Disclaimer: All Arthur characters and settings are the property of Marc Brown, Cookie Jar Entertainment, WildBrain, 9 Story Media Group, Oasis Animation, and WGBH. I only own the story.
Themes (from the Updated Infinite Theme List by SS-Chrys on DeviantArt): 213. First Heartbreak - 418. Burnt Alive
D.W. and several of her classmates, including her favorite classmates Emily Leduc and James MacDonald, had been invited for a sleepover at the Tibbles', where they were about to begin a game of Hide-and-Seek with the rambunctious twins as seekers and everyone else as hiders.
"Since there's two of us, both of us are going to be counting to 100.", said Timmy.
"Here goes!", said Tommy.
The Tibbles began counting in unison. "100... 99... 98... 97..."
The hiders all split up to go find a hiding place. D.W. went upstairs to the attic, where she spotted a large stuffed panda next to a shelf and decided to hide behind it.
(Scene transition: the stuffed panda slides across the screen from top to bottom)
It had been ten minutes since D.W. hid behind the stuffed panda and she had yet to be found. She had started to get bored, and so had started petting the panda's back to keep herself occupied. Little did she know, however, that at that very moment, things were going to take a very unexpected and tragic turn. D.W. suddenly heard a loud ringing sound like an alarm, followed by...
"Aaaaaah!!! Help me!!! It hurts!!!"
"Huh!?" D.W. thought to herself in alarm. "That sounded like it came from downstairs. And the voice... it sounded like... James!?"
Upon realizing this, D.W. instantly forgot all about the game she was playing and rushed downstairs, where she instantly smelled the worst smell she had ever smelled. It kind of reminded her of the smell of the fried meats her dad sometimes prepared, only much, much more pungent. Right then, she heard Grandma Tibble say something that instantly made it painfully clear to her what was going on.
"Quick, James! Drop to the floor and roll around!"
Hearing that order felt like a shot in D.W.'s heart as a memory of a certain lesson she'd been taught in preschool instantly flashed back to her mind.
"Stop. Drop. And roll." D.W.'s preschool teacher, Ms. Morgan, had instructed her. When D.W. had asked her what it was for, she'd answered that it's for when her clothes would catch on fire. This had made D.W. worried, but Ms. Morgan later held a lecture on fire safety wherein she explained that it was only a "drill", a practical lesson to teach D.W. and her classmates what to do in the event of a real fire.
Now, it seemed like a real fire had indeed happened, and worse, James of all people had gotten hurt by it!
Wasting no time, D.W. rushed into the kitchen, where all of her classmates, having also heard James' cry for help, had gathered. She began to frantically ask Grandma Tibble, "Grandma Tibble, what happened?! Is James... !?"
Emily, who had a mortified look on her face, interrupted D.W.'s question: "D.W... he's... over there..."
D.W. paused as she looked towards the center of the room where the dining table was and saw the horrific sight that all of her other classmates were also looking at. Laying on the floor near the table, was James. He had already been extinguished by Grandma Tibble using a fire exthinguisher on him, but the damage had already been done. James' clothes had been partially destroyed by the fire, but that was far from the worst part. His once yellowish-white fur was now a charcoal black, and he had some very nasty looking burns all over his body.
"H..elp... it hurts... so much..." D.W. heard James whimper.
"A...AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" D.W. let out possibly her loudest shriek in her life so far, and then collaped to the floor, fainted.
Shortly after that, James was rushed to Elwood City Hospital for emergency treatment on his burns by an ambulance called by Grandma Tibble.
To be continued...