Moving On

Chapter 10 - Part 3

Tyler gasped and felt his lungs constricting. The ache in his chest was getting worse as his lungs screamed for air.

He was curled up under the table and could feel the heat as the fire drew closer. He couldn't open his eyes; it hurt too much.

It didn't matter anyway. The smoke was too thick for him to see anything.

Then he heard it—his parents screaming his name.

No! Don't come over! He tried to warn them.

Forget about me! Leave! He tried to scream, but he couldn't.

He tried again; he had to let them know what would happen if they came over for him, but he couldn't get his voice working.

He cupped his hands over his ears as he saw a piece of the ceiling fall. Despite that, he heard it. He heard the bone-chilling scream from his mother as she got pinned by a concrete slab. He heard his father's cry of agony as he tried to pull his mother out from under the slab.

"Stay under the table," his father instructed.

He didn't know what to do. He pulled his legs tighter against his chest and squeezed his eyes shut as the fire crept up on his mother.

His father wasn't going to leave his mother behind.

Then another slab fell, knocking his father out.

He had once thought he'd be next.

He couldn't stand the pain throbbing in his chest. He couldn't fight the dark rims invading his eyes.

But it wasn't his time.

He felt himself getting hauled out of the house. Then standing outside the house, he stared blankly as the house crumbled.

Soon, everything started to fade.

The noise was always the first to go. The roaring of the fire fizzled out, and the shouting of the firemen ceased. All that was left was a deafening silence.

Next, the colors disappeared.

He watched the scene as if it were one of those black-and-white silent films. Adults he didn't know walked about; each wore a grim and solemn expression.

Some of them came over to talk to him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

After that, their faces began to blur, and the same darkness that had invaded his sight returned.

He tried to grab on to something, to someone. But everything he touched always crumbled away.

Eventually, he was the only one left standing in the Stygian darkness.

He began walking, searching. But no matter which direction he took, there was nothing but darkness.

Twenty years, that was how long he'd had this nightmare. And for twenty years, it was always the same.

He would keep moving and searching until the darkness depleted his strength. He would then give up and wait, wait to wake up with an aching loneliness.

But this time as he waited to be consumed by nothingness, he heard a voice.

He heard someone calling his name, then felt a warm and gentle touch on his hand.

He held on, holding the hand close to him, worried that it'd slip away like everything else and leave him alone in the dark again. As he held on to the hand, a glimmer of light shone through the darkness. Soon the light invaded the emptiness and the darkness left.

The colors returned, and the voice got clearer.

He could finally see the face of the person he was holding on to—Kate.

She was beaming radiantly at him. "It's all right. Everything is all right," she said, her hand skimming down along his jaw.

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