'PART FIVE'
Children playing, women laughing, men in conversation. Walking down a long, winding country road, birds tweeting in the sky. The perfect place. A house down by the seaside, painted a creamy white, decorated by rosy ivy. An oak front door opens and there they stand, the perfect family. The man, the woman and the baby boy. An idyllic place. The man, Joseph, the perfect husband...The woman, Jac, the perfect wife...the baby boy, Harry, a perfect baby. Joseph steps forward, sways on the spot. The sky swims in and out of focus, Joseph falls to his knees. He rolls onto his side and stares up at the heavens. Jac and Harry watch over him. The world begins to shudder. The skies implode, the beautiful country retracts. Suddenly he's lying in a fiery corridor, convulsing horribly. Foam drips out of his mouth, thick and gloopy. Little Jac is screaming uncontrollably, Joseph fits further, the sound of creaking metal as the fire roars ever closer. Taking a deep breath, Jac flips Joseph into the recovery position. She checks his airway, clear. Mouth to mouth. Chest compressions. Wait...the agonising wait. Joseph is in the country once more. Walking among the trees, holding Harry in his arms. The sun shining on his back. Snap. He's back in the corridor. Jac pumping his chest with her hands. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Mouth to mouth. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Keep going. Joseph can still hear the birds but cannot fully wake. Keep going. The birds grow fainter, he's nearly there. Keep going. Fainter, ever fainter...gone. Joseph wakes. Jac looks down at his face, white and pale.
"You gave us a scare there," Jac said softly. Joseph moaned, weakly.
"Sorry..." Jac looks up at little Jac. Little Jac had cowered away in fright, her heart pounding fast.
"It's all right, he's going to be fine," said Jac sweetly. "Trust me, I'm not going to let him die." Little Jac attempted a small smile but her lips were still trembling uncontrollably. Jac placed her arm around her and looked deep into her eyes. "It's okay. We'll be okay."
"I want to get out," Little Jac replied in a voice no louder than a mousy squeak. Jac nodded.
"I know, I know." She turned to look at Joseph who was breathing heavily into the oxygen mask left over by Jac. "Joseph?" Joseph pulled the mask away from his face and wheezed.
"Jac?"
"It's not good to just sit here, I think we should get moving." Joseph coughed and too two deep breaths from the mask; the needle on the tank moved to zero.
"We should stay here, if we remain in one place the rescuers will find us." Jac gave Joseph one of her famous exasperated expressions.
"Joseph you are going to be in serious trouble if we stay!"
"I'm just as likely to suffer serious problems on the move," Joseph said determinedly. Jac was adamant that they should get going.
"You can be so stubborn sometimes Mr. Byrne! Little Jac here is terrified, she is frightened out of her wits! There's no more oxygen left so for the sake of her we have to find a way out ourselves!"
"They will come for us."
"Joseph! We can't be certain of that, it could be days before they reach us and you know as well as I do..." Jac paused, choking slightly on her words. "You know as well as I do, that you will be long dead by then." Jac sniffed, and wiped a rogue tear from her eye. "I don't want to lose you." Joseph felt a pang of guilt. Reluctantly he agreed. "Thank you," Jac said.
Henrik Hanssen was feeling off colour. His face was growing pale as the air inside the lift became staler. Elizabeth Tait was slightly better but the effects of the fire were showing its toll on her. Hanssen mopped his brow with his handkerchief which was becoming steadily grubbier. Elizabeth clenched her fist, and with a high-pitched wail kicked hard at the closed door. Hanssen frowned.
"Do you mind, that noise is ghastly." Elizabeth glared. She started hitting at the door again and with each hit she yelled,
"I...want...to...get...out..."
"We all want to get out Nurse Tait, wailing like a banshee won't make it any sooner." Elizabeth ignored Hanssen and stared at the roof. Her eyes fixated upon a small hatchway in the centre.
"Mr. Hanssen?"
"Listening."
"Do you think we could get up on top of the lift?" Hanssen thought about this. He stroked his chin with a long finger.
"I suppose Nurse Tait."
"I thought so."
"The question is, however, how do we get the hatch open?" Elizabeth had a plan.
"Surely you can push it open, you're tall enough?" Hanssen concurred.
"I am as our dear friend Mrs. Beauchamp once said, a depressing a giant swede." Elizabeth sniggered. Hanssen raised his hands up to the hatchway and pushed hard. It gave way almost instantly, showering a highly unamused Hanssen with dust. Elizabeth began to cheer, but a steely look from Hanssen silenced her immediately. "I think it would be better if we made our getaway, don't you Nurse Tait?"
"Yes, of course Mr. Hanssen," Elizabeth said meekly.
"I'll give you a leg up," Hanssen said. Hanssen stooped underneath the hatchway and held his hands out in a cupped shape. Elizabeth placed her left leg on Hanssen's left hand and hobbling nervously she lifted her right leg on to his right hand. Unblinking and unmoving Hanssen held Elizabeth.
"In your own time, when you feel ready."
"Do it."
"Three, two, one, up you go." Hanssen heaved upwards and sent Elizabeth soaring out of the lift and onto the top. "Are you alright Nurse Tait?" Hanssen called.
"Fine, thank you Mr. Hanssen." Hanssen tutted and quickly lifted himself out of the lift.
Jac, Joseph and Little Jac had climbed out into the corridor. Jac held Little Jac by the hand and had her other arm around Joseph who hobbled uncertainly as he walked. It would have been an amusing sight in any other situation but here the situation was proving deadly at every corner.
"What floor are we on?" Jac asked Joseph.
"Going by the small crack in the bannisters, this is the fifth floor." Jac didn't respond to this, but merely snorted under her breath. She had so missed, Joseph's quirky OCD behaviour.
"Five floors to go," Jac sighed. "Better get a move on then, don't know about you but I'd rather not be roasted to death."
"I don't think I can go on much longer," Little Jac moaned. She was finding the slow trek exhausting and her feet ached hugely.
"I know how you feel," Joseph said kindly. "We ca't give up, understand?" Little Jac nodded. "Good girl." Joseph smiled. "Would you like me to carry you a while?" he asked.
"Please," Little Jac whispered. Joseph bent down and let Little Jac climb up onto his back.
"Wrap your arms tightly on my shoulder. Don't let go," Joseph told her. Continuing to use Jac as an aid, they moved on, climbing down the stairs with care. Jac lead the party, scouting the area for the safest route.
Hanssen and Elizabeth stood on top of the lift.
"Did you have any sort of plan as to where we go from here?" Hanssen asked exasperatedly. Elizabeth looked sheepishly at her feet. "As I expected..." Hanssen stopped himself mid-sentence. The mechanism holding the lift had caught his eye as he looked down the lift shaft. "Any good at climbing Nurse Tait?"
"I did gymnastics at school..." Elizabeth said quietly.
"Then you should have no trouble climbing down there." Hanssen pointed at the mechanism. Elizabeth gulped.
"I think so..." she said unsurely. Hanssen took the lead. He lowered himself slowly off of the lift and took hold of the mechanism. He began to climb towards the bottom. Elizabeth followed suit. They kept climbing down although the mechanism was tearing their hands to shreds. Hanssen grimaced with each push downwards. Elizabeth stopped suddenly. Hanssen looked up at her with the faintest hint of concern etched across his pale face.
"Nurse Tait?" Elizabeth could not move. Her heart thumped so loud that Hanssen could hear it clearly. "Nurse Tait...Elizabeth are you okay?" Hanssen was beginning to feel genuinely worried. What happened next, no one could have foreseen. Far below, the fire raged hottest in the basement of the hospital. It crackled menacingly and without warning, a white-hot piece of metal came shooting up towards where Hanssen hung, watching Elizabeth closely. Hanssen was struck in the small of the back, causing him to let go of the mechanism as he gasped in pain. He began to fall backwards as if in slow motion. Without pausing to think, Elizabeth forced herself to slide down to Hanssen's level and grabbed for him with both hands. They touched. Elizabeth leaned out to him, using her legs to keep her balance on the mechanism. As Hanssen hung in the air, held on to only by Elizabeth, she pulled him towards her, straining against his weight. Hanssen made a grab for the mechanism with one hand as soon as he came within touching distance. Taking hold of it once more, he sighed and then looked up. There was no sign of Elizabeth. He looked down. She was hanging with one hand to a part of the mechanism that slowly began to split away from the rest of it. Hanssen reached out with his hands.
"Elizabeth, reach, take my hand," he called. Elizabeth tried to reach with one hand while keeping her other holding the mechanism tightly. It split further, sending Elizabeth further away from Hanssen's efforts to save her. "Elizabeth!" For the first time in his life, Hanssen was scared. Truly scared. He could do nothing. There was nothing anyone could do. Hanssen made one last valiant effort to reach her; he began to climb down the mechanism in the hope that this would bring him closer to her. But he was too late. The section of the mechanism Elizabeth was holding on to, snapped completely. Her screams filled the air as she plummeted into the fire below. Hanssen looked down with fantastical horror etched on his face. He started to hyperventilate, the shock of the event almost crippling him.
Elizabeth Tait lay spreadeagled on her back at the bottom of the lift shaft. Flames licked around her as blood poured from a gaping wound from her head. Her body was broken.
'TO BE CONTINUED'