Chapter 24 #2
Crawling along the floor, I pushed myself beneath my dressing table, tears stinging my eyes. The air felt so gritty.
It felt safer under there. It was the table I used to sit at as a little girl and brush my hair one hundred times, just like mommy had told me. “Princesses look after themselves if they want to meet their prince.”
My prince? Phoenix? Where was Phoenix?
I could taste the acrid smell I remembered only too well, the scars on my back burning as if my skin was melting all over again.
My breathing was short as my lungs tightened, and I tried to move out from under the desk, but nothing was working. My joints were so stiff.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
I was helpless, frozen by fear. Squeezing my eyes closed, the tears poured down my face as I curled up into a ball and waited for death.
PHOENIX
As soon as we pulled up at the edge of the long driveway that led to Harper’s old house, I was out of the car before it stopped. Hudson yelled for me to wait, but I didn’t listen.
The scene leading up to Radcliffe Manor was chaos. There were contractors set up on site. I could see a large container-like office and a temporary toilet. Two guys were standing with hard hats on, and plans were spread out on a table in front of them. And then I saw the cop car and a fire engine.
Fire?
As I moved forward, crouching low, I saw the thick black smoke above the tree line staining the sky. Lowering my gaze, my eyes took in the fire that was now eating part of the roof. The bit that had survived the first fire was now not so fucking lucky.
What the actual hell? I raised onto the balls of my feet and watched the amber glow peeking out through the trees.
The house was on fire, again?
Two firemen were in the process of unwinding a large hose, preparing to fight the inferno that was causing more carnage to a building that had already been fucked. Fucked felt more apt than condemned.
The contractor guys had an expression that suggested they were out of their depth. Something had clearly gone wrong with their plans. The large crane with the wrecking ball just sat there doing nothing.
I raced forward past the cop car and up the driveway to the yard. Keeping to the side, I made sure no one could see me as I tried to see inside the building. Part of the entry into the house was accessible, but the doors were hanging off.
In a nutshell, I could see very little and knew I needed help.
Running up towards one of the firemen who was closest, I started yelling at him, trying to tell him that someone was in the house. He looked up from the hose he was attempting to straighten out.
“You can’t be here?” he shouted through his mask, waving his gloved hands. He then said something about a gas main.
“I think my girlfriend is inside!” I yelled, pointing frantically towards the building.
He couldn’t hear me over the sound of the engine and the spool, which was slowly slackening off the water hose. There was also the sound of the wind in the trees and the fire itself, hissing and crackling into the sky.
I became more frustrated by the second as he started shouting at me to get my ass off the property, pointing towards the gates.
As I glanced around, I could see Hudson being held back by two uniformed officers.
Oh dear, Hud hated the pigs. His face was red, and he was yelling at them and trying to get past.
A large piece of wood, like an old beam or something, suddenly spewed from the building and hit the floor just behind us, and the fire guy grabbed me, shoving me away before turning and assisting a co-worker to untangle the hose.
“We need to do this now,” he yelled as they started to pick up the pace. Two more firemen ran around from the other side of the engine, both in full PPE gear. They seemed to be arguing, and whilst they were distracted, I took my chances.
Keeping low to the ground, I ran towards the building.
The place was a mess. I heard another boom and a shattering noise as the windows of one section blew out.
Once I got to the doorway, I managed to slide my shoulder under there, glancing back to see if I was being followed, but they were still struggling to get the water going.
What the hell were they doing? This was supposed to be a controlled demolition, but as far as I could see, there was nothing controlled about what was happening behind me. More sirens sounded in the distance.
Dragging my gaze off the fire trucks and staff who appeared to be running around like misguided fools, I made my way further into the house, the part that was left.
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 still standing, 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, moved when 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 barrier splintered open.
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 to that window,” 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.”
“Got it.”
And then another firefighter appeared by the open window, waving us over.
“OK. Let’s move.”
And we did. I grabbed the guy's belt and hauled Harper with me. When we got to the window, I was told to climb up and take the other man’s hand. No way in hell that was happening before my girl was out.