A Family Of Heroes

Chapter One

"Glacia, what's going on?" Poppy cried, her tears falling from her blue eyes.

Glacia turned to her younger sister as the ash dusted her face, the stinging flicks of the flames an impending danger.

Glacia quickly pulled Poppy behind her. "I don't know."

The tall pines creaked and groaned as the fire ate through, some even falling after minutes of catching the fiery disease. Glacia and Poppy screamed as one crashed down near them, the fallen ash stirring up and filling their scratchy and raw throats with poisonous fumes. She tugged her sister's arm, turning away from the forest and urging to move further into the town. The town itself was worse. The people were running away from the scorching fire, few bodies on the ground completely charred. Poppy wiggled her hand out of her grip and ran towards their house, screaming for their family. She coughed violently as the smoke grew thicker and clouded her vision. She needed to stop Poppy. She was little and didn't know what she was doing.

As she stumbled after her four-year-old sister, Glacia covered her mouth with her hand to block out the smoke. "POPPY, PLEASE, COME HERE. IT'S NOT SAFE!!" She screamed, her lungs filling with smoke once again and cracking under the pressure. Falling to the ground, she rested on her knees as her violent coughs became gasps for air. A lone women, crying over her husband and son's death, looked at her with sorrow. Kissing them both goodbye, for she knew the fire would take care of their bodies, she harnessed her courage and grabbed Glacia, calling for other children to follow her. Leading them farther away from the town and into a well-known let up in the density of the woods, the women placed her down and went back into town to get others. With more clarity, she and looked around, her breathing the only sound her ears could process. Her gray eyes passed quickly over at the few children that were around her, instantly realizing that Poppy was not one of them. She whipped around and stumbled when she heard voices rising together from the village in a hymn of dying screams.

-

Glacia woke with a gasp, her body violently jerking. Curling up into a ball for comfort, she adjusted her body towards the digital clock to see what the time was. Seven in the morning. Taking in a deep breath, forgetting her lungs were sore from the damage the smoke had caused, she rose from her fetal position and slipped out of bed. Rubbing her eyes, she stretched her arms and legs, a relaxed groaning noise rising from her throat. Blinking a few times, she walked over to the window and opened the pale lilac curtains. The rising sun of Washington D.C blinded her for a couple of seconds before adjusting. Stepping away from the curtain, she stumbled towards her dresser, accidentally tripping over her own feet and falling to the floor without grace. She was clumsy.

Getting off the wooden floors, Glacia followed her automatic routine and pulled out her school uniform from her closet. A simple white polo tucked into a black skirt, tights, and a pair of Mary Janes. Brushing her hair, she quickly plaited it in two braids.

After brushing her teeth and taking care of a few more odds and ends, she headed downstairs to the dining room where breakfast was laid out on a square table with plates of a quaint breakfast were lined up across the whole table. Sitting down, she ate her eggs and toast while the rest of the kids came thundering down the stairs in a stampede, all jabbering and chatting with each other. Not speaking to any of the other children, she finished her food and grabbed her black messenger bag, swinging open the front door and walking to the bus stop.

She wasn't her normal happy and adjusted self after the fire. Rubbing the scar tissue on her hands out of habit, she waited on the street curb patiently for the bus to come. After a few minutes, the rest of the kids from the orphanage clambered out of the door, along with the bus. Stepping on, she sat down in the first seat behind the driver and stared out of the window. Her grey eyes reflected the city as they headed to school.