Jack awoke with a cough. A loud voice shouted from downstairs.
"Get up, ya bums! Get outta there, now!" He distinctly heard Kloppman's voice, but other voices were screaming as well. He opened his eyes.
Smoke was filling the room. Jack immediately got off his bunk and started waking everyone up. This he did with incredible speed and accuracy, and soon everyone was up and out of the room, going down the fire escape.
As Jack, the last one out, leaped from the last step, Kloppman was counting heads.
"Snipes…Itey…Blink…where's Pie Eater? Oh, there you are…that's everyone…wait. Where's Red?"
As an answer, Jack got back on the fire escape. He evaded several pairs of hindering hands and scrambled back into the room. Entering the building took his breath away, literally. Smoke had already filled the ward in the few minutes he'd been out. He dipped his head out for a breath of fresh air, then ducked back in. His eyes streaming, he coughed his way up the stairs to Red's room.
He kicked open the door to find Red still sleeping peacefully. Too peacefully. Hoping she wasn't dead from smoke inhalation, he heaved her over his shoulder and frantically sprinted back down the stairs, through the boy's dorm, and out the window.
When he appeared with Red over his shoulder, no cheers were heard. Only, "Jist get her down here an' help us!"
After lying her on the ground and making sure she was still breathing, he sprinted over to the guys with wet gunnysacks trying to smother the flames licking at the Lodging house.
Red woke up slightly, and all she saw were figures running towards tongues of flame before she drifted off again, still trying to breathe.
- - - - - -
A few hours later, Jack came back to check on Red again. She'd moved, so he knew she was ok. They had finally defeated the fire. It thankfully hadn't moved to any other house, a miracle in itself. They had unanimously decided to take today off. The first streams of light from the new day flooded into the city as he kneeled down beside her and shook her awake.
"Red. Red?"
- - - - - - -
Her eyes fluttered open. All she could see was a young man's soot-streaked face.
At this, her eyes shot open. As quickly as she could, she backed up on her hands and feet. Terror overtook her as her back reached a wall. Her brain started panicking. But all this was broken through by a familiar voice.
"Red! It's jist me. It's jist Jack. C'mon, Red. It'll be ok."
Her eyes were truly opened then, and she saw her friends covered in ash and soot, their solemn faces looking as dark as Boot's. She took a shuddering breath, trying not to cough, trying to remember who she was, where she was, that she wasn't back there any longer.
"Wh…where did the fire start?"
Jack just shook his head. He couldn't speak. So Blink piped up instead.
"Well, da fire weren't covad last night, and it kinda got outta control."
Red covered her face with her hands. "Dis is all my fault."
Blink sat down beside her, gently wrapping an arm around her. "No, it ain't. It's all our faults. We's jist glad you're safe."
No one really had the heart to say anything after that. The house was livable in, the only part that got severely scorched being the large downstairs area. Kloppman's counter was slightly singed, but still usable. But everything near the fire, the chair, Spec's books were all lost to the fire. That side of the room looked hollowed out, blackened and charred.
For some unknown reason, when Red saw it, she became dazed. She picked her way through everything, randomly talking in Latin or Gaelic to herself.
Looking down at Spec's books, or the singed chair, she would pick something up and crumble it through her fingers.
"Mea culpa. Mea culpa." They didn't see the single tear slide down her cheek.
After watching her a few minutes, the guys--very disturbed--all went to their bunks to see if anything was severely damaged by the smoke.
But Red just sat in the middle of the room. All of a sudden she laughed. A cold, harsh laugh, that came from the depths of the darkest soul. As she stood, she swore at the charred wood.
"Titin gan éirí ort."
She turned and walked up the stairs, stopping halfway for her usual cough attack. It wasn't so bad this time, so as she continued up the stairs, no one suspected a thing.
She gained her room, and looked around, making plans. Everything in the house would have to be cleaned. Everything scrubbed, washed, and aired out. She remembered. And demons from the past never lie.
- - - - - - -
Thanks to those who are still reading the Red stuff. Oh yeah, if you just started reading, you might wanna read the prequel to this one (as you can see this is Red II), which is called Red. (no duh). There might be another after this. Maybe. Thank you to the one person who reviewed, lufs ya! And i will incorporate more verses into this. I didn't know if that was ok with the site and if would insult anyone.