𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄! ( s.cb + l.f )

01| inferno

The pounding in Felix's chest was rampant and virtually unstoppable; like a wild animal that had busted free of its cage. The fire raged onward, creeping towards the house like a sinister monster that was hell bent on destroying anything in its path. He knew all too well that the eggshell white house that he grew up in would be nothing more than a charred mess of ash and embers before sunrise if the fire wasn't extinguished. If it continued on as it was, there would be nothing left standing, and nothing left to remain of his childhood home. The memories of holiday mornings, birthday parties, and family dinners clawed at the back of his mind. They were memories that laid in that eggshell white house, and in the blink of an eye they would all be burned away. In a way, Felix felt unattached from the situation. It simply wasn't registering properly within the tissues of his brain, and the sobbing of his sister made no sense at all. He was drawing a blank, almost as if he was witnessing something that he couldn't comprehend. He knew what was happening, he was watching it with his own two eyes, but nothing made any sense at all.

His feet were placed firmly on the road in front of his childhood home; the road he learned how to ride a bike on. The road that he crossed everyday getting on and off the bus. But he couldn't familiarize himself with his surroundings. In a strange way, he felt homesick, even though the home he'd always known was right there in front of him. The neighbors were talking, and some asked if he was okay, but he couldn't understand what those words meant anymore. He didn't feel okay; not at all. His mind was swirling like a cyclone, and even the gentle voice of his own mother couldn't snap him out of the state he was in. He felt oddly calm, mostly because the shock of it all hadn't quite sunken in yet. The barking of a small dog caused Felix to turn his head towards the house of his next door neighbors. He'd known them for years, they babysat him when he was younger, he'd played with their kids in his childhood youth, and he'd watched their youngest daughter Kora grow up...But, he couldn't seem to recall their names or their faces. All in all, everyone around him, including his own family, felt like total strangers.

He watched the little girl struggle in the grasp of her mother. Felix could have sworn that he knew her, and in reality he did, but in his oblivious state, he couldn't find that stack of information in his brain. His head felt oddly empty, and those feelings didn't sit well with him. The little girl continued to try and escape from her mother's grasp. Her legs flailed in the air as the mother did her best to keep her grip tight. In one swift motion, the little girl had sunken her teeth into her mother's arm, causing her grasp on her daughter to loosen; but only slightly. Unfortunately, the slight opening was all the little girl needed to wriggle her way free and fall to the ground, barely landing on her feet. Before her mother could react, the little girl dashed towards her burning home in order to save her puppy that was trapped under a fallen ceiling beam. The whines and begging barks of the poor animal could be heard throughout the neighborhood, but nobody dared to risk their life for the dog's safety. Nobody other than the little seven year old girl who had become attached to her small puppy.

Before Felix even knew what he was doing, his feet carried him towards the burning house of his neighbors. His head was spinning, but he was lucid enough to know that if the little girl didn't get out of the house immediately, her life would be taken along with her puppy's. The cries of his parents and two sisters echoed from behind him as he threw caution to the wind and entered the home that was set ablaze. He could barely hear the whimpering of the little dog and the quiet sobs of the little girl over top of the crackling fire. He spotted the two by the stairs as the little girl desperately pulled on the front part of her puppy's body. He was trapped under a fallen ceiling beam; one that would be impossible for a girl the size of Kora to lift. Felix raced to her side, gently pulling on her arm. His hand was abruptly slapped away, and even though she was only seven years old, the skin of Felix's hand began to sting at the harsh contact.