Nicki
I clutch my bump and waddle back towards the house, too stunned to consider how dangerous it is for our lungs. The smoke streams over the glass walls in cascades while I try to figure out what’s going on. Is there a barbecue in a neighbouring property? But they’re fields away, it would have to be a big barbecue . . . I push through the front door and start coughing. Smoke’s billowing into the house from the back garden through the open sliding doors, surrounding total chaos. Lauren’s collapsed on her knees in the middle of the sitting room, clutching Woody and screaming hysterically while Steffi frantically rocks her.
‘My baby, my baby, they’re going to take my baby,’ she’s screaming. ‘They’re going to take him . . .’
‘Lauren, we need to get out of here. Get up, get up, please.’
Charlotte’s got a stork napkin held to her mouth and she’s shouting down her mobile phone. ‘Yes, there’s a fire. It’s an emergency. Come now. There’s four of us here, and a baby.’ She coughs. ‘Quickly,’ she shouts down the line. ‘The whole garden has gone up already.’
‘What’s going on?’ I shout, lifting my elbow to my mouth. I’m still in some dumbfounded state, not quite able to take it in. My parent’s garden is on fire. My best friend’s screaming on the floor. I’m pregnant yet inhaling heavy smoke. The heat feels like it’s melting off my top layer of skin.
‘My fault, my fault,’ Lauren screams over the flicker of flames, rocking back and forth, pushing Steffi off her. Woody screams desperately in her arms.
Charlotte makes frantic arm motions to me. ‘! Get out of here. You’re pregnant. Go now. Drive.’
‘Matt’s taken the car.’
‘Go to the driveway. Get far away, it’s spreading quickly.’
There’s a gentle hush of breeze, but in the inferno outside, it’s like a dropped can of gasoline. We all scream as the fire seemingly jumps from the burning grass up onto the decking and sets that ablaze too.
‘My parent’s house . . .’ I’m finally starting to comprehend the sheer disaster of the situation. ‘It’s burning . . . I have to . . .’ What? Rescue what I can? Try and put it out?
‘We need to go,’ Steffi’s yelling, trying to pull Lauren up but she’s still lead on the floor. ‘Lauren? Please.’
I can’t let my parents’ house burn down. I move forward to the kitchen. If I get some water, maybe I can . . .
‘Step back,’ Charlotte yells, stopping me. ‘You’re pregnant. You need to leave.’
‘I can’t let it burn, I—’
‘The fire brigade is on its way. They’ve told us to get into a car and drive away. There’s a wildfire risk. We have to get out of here. Lauren, you have to leave, now.’ She bends down and fully smacks Lauren around the cheek. I gasp and it makes me start to choke. I feel distress kicking inside me. I start backing towards the door, my eye streaming from the smoke, the air in the room bubbling and warping under the heat. ‘If you don’t get up now, Woody is going to die,’ Charlotte screeches at her, dragging her to her feet. ‘Get the fuck up. Get the fucking fuck up now.’ They carry Lauren towards me, Woody crying in her arms. I lead them out of the house, my back burning up from the temperature. The air’s only slightly better out here. The fire’s now spread to the trees on either side and they’re dancing with angry flames, engulfing the whole house.
‘Where are your keys?’ Lauren sobs something about them being in her handbag. Steffi grabs the bag as we rush down the steps and holds them up. The driveway’s empty now and as we rush to Lauren’s car, I dimly think how, only half an hour ago, it was crammed full of guests for my baby shower. My baby shower which is now burning down inside my parents’ home. A house I’m fleeing and allowing to incinerate. The flames feel like they’re almost licking us from the burning foliage around the drive. We’re all coughing now. Woody’s stopped crying and is coughing too.
‘I’ll drive,’ Charlotte pushes Lauren down into a backseat, who’s still wailing , ‘My baby, they’re going to take him, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I . . . don’t . . . please . . .’ She points to me. ‘, get in front. Steffi, take Woody.’
I fling open the door and try to get inside but my bump is so bulbous and huge that I feel like my face has melted off by the time I manage to get into the seat. Steffi’s yelling behind me. ‘I can’t do up the car seat. The buckles . . . I don’t know how.’
Charlotte’s already turned on the engine. ‘Just hold onto him and let’s go,’ she shouts back. ‘Now.’
She slams the car door and we’re flung back as she revs down the gravel and out onto the countryside lane. Lauren’s wails are all I can hear as we leave the house in the rearview mirror, shimmering in the heat.