Username: Checkinder
Name: Amanita
Gender: Female
Story: Tick tock tick tock...
The clock in the hallway counted down the minutes to dawn. Anamita lay peacefully in bed, dreaming of wonderful adventures and peaceful worlds. Her breathing was soft and her eyelids fluttered softly. She was fully unaware of the world around her, safe in sleep's embrace.
Across the house from Anamita's sleeping form there was a tiny crash, the sound of shattering glass. A window was left open and a particularly strong gust of wind caused a candle to be knocked over from it's generally safe perch. It was left lit, untended, while she and her parents slept. Upon reaching the hardwood flooring of the living room, the flames grew in size and intensity; beginning to consume fabrics and rugs.
There were no smoke detectors in their home. They had long since run out of batteries and were now living in a drawer in the kitchen, dead and unable to screech a warning to the unsuspecting family. The family pet, a cat, let out a wail as the flames licked close to it's sleeping spot on top of a bookshelf, fleeing to Anamita's room in the basement.
Heavy with sleep, Anamita forced her eyelids open. She reached out to pet the frightened feline in an attempt too soothe it's nerves. The acrid scent of smoke assaulted her nose and Animita's heart began to race. Throwing on a robe, she raced upstairs to the trace. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the blazing living room. The window into the kitchen was beginning to smolder and Anamita began to realize she was not dreaming.
"Mom! Dad!" She shrieked, the flames and intense heat forcing her from the room. She couldn't reach the upstairs, nor her parents. Terror flooded through her as she ran back into the basement. It was her only means of escape.
Anamita bundled her cat in the sheets from her bed, blindly feeling around on her desk for her phone. Of all days to leave it upstairs. She cursed to herself and forced the window to her room open. The warm and dry summer air provided no comfort as it gusted into her room. Hoisting herself out, sheet held tightly in her arms, Anamita raced across the dry, freshly cut grass to her neighbors house.
It only took a minute or two of pounding to get their attention, but to Anamita it felt like years. She could smell the fire from here and there were still no signs of her parents emerging. As soon as she saw the porch light turn on and her elderly neighbors face in the window, she began to, almost incomprehensibly, ramble off what was happening. Knowing terror ruined her words, Anamita pointed at her house. The neighbor understood and pulled her inside, rushing off into the kitchen to call 911, leaving Anamita pacing in the foyer.
It felt like a painstaking long time before the firetrucks and ambulances pulled up in front of her home. Leaving the cat in the neighbors house, with permission, she dashed out to meet one of the firefighters.
"Do you live here, ma'am?" She asked, regarding her with kind eyes.
Nodding, Anamita choked out, "My parents haven't come out yet!" Warm, salty tears were forming and threatening to fall down her face as anxiety began to consume her.
The firefighters eyes widened and she shouted what she had just learned to her colleagues. She turned back to the frightened child, resting a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get them out, don't worry."
Anamita was left with the paramedics, trying not to watch the blaze that had consumed everything she knew, owned...
"Anamita!"
A wheezing voice, but one she knew. Wide eyed, she turned and looked towards the fire. Her parents were being helped out by firefighters.
Unable to make any noise other than something akin to choking, Anamita forced herself to her feet and ran over, embracing her mother and father, sobbing and shaking.
"I'm glad you're both okay..." She finally sobbed, hugging them tightly.
"We were so worried that you hadn't made it out..." Her father murmured, messing up her hair. "We were so worried about you."
The fire was put out, but Anamita and her family had nothing left but themselves and their cat. To this day, Anamita gets scared on nights with strong gusts of wind, unable to forget her near death and almost losing her parents.
[737/800]
One Extra:
art by Rainbow Noivern 
by DecafBunny » Fri Mar 10, 2017 4:18 am 
---------- [Story word count: 682]
