I heard a shout echo up into the air, but I ignored it, tunnelled my way in through the half-destroyed hallway and deeper into the mansion. As I managed to lift myself over a large fallen beam, I took in what would once have been the house's grand lobby. A small section of what was left of the right wing of the building was burning, but the stairs that rolled around the left were still standing, a funnel of dust and crap dripping down them like murky water.
I felt the acrid bite of smoke at the back of my throat, but knew I couldn’t stop. The flames were now licking the sky, one half of the house a roaring mass of fire, like a beast, devouring everything it touched.
“Harper!”
I launched myself up the stairs, which shook but held, dropping to my hands and knees when I reached the top. Debris rained down from that part of the roof stillstanding, and my eyes darted around the space, searching for the door that would lead to Harper’s old bedroom.
“Harper!” I choked out again. “Can you hear me?” I checked my cell, seeing the dot to confirm she was there,somewhere. Why hadn’t she left,movedwhen the flames started? Maybe she was unconscious?
“Harper!”
My eyes were stinging, and my ears felt muffled, but I heard that small scream coming from my left. “Nix!”
Harper!
“Stay there, I’m coming to get you,” I yelled as loud as I could. I could hardly see my hands in front of my face. Considering it was a clear day, the visibility in the building was as cloudy as hell.
I covered my mouth and nose with the neckline of my tee; the noise of burning wood and the sounds of my own heartbeat made it even more difficult to hear. As I pushed myself towards the door to the room where I hoped Harper would be, I struck the wood with my shoulder, brute force fuelled by adrenaline, and the barriersplinteredopen.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next.
It was much lighter in that room and not as bad, smoke-wise. Harper was squeezed in one corner, shaking with her knees pulled up to her chest under a desk. Her face was streaked with soot and tears. She was terrified, her entire body jerking on the floor in that small space. As I moved towards her, keeping low to the ground, the heat was oppressive, like a suffocating wave stealing the air.
Her closet in the corner was burning, the flames casting eerie shadows on the pretty, patterned wallpaper of her bedroom. Luckily, the window was blown out, siphoning out a stream of thickening smoke above us, making it possible to breathe, even if only slightly. The curtains were black with smoke dust and billowed like fiery ghosts inside and out, almost pointing to our exit. And that is exactly where we need to be. Out.
“Harper,” I rasped. “We’ve got to go, baby.”
Her eyes opened, and she shook her head, clearly unable to move. There was no time for hesitation as I heard shouts from below. The fireman who’d told me to stay put must have known I had entered the building and was coming for us.
He had to be!
Crawling closer, I stretched my hand out, ordering Harper to take it, but she was sobbing uncontrollably.
“They’re coming for us, baby. Please take my hand. I won’t leave you.” The floorboards bit into my knees as I bent beneath the desk and wrapped my arms around the terrified girl, dragging her out and against my chest. Harper’s hands whipped around my body, clinging on for dear life, and I held her as tightly as possible, clasping her head and drawing her face against my shoulder; anything to protect her from the image of the flames consuming the rest of her home.
“I got you, baby. I’m here.”
“Hey!” I heard from behind us.
“In here, the bedroom on the left.”
“Hold tight, I’m coming.” Then I heard another loud crash, and the broken door shook.
The sound of the water jets and clanging of equipment told me they were at last attempting to fight the fire.
Rocking Harper in my arms, I whispered into her ear, telling her they were coming and how we would be safe. Like a parent would talk to a child, soothing away her fears after a nightmare.
The rest of the door then buckled as the fireman came into the room in full breathing equipment. He threw himself to his knees next to us and pointed towards the open window. “The stairs are out. They’re sending up the ALP.” I had no clue what that was, but if the fireman was glad about that, so was I. He then started speaking again, saying something into his comms gear beneath his helmet. “No, two civilians. Yeah, the cage. Right.”
Harper and I then turned to look at him as he placed his gloved hands on each of our shoulders.
“OK. Are either of you hurt?”
We shook our heads. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah,” I yelled.
“Good. OK, when I give the signal, we’re going to make our way over tothatwindow,” he explained, pointing towards the window I had noted earlier. “Stay as low as possible. All stick together. You hold my belt and don’t let her hand go.”
