Life Sucks. End of Story.
It wasn’t like she’d wanted this to happen.
“Is it my turn to make dinner, Mommy?” asked the little girl. Her bright, amber-brown eyes had an innocent twinkle, and her brown-almost-black hair dropped onto her shoulders. A spiral notebook lay in her lap, her handwriting easy to read despite her age. She swung her feet off the edge of the old chair she sat in, hearing the wooden base groan at her movement.
The girl’s mother glanced up from her book, a smile spreading across her face. The mother’s dark brown, curly hair shimmered in the sunlight that managed through the window’s blinds. She pushed up her reading glasses as she looked at her ten year-old daughter.
“Yes, Elysia,” said mother. “Go ahead. You remember how to make beef stew, right?” Both mother and daughter shared the same, thick Irish accent. Elysia’s father stayed quiet and indifferent between the words shared with mother and daughter.
Elysia closed her well-used notebook and set it down gently next to her ballpoint pen. She rose to her feet and nodded to her mother’s question. A small smile danced on her lips, completing the cute, and cliché innocent girl look. At her mother’s approval, Elysia skipped off into the kitchen, humming a little tune as she did so.
Elysia did a little twirl in the middle of the kitchen, the window above the sink adding more light to the room. She snagged a pot off the rack and placed it on the gas stove. After gathering all the ingredients, she went over to the stove again, smiling. She twisted the knob to the left onto “high”. As soon as she did, the stove burst up in flames, incinerating her left hand. She almost screamed, but the scream was caught in her throat as she fire began to spread. Tears streamed down her cheeks from the flames engulfing her hand, she shook it in an attempt to extinguish the flames, but that didn’t work.
Elysia sped into the living room, coughing as the smoke spread throughout the house. She could barely hear her parents calling, and she coughed even more. Her eyes were watering…or was she crying? She didn’t know anymore. Using the wall for support, Elysia trudged down the smoke-filled, blurry hallway.
“M-mom!” she rasped, her voice feeble against the ferocious roar of the flames. “Dad!” No answer. Where had they gone?
Elysia finally reached the living room, but her body was feeling weak. She was shaking, but from what? Fear? Lack of oxygen? Who knows? All that mattered to her was finding her parents and throwing her arms around them for protection.
Her eyes widened at the scene that was laid out before her. The living room had been engulfed by flames, and she backed up to avoid being burned. She made out the blurry images of her parents on the couch, their flesh being burned…they were…they were…
She almost screamed, but her throat was too dry, and she felt like passing out. Someone grabbed her, wrapping their arms around her and lifting her close to them. Who was that? What were they doing? Elysia made out voices of people she didn’t know. They were shouting something about ‘getting her’ and ‘saving one’ and how ‘there were two more’. Didn’t they realize it was too late?
She didn’t get to know who those people were. Elysia’s eyes slid shut as her world went completely black.
To Be Continued in "Don't Panic"...
