*Bellamy*
September 2014
"Colpo di fulmine. The thunderbolt, as Italians call it. When love strikes someone like lightning, so powerful and intense it can't be denied."
-J.M Darhower
I could smell the smoke before I could see it. Of course, I couldn't see anything once I ran into my kitchen to find said smoke filling up half my apartment. All the rules about fire safety I had learned in elementary school flew through and out of my head at once. It seemed that no firefighters were on their way and no safe spot appeared for me to inhabit while I watched my apartment go down in flames. Perfect.
"Shit." I muttered, gaping at the monstrous flames that covered my entire stove and the majority of the cabinets. And right in the middle of it all was the pot of spaghetti I had been cooking with my oven mitts that were too close to the flames. Apparently my assumption that handling food with oven mitts would automatically create a safer environment was wrong.
I thought I heard once that you weren't supposed to throw water on a grease fire, but honestly I didn't know the difference and didn't feel like sitting around and to think about it while my kitchen burned.
I quickly got a massive pot from a cabinet that wasn't on fire and filled it with water. Thank God my sink remained undamaged, I thought sarcastically. Now I could fill pots with water that wouldn't be able to boil due to my lack of a stove that wasn't crispy. Cooking was truly exhilarating.
Apparently, I made the right call with the water because the flames went down considerably. It only took about three more pots full of water to get it to go out entirely, although, by then, nothing was salvageable. I didn't really expect it to be though.
The stove had had better days along with all the food that was inside and my poor green and white polka dotted oven mitts. The cabinets too, were stained a nasty black, making them look like a piece of abstract artwork that I really didn't want in my apartment. To say the least, I was not pleased. Especially since it was 7:30 and my date/sort of girlfriend was supposed to arrive an hour ago. I had only one word for this situation.
"Awesome."
As soon as I muttered the word, the sprinklers finally came on, extinguishing what was left of my good mood. Now, I was wet, angry, and probably had carbon monoxide poisoning. My night really couldn't get any better.
Then, of course, a sudden knock came on my door. My date, most likely, arriving at the most pleasant of times. I could already imagine her face when she found out what happened. If she ever was my girlfriend before, she definitely wouldn't be after this.
So when I opened the door I expected harrassment, not a blonde haired girl with concerned blue eyes. Well, they were concerned until she got a good look at me. Then she started to laugh.
"Haha, so funny." I rolled my eyes, wiping droplets of water from my face. "What do you want?"
"I was just wondering if you were alright." the girl wheezed, not even trying to contain herself. "I could see the smoke coming out from under the door." I quickly glanced back at my smoke filled kitchen and winced, remembering the rule about staying low to the ground floor where all the breathable air is. Hopefully, I hadn't contracted lung cancer in the time it took for me to put out the flames.
"I'm fine." I sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "I appreciate your concern." The girl raised her eyebrows, looking me over. Her eyes were steady and I felt the urge to cross my arms over myself as if it would stop her from gleaning my darkest secrets through the ash stains on my shirt.
"Are you sure? You look at little... wet. And ashy." She bit her lip. "And just a tad irritated, but that's really none of my business."
I glanced down at myself. My entire body was coated in soot and my clothes stuck to me like leeches. Worst of all, the breeze started picking up in the unheated hallway, raising goosebumps all over. The irritated part wasn't anything new.
"Maybe, I'm not fine." I admitted with a shrug, feeling like a kid being scolded. "But why do you care? Who even are you?"
"I live across the hall." the girl said casually, gesturing to her door that was open a crack. "My name is Clarke. And I care because I'm a nice person. I can assume you're not accustomed to those?"
I wasn't really. The nicest person I knew was my sister, and nice was a very, very strong word to use. I mean, my date/sort of girlfriend just stood me up, apparently, all I attracted were snakes.
"Well Clarke, thank you for checking in on me, but I am absolutely A-OK. My kitchen is deteriorating, I may have mild hypothermia, and my date didn't show up, but I am all good." I stated bitterly, moving to close the door.
"Wait," She interrupted, the slightest wink of concern back in her eyes, "shouldn't you at least sleep somewhere else for the night? Until the smoke clears out."
"Where else am I supposed to go?" To be honest, I really just wanted to shower and mope around.
"You can stay at my place." Clarke shrugged as if it was the easiest solution in the world. "I have a shower. And heat."
I looked over my apartment and knew Clarke was right. I wasn't too keen on staying in a stranger's apartment, but I didn't really have a choice, did I? Even if the fire department arrived, the most they could do is give me a stern lecture on fire safety.
"Fine." I exhaled, turning back to my neighbor. "But I'm bringing my cat." I heard her laugh as I ventured into my room where my fat cat usually lounged.
After retrieving Murphy and opening a few windows to let the smoke out, I returned to my front door where Clarke was waited with a big grin on her face that for some odd reason, made me want to grin too.
"This is the best thing I've seen all week." Clarke chuckled, leading the way across the narrow, treahcerous hallway. In another situation, I might've been fuming at how easily she laughed at me, but there was something in the way she did it that made all my usual anger dissipate. Maybe I really had been posioned.
"All week? I think you should give me more credit than that. How many soot covered, waterlogged, guys holding obese cats do you see? Plus I'm pretty cute, so I should get points for that."
Clarke just shook her head, holding open her apartment door. Maybe staying the night wouldn't be so bad.
