Run

Chapter 7

I woke up to the smell of smoke.

I was half-awake but I knew that I was smelling smoke. Something was burning. My eyes flew open. At first, I was confused. I looked around the room, yet nothing was burning. Then I saw the end of my bed.

Flames licked the metal frame. The sheets were slowly blackening and smoke was rising into the air. The flames slowly started spreading, covering the bed. My feet were in the middle of the fire.

I quickly rolled off the bed. The ends of my pajama pants were black and smoke rose from it. Other than that, I couldn't point out anything damaged by the flames. Nothing hurt. Nothing stung. I knew something was wrong. My feet should hurt, right? They were right in the middle of the mess.

The smell of smoke got stronger. It was then that I realized there was still a fire in my room. I had nothing to put it out with. No fire extinguisher. No water. Absolutely nothing.

I knew I had to get away from the flames, as it grew and spread, engulfing my bed, but something kept me there. Something told me that this was just another test.

Move. I told my feet. But they listened to that same thing that told me this was a test.

I watched as the flames engulfed the entire bed. The sheets were blackened and burned and smoke rose from it. I'm surprised that the smoke alarms didn't go off.

That was something else that was wrong.

I really wished I had something to put the fire out. Anything. I wished someone would come bursting through the doors with a hose.

I managed to walk backward, one foot at a time. Without taking my eyes off the flames, I made it to the door. I turned the knob only to find it locked.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I yelled. I turned the knob again. It wouldn't open. I looked for a lock, but there was none. The door simply just refused to open.

"HELP!" I yelled over and over again, banging the door. The room was becoming very humid. I was sweating, not sure if it was because of fright or the heat. I was panicking, not sure what to do.

And do you know what I did?

I blew the flames like candles on a birthday cake.

You probably think I'm stupid, but it felt like the right thing to do.

And it was.

Out of my mouth came a giant gust of wind, which put out the flames entirely. The burn marks were etched onto the wall, the covers were burned and part of the frame was melted. But I was alive.

And I was able to blow gusts of wind.

I looked down at my feet and saw that they were burned. But not too burned, not like third-degree burns, which I thought would happen to my feet. They were more like first-degree burns. But they didn't feel burned. It didn't hurt at all.

There was something strange about this place. Something about the people here and what they are doing. Something that made me not trust them.

*****

Aidan once again walked with me to breakfast.

"Ready for another day of torture?" He asked.

I yawned in reply. After my eventful night, I wasn't able to get back to sleep. I didn't want to sleep on the mattress, since it was burned and smoke still rose from it after I magically took the fire out. I decided to sleep on the floor, but that wasn't very comfortable. I was finally able to get back to sleep when Dr. Walker decided to knock on my door, telling me it was time to get up.