Flames leapt higher and higher, blinding every spot of her vision with their taunting hellish dance. They licked at her arm hungrily, almost as if they had been starved for years and the only thing they now knew how to do was eat. Eat. Eat!
Every breath she took was a rattling gasp; lungs filling with a tar like fluid slowly as she inhaled more and more smoke. A choking cough ripped through her, arms tensing in pain the force was so tremendous. She was backing up, slowly, away from the all-consuming flames that had already eaten at most of the room.
Eyes going wide, she felt her hand touch the wall behind her. Her gaze left the flame for a moment, glancing behind her to see the horrible colored wallpaper that may mean her doom.
Only an hour ago had her father kissed her forehead softly, doing the same to her little brother before walking out, their uncle at his side. "We'll only be gone for a little, baby." He said gently, smoothing down the hair on her head with a smile. She had nodded eagerly, smiling back at him.
And then the fire started.
She had managed to get both her little brother and cousin out, and was in the clear herself until she realized the familiar weight on her neck was missing. She had clutched at her throat, eyes wide as she shared a look with her cousin. It was the last thing she truly had of her mother—she couldn't lose it in a fire.
Fingers had grabbed at the fabric of her shirt as she turned and ran back into danger, back into the flame, almost suicidal in the notion. Heat scoured every inch of her, diving deep into her very being as it teased its way closer, closer, and closer yet.
She shook her head to clear it, back against the wall as her fist clenched over the locket once more, hand going over her heart as she closed her eyes in fear. Flame and ash and smoke and flame and ash and smoke! The rhythm pounded along with her heart, the beat so strong she could feel it in her wrists.
There was a crack, a ripping noise, and a shower of hot sparks falling down as her realm of space was suddenly cut in half. A cry split from her as a few fell on her arm, searing the flesh with a terrifying sizzling sound.
Swatting at them wildly, she found that she no longer had even the strength to cry. If she could, she highly doubted she would be able to, as the heat had already dried up most of the water sustained in her small body.
Sliding down, she watched with fear in her eyes and pain in her chest, as the flames grew ever closer, engorged with the lust of death. Fires in movies always seemed to go much slower, but her imagination sparked as she imagined the fire as a monster, the only driving power behind him the urge to kill seven-year-old girls.
There was another cracking noise, something being slammed into another. But she couldn't hear it. The sound of flame, of monster, of lusting beast was the only thing scorched into her mind as she shut her eyes in fear, giving into the lapse of sleep that had been threatening to overtake her for so long.
"Mary!"