Tell me... The Violinist's Truth

No way out

Eddy stood in the kitchen, lifting a glass of water to his lips. The clear liquid felt comfortably cooling. The air outside was cracking under the unbearable heat.

The walls of the large house were fighting a constant duel to keep it cool inside, but this seemed to be getting more and more difficult. No one stayed outside any longer than absolutely necessary.

Not that the heat was anything unusual this time of the year. This year, though, it seemed to be getting to the extreme.

"O no!" Brett's shout interrupted his thoughts. "Just look at this, it's almost like the whole country is on fire now."

"I just can't believe there's nothing they can do" said Eddy as he joined Brett in the living room who was watching the evening news.

"And nothing we can do, either" added Brett, as Eddy sat down on the sofa.

Eddy noticed how tense Brett was , sitting there, his eyes fixed on the tv screen as patches of red spread across the animated map of Australia.

"This is horrible" Eddy didn't know what to say. For weeks there had been talk of the wildfires, but never had the situation been as drastic and acutely alarming as it was now.

He felt a tiny measure of fear trickle down from his stomach. But as he looked at Brett next to him on the sofa, he realized just how important it was he stayed calm.

Every inch of Brett's face showed hints of panic as the tv report continued.

It seemed to be getting harder and harder to breathe. It was past 9 p.m. already, so Eddy hoped it would have already cooled down a little bit as he went to open the window, at least for a moment.

But as soon as he had opened it for only an inch, the hot stench of dry smoke forced its way into the room. Eddy coughed, slamming the window shut again.

"Especially towns in the area of East Gippsland are at a high risk of being completely locked in by the fires. Residents are advised to...-"

Brett reached for the remote and the screen went dark. "We've already heard this yesterday. Stay where you are, don't go anywhere, wait for help. With all the roads blocked there's no way out of here anyway."

Eddy sighed, squeezing a hand to his forehead and slowly dragging it from one side to the other. The situation they were in was one thing, but he couldn't allow himself to lose his nerves as well.