The Girl In Apartment 13 | Apply Fic

Chapter Eighteen: Burnt Bridges

The figure looks over the sleeping girl, blonde hair covering her face. She snores softly, deep in her sleep, unaware of what's happening around her. In this state, the figure would almost say she didn't deserve what was about to happen to her.

Almost.

Its eyes fall down to the trails of diesel lining the floor. It wraps around her bed and there are more trails leading throughout the apartment. The smell is so strong it's almost painful to breathe. But the smell will go away. It will ignite to create to a maze of flames, a labyrinth of smoke. She set herself up for this. She deserves this.

The figure turns and follows the path out of the apartment, ensuring that there's no break in the lines. Once it's out in the hall, it looks back at the apartment. It strikes a single match, watching the flame ignite.

"Bitches get stitches," it snaps.

It throws the match down on the diesel, smirking as it ignites. The flames quickly runs into apartment sixteen as the figure turns and walks down the hall.

-13-

Yumi wraps her blanket tighter around herself, trying to stay warm. She looks up at the building, a certain unnerving air over the entire night. People are talking, mostly complaining about being woken up by the fire alarm. However, the only thing on her mind is that she hasn't seen Carter, Jade, or Hensley yet. She doesn't know if her friends made it out or if they're still trapped inside.

In the crowd, her eyes find a mess of pink and blue hair. She slowly gets up and approaches Jade, putting a hand on her shoulder. Jade whips around and instantly pulls Yumi into a hug.

"Jesus Christ, we were worried," Jade mutters, clinging tightly to Yumi. "Do you know where Carter is?"

"I was hoping she was with you guys."

Jade turns and exchanges a concerned look with Hensley.

"So if she's not with you and she's not with us, where is she?" Jade asks.

"I'm going to say somewhere we don't like," Hensley mutters, wrapping her arm around Jade and looking over at the building.

Jade overhears someone mention something with a sixteen in it. She turns back, seeing two guys and a girl she's seen lurking in the building before. She crosses her arms and slowly strolls away from her friends, joining the group of their neighbours.

"Hey," she greets. "Do you guys know what's going on?"

"One of the firemen mentioned something about apartment sixteen," one of the guys explains. "Something about it looking like the fire was set in there and the girl who lives there being trapped. I don't know. I don't know what the hell happened. It's the middle of the night. I think we all just want to go back to bed."

"Yeah," Jade agrees. "No kidding."

She turns and walks back over to Hensley and Yumi. She slowly starts gnawing on her thumb nail.

"Guys, it's not looking good for Carter. It sounds like her apartment is the reason we're outside," Jade mumbles.

Before anyone can respond, an ambulance comes speeding into the parking lot. Yumi can feel all the colour drain from her face and she assumes she started to sway because Hensley takes hold of her arms. Yumi turns to her and nods, half heartedly mumbling something about being okay. She watches the front of the building as a fireman comes out, a girl with tangled blonde hair in her arms. Tears start coming to her eyes and she grabs onto Jade's wrist, her nails sinking in.

"Carter..." Yumi mumbles.

"I grabbed my car keys. Let's follow that ambulance," Jade tells her.