“Mother!”

I cried out desperately.

There was no answer.

My heart darkened.

It was the fire!

It burned everything.

I wake up screaming again.

Pain shoots in sudden shockwaves

Up my wrists and down my back.

Fiery disaster overwhelms my senses.

I find myself trapped in a living flashback.

I run through the house, tripping over the electric cord.

Smoke hazes my eyes, how they sting!

I can barely see and the heat is stifling my breathing.

Where is she?

I glance briefly into the study where the golden tapestry burns and incandescent tribute.

I run through my bedroom, the canopied bed trapped underneath an ethereal flame.

Beautiful and deadly.

She’s not in my room.

I race past the bathroom hurriedly casting a short gaze inside.

My terror envelopes me.

I know I won’t find her.

But I can’t stop.

In my suffocating fear

All I have is a slim chance.

I dash into the back room

The smoke gags me

She’s not there.

I race to her room

Tears clogging my dry throat

I can’t breathe

The fear is paralyzing

She’s not on the bed

She’s not on the floor

The fire burns my clothes

The pain explodes as waves of intolerant heat sweep me away

I fall to my knees

The pain

“Mother..” I choke out somehow

Only the crackle of the flames answer hungrily.

I crawl slowly, hacking and screaming

The fire eats at me

I feel it

Pulling back my skin

Blistering my blood

Someone help me!

I feebly drag my useless legs

Mother’s not in the other bathroom

I’m no longer aware of my actions

My body shakes as I burn

And I fall through the window.