Help.
Help me.
Help her, too.
Who is she.
Who are YOU.
“DOVE!”
“MS. MARCHETTI!”
The voices are closer now. Suddenly, the blackened, scorched air is split by the sound of wood cracking. A door splinters, and people I don’t recognize rush in.
“DOVE!!” A man I’ve never seen before drops to his knees next to me.
Hands lift a heavy, burning weight from my arm.
“Get her the fuck out of here!!”
The stranger’s eyes drop to mine, his face wreathed in flame.
“We’re going home, Dove. We’ve got you.”
Oh—that’s me.
I’m Dove.
But who is the other, in the room next door?
“Help her…” The words fall from my parched lips as I’m lifted from the floor.
Flames explode from the ceiling as it caves in around us. My vision starts to fade to black, then snaps back to the hell around me.
“Save her…” I whisper. To everyone. To myself. “Don’t let her die…”
There's an explosion that sounds like thunder, and I tumble into blackness.
“Dove…?”
“Dove, wake up, honey.”
“You’re safe now.”
White brightness stabs into my eyes like knives, blinding me as my eyes crack open. The smell of antiseptic assaults my nostrils. A steady mechanical beeping sound fills my ears.
“Are you with us, sweetheart?”
The blinding white begins to fade until I can see shapes hovering above me. I try to open my mouth to ask what’s happening, but my throat feels like sandpaper and ash, and pain cracks through my lips when I try to move them.
“Shhh.Just lie still, Dove. You’re safe now.”
The shapes come in and out of focus until I see faces looking down at me, haloed by light.
“Dove, honey?”
“Ms. Marchetti?”
