IN THE HEIGHTS

12

(AU that instead of a blackout, the club went up in flames. Kinda inspired by the Greatest Showman I guess)

Third Person POV

She heard the panic before she knew it's cause. People were shouting, screaming. Open the goddamn doors and get the hell out of here. People were searching the crowds for familiar faces, friends and loved ones, lost, hidden in the sea of noise.

Stumbling back a few steps forced her to feel the heat of the flames that danced behind her. She had been the fire, her red dress curling and spreading about her, but now her flame was being engulfed. Whatever spark she'd had only moments before was on the brink of extinction.

Move. Get out.

Her feet carried her towards the doors where she saw people pushing, shoving, unable to get them to budge. They were trapped.

By now, the whole Barrio probably had word of the fire. Heck, the whole Barrio could probably feel it's heat.

It was getting closer, edging up the walls and across the floor. She stared for a moment, entranced by it's beauty. The fire twisted and swayed, the tip of each flame separating from the large mass of fire before making itself scarce. And yet the fire crept forward.

Her lungs burnt, her eyes watered from the smoke and her lips dried out. To say the heat was intense would be an understatement. It was suffocating.

Suddenly, the doors flew open and a flood of people ran outside. But she didn't move.

Where was he? Had the fire gotten to him? God, if the fire had him... no, she couldn't let herself imagine that.

She hadn't realised she'd shouted for him until she began coughing, hacking up one of her smoked lungs. Embers clung to her eyelashes and her eyesight was beginning to deteriorate.

People were flooding in now instead of out, only now they wore thick layers of clothes and helmets and eye-protectors. She wasn't wearing nearly as much.

Her head throbbed, she couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in. But it wasn't in her head this time. The ceiling fell and several scraps of debris landed by her feet.

She screamed.