Sword & Fire

Chapter 7

My eyes can't seem to leave the dead body, even as they put the corpse on the stretcher. The red and blue siren lights are dramatic against the darkness of the forest. The police officers roam the area, sealing off the property with caution tape. Other students already gather against the trees to hopefully get a look at the commotion. Even with the cop standing in front of me, trying to get me to answer questions about what I saw, I can't help but still smell the burning of flesh. The potential thoughts of how their flesh melted from their bone or the screams of anguish that tore their throat out.

They haul away the dead corpse into an ambulance, making me catch Dimitri's eye. He too stands with a cop, actually mumbling responses to the officer yet never actually looking at him. He stares at me with his arms crossed in a protective stance. He seems calm whereas I am shaking; mostly because of how scared I am rather than the cold.

"Miss?"

The cop stares down at me with his pen in hand. He has a pointed look in his eyes, waiting for me to give him some context. I lick my lips, trying to moisture my overall dry and clamped throat.

"S-Sorry, can you repeat the question?" I whisper

"What happened here tonight?"

"We saw a body...they were burned...and so much fire."

"Miss, there was no fire."

"What? No, sorry. You're right, I'm just rattled."

A dozen or so faces pop into my mind. All charred beyond recognition with bloody gashes, boils bursting and blackened flesh. The fires haunt my every waking moment. All the fires that took lives, leaving me in the surviving guilty wake. Now another death at the hands of death, leaving me at its center once again.

"Can you tell me anything else?" The cop snaps

"N-No, I-I..."

"She's had enough," Dimitri's somewhat comforting voice wraps me in safety, just as his arms do, "Your partner knows what happened. We'll be leaving now." He drags me away from the scene, but as we walk away, I can't help but turn back, watching as more cops enter the area to find evidence. But like every other fire I have experienced, there will be none and another death will fall at my feet.

"Come on, keep walking."

His words are meaningless as he just pulls me in the direction he wants. I'm dizzy with how fast he is walking or from the lack of oxygen. The feeling of shaking never left me, the need for water is extreme and the panic attack is setting in. My quick uneasy breathing makes Dimitri hug me closer, but even the tingles don't help settle my brain. I can't ever escape the fires and the casualties. No matter where I go, the blaze is never too far behind. I'm cursed with fire and brimstone.

"T-The fire...there was so much screaming...I tried to help them, I did...I just...the fire wouldn't let me..."

"Shhh, it's okay Evie. We're almost to your room."

Whose with me? Where are we going? I can only hear their screams. Feel the way they reached out to me, coating me in ash and blood. The fire licked up my sides, but I felt no pain against the burn. I can't breathe.

"Evie, calm down. It's okay."

Tears as hot as fire stream down my face, not like I had noticed earlier. When did I start crying? I wrap my arms around myself, sitting now in the middle of a room, on the floor. I rock back and forth with a tightness in my chest, choking on air.

Arms pick me up from the floor, gathering around me to shield me from nothing but everything at once. They continue to rock back and forth like I was a baby needing comfort.