OMEGA

The fire

RUN, says my brain. STOP AND LOOK AROUND says my heart. Generally a logical person, I still turn back only to see a chasm of destruction. Warm, ember flames lovingly lick my coat tails, as if gently persuading me to stay, like a harmless animal might. But this flame is anything but harmless. It is destructive, asking for a mighty sacrifice I cannot afford, and desperate enough to steal my life straight from my hands. I gaze on helplessly as the heat prickles my skin and my best friend, trapped inside the inferno, most probably slowly and agonizingly suffocates in a swirling mass of grey soot and a red, angry flame.

At once my heart drops a million miles into my clenched stomach and I let out a small whimper as I try to run towards my Jane through a tower of scorching heat. I am halfway through when a familiar hand pulls me back.

" NO! Please, let me go!" I screech, and all the pain I have felt this past week explodes like a mass of frozen shards piercing my heart.

" We can't, Moira, we can't- its too late." Whispers a voice in my ear and I turn around to see Ethan, Jane's older brother , tears cutting clear tracks through a blackened face.

" She's your sister, Ethan! Do something!" I plead, struggling to escape from his strong grip.

" Moira- she is not in there. She must've escaped, just like us. They found a body downstream. They think- they think that it is Jane." Ethan chokes out, eyes streaming with tears. Overwhelming grief consumes me in a second.I don't know what is worse- her having drowned, or her having burnt. Either way, she is gone forever. My insides seem to melt in the heat and I feel faint. I fall.

" Moira?! Moira! Please, don't- I've already lost one sister today, I can't lose another! Please- please, don't go! Just stay with me! HELP! She needs help! Please help-" and the world starts to lose focus with the blackness growing, like curtains closing after the show ends.