Charred Reminiscence

Prologue

 

        My eyes slowly peeled open, my eyes wandered about the room. Voices were calling out in a shrill and violent tones, most likely the screams of maids, servants, and my family members. I opened my eyes fully once it got to my head what was happening. The stench of charred wood and ash filled my nose, there was thick black smoke coming from under one of his doors. Flames taller than me, started to rise quickly, covering everything in the far side of the room. I scrambled out of bed and ran towards the door, arms shaking as I tried my hardest to open the door. The doorknob was burning my hand from the heat. I pushed my body into the heavy door, stumbling to gain balance once falling through, only to be greeted by a man. Trying to focus in on the figure standing before me, I saw it was Will, my favorite chef of the servants. He's an intimidating man, he's fairly tall with brown short hair, fierce green to add on to his stoic mug. He'd be slightly more to be weary of if he didn't wear frilly aprons.

        A burning servant came crashing through an old oak door, screaming and running as their skin was being melted off and hair burned down to the roots. They ran towards Will and I, arms flailing, flames whirring about with them and blood trailing behind them. Will pushed me away, grabbing a knife out of his pocket, lifting his arm up with grace and aiming for the throat of the burning servant. The hit wasn't as effective, and the flames coming off them left a burn mark on Will's glove. He dodged the other's arms, and pointed the knife at the servant's stomach, holding it there until the servants' body became lifeless and fell to the ground in ash and flame.   Will dusted off his apron and smiled, coming back to me and scooping me up. My reaction twisted deeper into fear, I was bewildered at the fact that the kind-hearted and usually calm Will Russel of all people stabbed someone to death and was okay with it."

        "Hello, master John" He casually greeted me, feet swift and arms holding me tightly as he dodged flames and smoke, maneuvering the house.

        "Would you be so kind as to elaborate on the current situation?" I asked nervously, heart skipping a beat every time I heard a crash and slowly vanishing screams.

"Certainly, Sir. The house has been lit ablaze by, uh, protesters; We believe they intend to overthrow us." Will explained, trying to laugh off the stressful scenario.

"Are my parents okay?" I asked, Will looked away from me again, his running slow down along with his hesitation.

"I am unable to guarantee that they're safe." He stammered.

My family! All of them wiped out by the blokes who call themselves citizens! How dare they?! 

"At this point, my goal is to make sure you are safe, master." He continued, looking at me in empathy, streams of tears rolled down my childish face.

        Will sprinted down the hall, still carrying me, heavily breathing the hot and smoky air. I heard more crashing of furniture from somewhere behind us, but I tried not to think about it. Will's footsteps boomed against the charred wood floorboards, flames bursting from random spots.

        There were another loud crack and the ceiling above us collapsed, bringing down heavy boards and broken furniture pieces down on Will and I. Will ran faster, trying his best to dodge the pieces, holding me close to avoid me getting injured. But he tripped, letting me go, but I didn't see what happened after that.

 

        The first thing I saw when I woke up for the second time was Will once again saving me. He pulled off the charred pieces of floor boarding from on top of me. 

        "Are you hurt, young master?" He asked concernedly, his gloves getting dirty from ash.

 

        "Just a couple scratches, I'll live." I replied reassuringly, pain shooting up in various places as I got up.

 

        "If I may, the window we must escape from, is on the second floor." Will stated, scooping me up again.

 

        "Second floor?! Are you trying to kill me?!" I angrily inquired, crossing my arms.

 

        "It's the only way!" Will glared at me, even if this was to save me, it's a tad bit insane.

 

        He sprinted down another hall once starting up another run, into the stairwell where he jumped down. We landed on the second floor, his legs wobbled as he regained his footing. The inferno was getting closer and closer, but Will didn't seem  to care; he just kept going. He flung himself at the cracked glass which broke, his sleeves, getting cut open with little slits.. We continuously fell from the mansion and landed on the lawn. The mansion exploded into a larger flame and broken glass and brick scattered across the courtyard. My mind went blank with no thought for a few moments.

         I felt a terrible burning sensation on my face after that, I reached my hand for it, but it hurt so much. My skin felt like it wasn't there, and I ccouldn't see out of one of my eyes. It felt like it was bubbling. All I could do was cry, I moved my head weakly to look at Will, my body shaking violently with my cries once i noticed his grip on me wasn't holding onto to me and felt more like dead weight on my body. My ears started ringing once the sound of sirens blared and I started to think about my parents.

 

        Were they still alive? Could they possibly survive such an event like this?

 

        I looked at Will more closely, lying, hopefully, unconscious, and holding me. His gloves and hands felt cold and unforgiving compared to the fire. There was pieces of broken glass stuck in his face, and parts of his body and clothing were burnt badly.

 

        "Will..." I sobbed. "Not you, you don't deserve this..."

        A single idea popped into mind.  I have to go back in and hopefully find mother and father.

        I pulled Will's cold hands off me, trying to pull out from his past hold. I pushed myself up weakly, legs trotting weakly to the door near the patio. I was stopped by two firemen already at the scene.

         "You can't go in! You'll die!" One said, grabbing me by the arms as gently as he could.

        "No! Please! My Mom and Dad!" I screamed, more tears flooded my eyes. "You cant do this! You can't! Save them!"

 

        "It's for your own good." The other one sighed, motioning for the other to carry me away..

        I let out aggressive sobs, my voice growing more shrill. I struggled in the man's arms as he carried me away, but he kept dragging me no matter how much I refused. I could still feel the burns on my face, but I didn't care about the pain now.

        I started to think about the time my father taught me how to play chess, and how we kept playing until I finally beat him. I thought about my mother's excellent cooking. All of it, no more.

        I looked at Will laying down on the ground, the firefighter being careless to pick him up. I wanted to say something, but nothing would come out.