry Seth," I whispered. Seth buried his face in my hair again and shed his tear's over his pet's death. I held him close so he could cry without being seen since that would most likely break his manly demeanor in half. I looked up to find a fireman walking towards us with something in his hand's. "Seth, look" I pointed at the fireman as Seth looked up to see what I was pointing at. Then, his face lit up and he smiled brighter than ever. The thing in the fireman's hands was Ember's terrarium with Ember poking up his little red and orange head at Seth, trying in vain to get to his owner.

"Turn's out, the fire died before it reached your bedroom and we found this little guy in there." The fireman eyed the snake cautiously, "He didn't even see any smoke." The fireman handed Ember over, glad to be rid of the reptile. Seth smiled down at his little snake then looked up to the fireman, "Thank you." The fireman nodded, "We'll have to give you a call to let you know when you can come in and salvage what ever you can in your living room. So far, we've determined that the floor boards are now useless, the windows are busted, and the couch, coffee table, and recliner have been reduced to ash. Everything else in the place is fine, they'll just smell like smoke for a while." Seth breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank god nothing else was damaged. Oh, your going to need my phone number." I looked around as Seth gave the fireman his number and spotted something in the shadows. But it was something so strange, I swore my eye's were playing tricks on me. It looked like Elizabeth running by but the strange thing was that her hand's were ablaze! But she didn't look like she was in pain at all. In fact, she looked worried about something and it wasn't her burning hand's. She looked back over her shoulder then look straight at me and her eye's widened. I looked up at Seth to see if he saw her too but he was busy talking to the fireman.

I turned to call out to Elizabeth but she was gone. I blinked in surprise but shook it off. I must have been seeing things. Seth turned to me, "What are you looking at?" He tried to see what had caught my attention.

"Uh..." I was still staring at the spot where Elizabeth had been, "Nothing, it's nothing." I turned to look at him, "You need a place to stay, don't you?" I asked, trying to change the subject. Seth nodded, "Well, I've got a couch that no one else is using and you've got no where else to go."

"I suppose I'll have to stay at your place then." Seth said with disdain then laughed, "Thanks Sil, I'm sure Ember would enjoy a change of scenery anyway, considering he almost got burned alive."

"Anytime." I smiled.

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