𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓! | harry styles

𝐗𝐕𝐈

THE fire licks and flames, as I sit on my log, watching as it grows and grows.

Waiting for the right moment…

I dash into the house, already unlocked by the key, screaming and shouting.

Running up the stairs two at a time as I'm yelling, 'GET OUT GET OUT'.

Mayor Castillo meets me at the landing, disoriented and sleep-woken, pajama pants and disheveled hair.

"What?" he barks, looking ready to kill me. "Harry-"

"Fire! Fire! Get out!" I say, and stand there waiting for direction. I see him glance towards his bedroom, confusion all over his face.

Orange lights the outside windows, flickering and burning. His head moves left, right, left.

"Get Evelyn!" he shouts, and that's what I wanted, so I dash towards the room I know so well.

She's lying in her bed, looking at her phone, startled by my sudden appearance and takes her ear buds out.

"Evelyn! Fire! We have to go!" She sits up, confused, but stands at my command.

I notice the feel of her skin against my fingertips as I lead her into the hallway, her startled protests trailing behind us lost as I breathe her in.

Vanilla and smoke.

My hand grabs her arm and we go down, down, down the stairs as Mayor Castillo shouts above us.

"Get her out!"

And it's the best thing I've ever heard.

I pull her with me, through the room opposite the fire she is horrified at, and in her pajama pants and little shirt she takes a lungful of smoke, looking panicked.

She lets me lead her out, onto the dewy grass while she's coughing, saying words and making gurgled sounds.

On the lawn, we watch the orange-soaked trees behind her house and she falls into me. "What's happening?"

I say nothing, just hold her to me as I dial 911 and she bows over, crying about something she doesn't get.

Minutes. Minutes pass as we stare at the house.

"Mom! Dad!" she shouts, recognition dawning. I hold her to me, her hands grasping me, something I never thought I'd feel again.

So perfect.

Need. She needs me.

The smoke gets thicker and I get scared, worried that I made more than what I intended until the sirens come in the distance.

Mayor Castillo appears through the gray smoke curtain, a body held in his arms like a saving grace.

I never wanted to kill anyone.

Evelyn moves in my arms, twisting and wanting to get to them but I hold her strong.

Relief comes when Mayor Castillo directs me to hold Evelyn back. Better than I hoped for.

He brings Evelyn's mother out onto the lawn and is frantic, hovering over her as he lays her in the grass. He looks around, disoriented, and then I hear it.

"Harry, get Evelyn away, get her safe!"

I pull her away at his direction, her arms tight around me as we watch her mother lying on the lawn.

"Get her away!" He screams, making hand movements that make me pull her back further. He looks frantic, but starts to lower his face to Serena's, about to start mouth-to-mouth.