Chapter 1
I blink my eyes open and and let out a gasp. A mixture of orange, yellow and red light comes in a blurry vision. I blink again and my vision is clearer. I watch as sparks fly everywhere and see that, before me glows a massive, bright fire. Smoke blows around my bedroom, clouding my eyes, clogging my throat. I cough loudly, already struggling to breathe. After a short coughing fit, I sit up. If I want to live, I need to escape.
I hop out of bed, narrowly ducking my head to avoid sparks. I search for an escape route. And see it. The door to my bathroom. The fire may be massive, but it has only reached in front of my bed. I stride to the bathroom door and as I do I see out in the hallway smoke swirling but not a big sign of fire. Good. The only reason I see what is out in the hallway was that my bathroom had two is to the hallway and the other leads to my room.
I freeze in the bathroom and turn around. I could let everything else burn except one. My bed blankets. It is a beautiful sky blue with white flowers all over. My mom had had it when she was young, and so had her mom. Her mom's mom had hand-sewn it and it seemed as a tradition for the Herbertons, the girls at least. I trail off into my thoughts, remembering when I had recieved them as a birthday present a few years ago.....
But my mind is brought back to reality when sparks fly straight in my direction, and hit my exposed flesh. I cry in pain as more sparks flew at my left thigh. I run out and pull the blanket off, folding it messily and running back inside the bathroom.
I turn to the left, and crouch in front of my toilet. To my left, I begin to skim my fgingers along the wall. I soon feel a bump. I grip my hands onto it and pull. After a bit, I have a big piece of plaster in my hands. There is a hole, that well, is a secret passageway. One I love to go to when I needed alone time. I set the plaster down and climb into the hole. I crawl onto hard,cold tile. I turn back around, and fix the plaster so it's blocking the hole. I stand up, and walk along the passageway. It leads down a hill,up and finally, I come to a window leaning against the wall on the floor. I twist a knob, and it unlocks. I bend down and open it. Smiling at the skill I have, I climb onto a tile platform, close the window, and jump onto a dirt floor. Yes,dirt. This was the part of the passageway that led to a shed. My shed. The shed I usually went to during alone time.
I walk forever it seems like, until my eyes detect a rusty brown ladder leading up. I easily climb up and hopp onto the ground. And in front of me is a door. Rusty,old, and creaky. I bend down and dig into the dirt until I have a brown key. After unlocking the door, I push it open and before me is the shed. As I look around, I think how this could be my last visit. If I'm found and taken to the orphange, well I block it from my head before I can think about it. But somehow, it sneaks in, and the thoghts overwhelm my brain....
I do not want to go to an orphanage where I would get adopted by random strangers. I would rather stay with my awful Aunt Trisha then go to an orphanage. Now that's saying something. Trisha is like, what, 90, and is rat ugly. Her hair is dyed bright purple with blue stripes. Yet I can always see dark gray hairs under the dye. Her eyes are creepier: green, yet practically yellow, cat-like eyes. She has the worst taste in clothes, dark grey or black dresses. Or brown. Which surprises me since her hair is purple and blue. She wears high heels probably to make her look taller; her real height is like, 4'5. Pretty sad. But then her personality, ugh, its annoying. She acts all sweet around our parents but when she is watching my sisters-
My family I had forgot all about them! I had to save them, just had to.