Lessons in Humility

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 10 (Hollywood Fire)

Scrolling through her social media feed, Tori honestly couldn't see why she was bothering. Her twitter had thousands of followers, her facebook had countless "friends", Instagram was useless now despite having the same large numbers. She even had a snapchat, but rarely used it. She contemplated deleting these, no doubt a move that would shock many fans; but what other choice was there? She was in a decline, those numbers were dwindling fast thanks to Barbara's constant assault.

Even now, Barbara's latest tweet was catching her eye. Victoria Vega not answering her phone, her meltdown seems to be reaching epic proportions. Rolling her eyes, Tori leaned against a wall and raised her head to the clear blue sky.

Again, Trina was avoidant, or at least not at the apartment; so Tori took advantage of that to take an opportunity to drive around some of her old haunts. Something that she was beginning to regret. Hollywood Arts was her latest point of visitation, and it was just about as run down as she was.

The school had closed the doors at some point after the tragic fire that happened during her final year there. "Jason died here, how could I ever have forgotten that?" She lowered her head, studying her hands neatly folded over her abdomen. It happened towards the end of the school year. She thought this was the thing Trina would be taking a personal day for every year; but the date was wrong.

The anniversary of the tragic fire was months prior, so Trina was dealing with a different anniversary of sorts. "Wish she'd talk to me. She's the only one that really is talking to me, but I wish she'd give me more." Tears welled up in her eyes and she pushed off from the wall, walking along the cracked sidewalk.

Eventually she came to the covered patio where she used to sit with the others during lunch. Smiling sadly, she studied the chipped paint and cracked frame of the support beams and ceiling. The paint on the tables had faded and a few chairs had broken off.

The wind blew trash and newspapers across the floor, creating something of a tumbleweed effect for her. As she continued to walk, moving around to the front doors, she saw a sign that read 'no trespassing'. The doors were ajar, broken from the hinges. "I'm surprised they haven't torn this place down."

With a wry chuckle, she gripped the doors and gently pushed them open a bit more so she could slip inside. Once in, she was overcome by a nauseating feeling and could see thick layers of dust and cobwebs as far as the eye could see. "God…"

Tiles were chipped and stained by weather, the walls were moldy and covered with swarms of various insects. Each step Tori took was a careful one as she tried to relieve the memories she once had.

For a second she thought she could hear the faint sound of a piano being played, but surely that was all in her head. Hollywood Arts didn't look too bad on the outside, just a little wear and tear; but the inside had grown grotesque and wretched.

Making her way to the auditorium, she had to slip by some caution tape. With a deep gasp, she raised her hand to her chest and looked around the area. She could still see where the ceiling had caved in, and while scorch marks could be seen throughout the halls of the school, they had blackened the walls of the auditorium completely.

"Now. Where was it?" Tori made her way down the torn cushioned chairs, looking around the area until she found where a large metal beam had fallen from the ceiling and landed directly across the center aisle.

This beam was what took out several people, and what led to others being trampled to death. At the end of the beam was a large spotlight, the lens shattered and stained with blood. Tori knelt down to her feet, recalling the vivid fire in detail.

The screams still echoed as though they were present in her head. She didn't know how it spread so quickly at the time. Officials said it was a combination of things, ranging from faulty construction to overcrowding. There'd been other openings in the back of the stage where the fire had slipped through, and surely the widespread panic didn't help much.

As she looked up to the stage, she saw the fire racing up the curtains and filling the entire stage with flames, making it look like a scene from hell.

She hadn't been on stage at the time, she was in the audience; part of the cast members who were supposed to have left the stage to interact with the audience at some point.

At the time the fire broke out, her feet had been glued to the floor, people raced around her as a vortex of air seemed to suck the breath from her very lungs. To her horror she watched as the fire continued to spread, not listening when she heard her parents and her sister calling her name.

Then a pair of arms wrapped around her, strong and protective, yanking her back and throwing her to the side. The action brought her to reality and that was when she saw him standing before her. Jason. He'd run back into the smoldering auditorium to try and find her.

"Get out," Jason ordered as the sweat ran down his face. "Hurry up, run." As the smoke filled her lungs, she did exactly that; but froze at the door when she heard a loud cracking sound. That was when she looked up to see the metal beam from above, having already lost the part hanging up one side of it, the other side was finally giving way and was falling.

Jason had no time to react, standing exactly where she had been, he looked up just as the light smashed into the back of his head and the end of the beam pinned him to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Tori whispered as she returned from the memory and slowly placed her hand on the spotlight. It was cool to the touch. She closed her eyes and her breathing started to shake. She'd done everything she could to erase the memory from her head at the time, throwing herself into her acting and singing in an attempt to forget.

People thought she became like most celebrities and abused painkillers or drugs after the fame; but they were wrong. It wasn't long after the fire that she started to abuse painkillers, but fame hadn't done much to lessen the use.

Trina suffered at the time too, for obvious reason; but there seemed something more to it than just Jason's death. At the time, Tori couldn't help but to wonder if her sister blamed her, they never spoke of the tragedy. Rather, Trina kept to herself for months following, staying in her bedroom most times.

This only ended when one day something happened and Holly had to race Trina to the hospital. Tori didn't know exactly what was going on, she thought maybe her sister had fallen ill or done something to herself becoming so overcome with grief. Still, the girl was never the same after that.

"Twelve years, Jason." Tears fell onto the stained floor at her knees. "I don't know if you can hear me wherever you are; but I am so sorry." She wished for a different outcome, that maybe he'd not gone back in to save her. "You should have just let the thing fall on me. You were already a hero to me, to Trina….you didn't have to die like that."

It shocked her that Hollywood Arts never recovered, especially since they were supposedly using the next year to rebuild the school. Looking back, maybe director lost the funding. Parents could have started pulling their kids from the place, seeing the building as too dangerous.

If faulty construction or wiring was truly the cause for the fire, then some engineer somewhere truly messed up. "I'll never understand it. The building never seemed that out of it, never seemed dangerous."

Granted Hollywood Arts was new, the building itself was older. It had been many businesses spanning decades of use, with the last business making it an official school before it became a school for the arts.

Or it could have been something more. As she thought on it, she seemed to recall her father mentioning criminal investigations being under way; so arson wasn't too far off. If someone had deliberately attacked the school, or used the auditorium fire as an advantage, then such a tragic loss of life was more believable in her mind.

Perhaps it didn't matter anymore, none of that mattered.

"Get out of here."

Tori exhaled, looking up as she thought she could hear Jason's voice once more. Her eyebrows rose when the words echoed again. The beam she was touching started to grow colder than before, forcing her to tear her hand away.

Without hesitation, she heeded the warning and bolted from the auditorium. She dusted off her clothes as she scurried through the corridors, looking at the beams of light coming from holes in the ceiling and watching the dust hover in them. With a faint smile, she exited the main doors just in time to hear her cell phone chime.

When she checked it, she saw a text from her sister. "What in the hell are you doing? Check your social media page."

She did so and saw a tweet from Barbara showing a picture of her entering the school. Her eyes grew wide and a trembling hand covered her mouth. "Can this be V.V. criminally trespassing a condemned site? Is it really her? You decide for yourself just how far she's falling! When will the crimes cease?"

Her heart began to pound, and with tears in her eyes she ran as fast as she could to her car. "God, she's got people taking pictures of me now?"

She entered her car and swept her hair back, behind her ears. She wiped the tears from her face and looked at the twitter page in time to see a picture reply to Barbara's tweet. It was from Andre, much to her surprise.

"Hey Barbara, look what I saw during my visit to the downtown shops. Seems you're not only visiting the area, but helping yourself to some of the stores and their merchandise." He posted a picture of Barbara, wearing sunglasses and a large sun hat as she pushed a few clothing accessories into her large purse. "I guess somebody's got sticky fingers."

Almost instantly, Barbara's tweet was taken down. Tori couldn't help but to smile, mentally thanking Andre. Even though he didn't think much of her at the time, like the rest, at least he stuck up for her. While it could have been a fluke, or maybe he was just trying to show the hypocrisy, she couldn't help but to be glad for his swift intervention.

It didn't help that Barbara's post might have sent the police searching the site for her, so rather than sit and pout in her car, she felt it was best to start driving.

With the school in her rearview, she took a few fleeting glimpses. "Why is nothing the same anymore?" She tore her gaze away, sniffling and chewing on her lip. "Trina should hate me just as much as the others. Jason's dead because of me. Hollywood Arts is gone. Nothing…absolutely nothing is right."

As she drove down the street, she came up to a stoplight next to a facility she didn't recall seeing before. Her brow furrowed as she studied the three story building with vaulted, blue rooftops. The walls were crème colored and the windows looked old fashioned. It was nestled in a small parking lot and had a wide grassy yard to the left.

"What is this place?" Curious, she turned into the parking lot. "This used to be that karaoke place where Jade and Cat had me perform. I'm sure of it." She tilted her head and chuckled softly. "It wasn't a three story building though, and certainly didn't look like this."

It was warm and inviting, a pleasant sight amid all the chaos. She parked her car and carefully stepped outside, checking the area just in case Barbara might be lurking around. She took another look at the yard and smiled when she saw numerous children playing in the grass.

She walked up to the doors of the building and gently ran her hand along the oak framed doors. With a deep breath, she opened them and moved inside. The walls were a warm desert sand color, the tiled floors were peach colored, and a long granite top desk overlooked the front entrance.

At the desk, a woman with soft blue eyes and curly brown hair looked up from a book she had been reading. "Hello," the woman greeted, "How can I help you?" Tori approached, looking up at the open ceiling and seeing the railed walkways above.

"I, um, was curious and wanted to stop by." The woman smiled at her as she looked back to her and placed her hands gently on the surface. "I've grown up in the area, this place wasn't here before."

"That's correct, it was built a bit after the fire that happened at that school some time ago…" That answered the question of where the city funds must have gone. "This is Little Haven, a state-run orphanage." Tori's eyebrows rose and the corners of her lips curved upwards. "We take in children when there are no foster homes able to take them in. Primarily. We provide them with shelter, an allowance and all the needs we are able to provide."

"Oh. I see. I don't think I've ever seen one of those places." She'd heard of them, but never thought much of them. "I guess you're a big part of the community then."

"Oh yes." The lady reached under the desk and lifted a pamphlet up. Tori took it and looked down at it, reading the numbers and office hours. "We try to have our children interact with the community as much as possible, going so far as to enter them into public schools. We also encourage volunteers from the community, if that is something you might be interested in."

"Well…" She pushed the pamphlet into her purse, wanting to look through it later. "Right now isn't the timing isn't best, but I'll certainly think about it." The woman gave an understanding nod.

"Please do, it can be a very rewarding experience for both you and the children here."

"What kind of volunteering options are there?"

"Oh plenty!" The woman pulled a white folder from the desk and opened it on the countertop. Tori leaned over it and smiled as she read through a list. "We have social time, we have volunteers who help in the kitchen, help with arts and crafts, game time, reading to the kids, tutoring with homework…the list goes on and on. There's something for everyone."

"Wow."

The sound of a scuffle grabbed her attention and she looked up and towards a stairwell nearby where a girl ran after another. "Give it back," shouted the girl chasing the other. There was a small, stuffed gingham dog in the arms of the girl fleeing. It had seen some wear and tear, and looked ancient. "That's not yours!"

Her forehead wrinkled as she recognized the girl giving the chase; it was Rachel, from Robbie's class. Eventually Rachel cornered the other girl and grabbed the dog. Clutching it close to her chest, she grabbed the other girl's shirt and pushed her away. Tori watched as Rachel lifted the dog to her chin and shut her eyes.

The dog itself was strangely familiar too; but Tori didn't think much of it. She couldn't help but to watch as Rachel swayed, still clutching her toy protectively. The receptionist followed her gaze and sighed. "And that is Rachel, she's been with us now for about a year. She's not usually aggressive unless the girls pick on her, which sadly she does get bullied by the other girls because she's among the older…"

"Wow, I didn't know older children would even be here."

"It happens a lot, unfortunately." The woman shook her head. "There aren't that many foster parents as it is, and those that there are usually want younger children. Same said for adoptive parents, they always want babies or toddlers. Rachel is, an unfortunate case."

"Why?"

"She's had too many fosters and was remove by her initial adoptive family. She's been through a lot, as many of the boys and girls here have, even having been a ward of state at one point…finally ending up right here."

"Ward of state?" She knew the term from her father's police days. It meant a child that was under protection of the government or court because there wasn't any safe place for them. "Is she still?"

"No, that was a while back. Rachel doesn't really cause a lot of problems, she's just withdrawn. Some people consider her 'problematic' because she has a hard time following instructions and listening to authority…I'm usually forthcoming with that because I want people to understand that yes, she has that issue; but she has had a traumatic past and needs a family that she can learn to trust. She's not troublesome, she's hurting, the poor thing."

"And now she's, what, ten? Eleven?"

"Twelve. She just had a birthday. Spent it in her room unfortunately, I wanted her to come out and celebrate, but she refused...One more year and she'll be a teenager." The woman sighed heavily. "I pray every day she won't end up spending the rest of her life here. It wouldn't be the first time, but a lot of the time the kids in her situation-"

Her heart flickered and she looked down, feeling a surge of pain. "They don't survive, do they?" The woman closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Tori watched Rachel as the girl looked around her and slowly walked off. A tear ran down from her eye and she quickly cleared her throat. "I-I better go. I'll think about volunteering, I'm just not sure yet."

"Our number is on the pamphlet I gave you. Just call whenever you feel ready."

"Thanks."

So Tori's remembered the events of the fire, seems selective memory led her to pushing that tragedy out of her mind. There's a lot going on in this chapter, so I look forward to hearing any input or thoughts you may have