Page 89

My eyes start to get heavy as I think of ways to deal with the matters at hand. Figure out how to find out if that was my father I could hear and if he’s actually alive.
My thoughts drift back to memories of my father and me. The times I sat on his lap as a child and watched him work. The memories we made as a family.
Before this became my life, my strange, shattered reality.
Chapter Twenty-Six
AURORA
“I don’t wantto do this, Rory, but I have my orders.” The man with no face hovers over me. I struggle against my binds as his hands touch me.
I realize quickly that I’m naked, and my blood runs cold.
Struggling, I start to pull more, but the rope and the position I’m in is impossible to break from. I scream through the gag around my mouth.
“I know. So beautiful. And I wish I had more time to play with you, but I need to get you back. Don’t worry, though, I will see you again.”
A loud crash causes my eyes to shoot open, and a sudden burst of heat can be felt on my back. A crackling sound hits my ears, and the smell of gasoline and smoke fills my nostrils.
Turning over in my bed, I find that the room is on fire. Addy’s bed is up in flames.
“Addy? Addy?” I call out in desperation, but I get no answers. I shield my face from the heat as I try to look to see if she was in the bed, but the fire is too hot.
Why the hell are the fire sprinklers not kicking on?
The room is filling with smoke, and the door out of the room is blocked with flames. I can’t access the bathroom because that is too close to the entry where the fire is raging.
I pull my shirt up to my face as I try to find my phone. All I can find is my purse and wallet. What the actual fuck?
I need to get the fuck out of here. Fast.
Coughing, I look at the window that I heard shatter when it woke me from my sleep. I’m on the second floor, completely trapped. It dawns on me that this is going to be my only way out of this.
The fire alarm finally goes off, and I see students running out of the building.
Grabbing the nearest thing to me, which is one of my snow globes, I take the metal base and try to break the rest of the glass that was shattered. I look back at the growing flames and then turn to peer down at the ground.
There is a crowd staring to gather outside, pointing to me at my window.
But below the window, there’s nothing to break my fall, and panic starts to take hold of me. If I jump, I am for sure going to break my legs. Fuck.
My lungs are starting to burn, breathing swiftly becoming more difficult. Sirens start up in the distance, but I don’t think I will be able to wait for them to get here. I look over at my bed and grab the bed sheet. If I can get myself lowered enough, I can jump the rest of the way down without hopefully any injury.
Ripping the sheet off, I tie it to the edge of the bed, which is right next to the window. I climb up onto the ledge, holding it, and wonder if this was the dumbest idea ever.
Well, it’s either this, or die in that fire. I’d rather a few broken bones over burning to death any day.
With that in mind, I scramble to get good foot placement and find a place for me to start my decent. I grab hold of a pipe alongthe outside next to the windows with my other hand and steady my foot on it. The pipe wiggles under my touch, but I just need it to balance myself until I can ride the sheet down.
Looking down, I take a deep breath and pray I will not break anything. I grip the sheet tight and with a leap of faith, slide down the sheet and down the wall, until I get to the end of the stretch of fabric. Then I close my eyes and let go.
Landing on my feet somehow, a pain shoots through my legs and knees. I immediately drop to them as people come rushing over to help me.
“Are you okay?” a guy asks me as he tries to help me up.
“No. I just jumped out of a window from a burning building. I am definitely not okay.” I cough, my lungs still burning from the fire.
As I stand up and try to steady myself, firefighters and paramedics come rolling onto the scene. Sirens blare and fill the area with blue and red light. People around us point to me needing some help as the firefighters start to go to work and run into the building toward the blaze.