Page 11

CHAPTER 11

HEL

I t was nearly eleven in the evening by the time Hel retrieved her car from the ice rink and got back to her house. She was exhausted but lay in bed tossing and turning, waiting for a message from Clara letting her know Frost was safe in recovery.

It finally arrived at one am. She texted her thanks to Clara and settled back to try and sleep. Staring at the ceiling, the rest she so desperately needed evaded her until, after far too long, her eyes drifted closed.

An alarm screamed, and Hel reached her hand out to silence her phone. She couldn’t work out why she set an alarm as she wasn’t at work today. Snatching up her phone, she looked at the screen and frowned. It wasn’t her alarm. It must be one of her housemates.

She lay back down and closed her eyes as the alarm screeched, but it was so piercing there was no way she would fall back asleep. Grumpily, she grabbed her dressing gown and stuffed her arms into the sleeves, then picked up her phone and put it in her pocket. She needed to find whose alarm was the worst sound she had ever heard and give them a piece of her mind.

Hel stomped across her room and yanked the door open. The sound of the alarm increased in volume, and smoke wafted up the stairs and floated past her.

“Shit,” Hel cursed.

Fire, they were on fire.

Her sleepiness vanished in an instant, and she dashed along the hallway, banging on her housemate’s doors and then flinging them open.

“Fire. Wake up. We’ve got a fire.”

Her shouts were met with groans initially and then panicked realisation as they woke up and smelled the smoke.

When everyone was awake, Hel rushed to the top of the stairs and flinched. Flames were licking at the bottom.

Shit, they couldn’t leave that way. She thought about it for a moment. Erin’s window was over the garage roof. They would have to go out of it and lower themselves down.

Turning around, she saw her five housemates and the extra who was always there, gathered on the landing behind her.

“The fires at the bottom of the stairs. We’ll have to go out Erin’s window.” She gestured back behind them and began to move.

“Have you called the fire department?” Erin asked as the seven of them hustled back into her room.

“No. I’ve got my phone. I’ll do it now.” Hel pulled her mobile out of her pocket and dialled as she waited for her housemates to pry the painted-shut window open.

Wayne, the extra, suddenly bolted out of the bedroom door. His girlfriend, Emma, called after him. “Wayne. Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back,” he yelled over his shoulder.

Hel huffed with exasperation. What the hell was he doing? But she didn’t have time to worry as the operator answered.

“This is triple zero. What service do you need? Police, fire or ambulance.”

“Fire,” Hel told them.

Greg, one of her housemates, made a crow of triumph, and the window he had been working on slid open. Hel’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“Thank you. What’s your address?” the operator asked.

Hel coughed before she answered. She wanted to close the door to keep the smoke, which was now being sucked into the room by the open window, from getting thicker, but Wayne—the idiot—meant she couldn’t.

Emma was leaning against the bedroom door, shouting for her boyfriend to hurry up, and despite the severity of the situation, Hel rolled her eyes.

“It’s thirty-four Poplar Avenue, Kookaburra Creek,” Hel supplied.

She covered her mouth and coughed again. The smoke was definitely getting thicker.

“Thank you. What is your emergency?”

“Our house is on fire. We can’t get down the stairs. We’re currently getting out one of the upstairs bedroom windows.”

As she spoke, the first two of her housemates clambered out the window. The smoke was so thick now it was getting hard to see.

“The fire service is on their way. Please keep the line with me open until they arrive,” the controller advised her.

“Thanks,” Hel replied, swallowing over and over to stop the coughing the smoke was causing. “I need my hands to climb out, but I’m going to put the phone in my pocket,” she croaked out.

“That’s fine,” the operator reassured her.

“Emma. We need to get out.” Hel put her hand over her mouth, coughing so hard now she could barely draw breath.

“He’ll be here in a moment.” Emma leaned out of the doorway, scanning the hall for Wayne. But she didn’t last long before she was bent double and gasping. “Wayne,” she whispered.

Hel glanced between the window and her housemate. They had to leave. Taking a step towards Emma, she grabbed hold of the younger woman’s hand.

“Come on.” She could hear the crackling of the flames and feel the heat radiating from downstairs.

“I can’t,” Emma gasped.

Hel heard a crash and froze, hoping it wasn’t about to get much worse. “Emma,” she screamed.

Wayne, at that moment, came barrelling back along the corridor from Emma’s room, clutching a large ziplock bag in his hands stuffed full of pills.

“Are you kidding me?” Hel’s eyes bulged. He had drugs in their house? And his first priority in a fire was to save them?

“Come on, Emma. Let’s go.” Wayne shoved past Hel, towing his girlfriend with him.

Hel wanted to say something sarcastic but didn’t want to waste her already short breath. Of course, Wayne threw himself out of the window first and didn’t even look back for Emma to help her. But in the gloom, she saw Greg peering in at her, having helped Emma.

“Hel, let’s go. The fire’s in the garage as well,” Greg yelled at her.

“Shit,” Hel swore and hustled over to the window. She needed to escape before the garage roof collapsed.

As she climbed over the ledge, she wasn’t careful in her rush and scraped her palms and shin, then knocked her elbow hard. Gratefully, she grabbed hold of Greg’s hand and dropped from the window to the garage roof.

Hel felt the heat radiating up through her bare feet, and she wished she had thought to grab shoes.

“Let’s go.” Greg towed her along to the edge of the roof, where Raj was standing looking up at them.

“Lower yourself Hel. I’ll catch you.” Raj held his arms up towards her.

Hel did as she was told and sat on the edge, then turned over onto her stomach, lowering herself. She sagged in relief when she felt Raj grab hold of her hips and help her the rest of the way.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he placed her on the floor.

“Yeah.” She panted, grateful for the fresh air.

Greg dropped down beside them. “We need to move away from the garage. The gas bottles are around the side here.”

Hel glanced over to where he was pointing and winced. The two big gas bottles that supplied their hot water system were indeed right there.

The three of them hustled from around the side of the garage and out onto the street to stand with the rest of their housemates, who all watched in silence as their house burned.

The fire engines turned up quickly and began to battle the blaze. An ambulance arrived and checked them all over, but didn’t need to take any of them to hospital.

Greg had thought to grab his car keys on his way out. He could squeeze them all into his car, and his parents didn’t live too far away.

When he offered, Hel thought for a moment and texted Clara. She was on call all night, so she might still be up. She sagged with relief when her friend immediately responded that she was about to leave the hospital and would come and grab her.

Hel didn’t notice when Clara pulled up as she stood staring at the still-leaping flames, which would have been mesmerising if they weren’t burning her life to ash.

“Hey.” Clara looped an arm around her waist and pulled her into a half hug.

Hel rested her head on her friend’s shoulder for a moment, then straightened. “I’m so tired. Can we go?”

“Sure. Is there anything you need to do here?”

Hel shook her head. “No. We need to come back tomorrow in daylight, and the firies will take us into what’s left of the house.”

She was going to have nothing left, absolutely nothing. Everything she had collected in her thirty-five years of life was in that house. All her trinkets, certificates, jewellery, everything. She sniffed deeply, trying to stop the tears that threatened to escape.

“Let’s go. I’m exhausted, and you must feel even worse.” Clara reached down and took hold of her friend’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

“Yeah. I feel like crap.” Now the shock was wearing off, the chill of the night was beginning to seep into her bones, making her shiver.

Clara gently tugged on her hand, leading her over to her car.

Hel did a double take when she saw the brand-new car. “What happened to the shit box?”

Clara flushed scarlet and mumbled, “Taylor bought me this for my birthday.” She gestured to the shiny new BMW that was fitted with all the extras.

“That’s so great!” Hel was genuinely delighted for her friend.

It warmed her heart to see how in love Clara and Taylor were. It made her twinge a little in jealousy, but that was okay. She could be happy for her friend and a little sad for herself at the same time.

“Yeah. But it’s a little…” Clara paused, “extra.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell us?” Hel pulled the car door open, sniffing the new car smell which wafted from inside. She then inhaled her own scent. Smoke, lots of smoke. She shouldn’t get into her friend’s new car stinking like a house fire.

Clara pointed at the hospital blanket already covering the passenger seat. “I came prepared. You must be freezing. Get in.”

Hel only hesitated for a moment longer before she hopped into the car. Luxuriating in the plush interior, she ran a hand over the dashboard in appreciation.

Clicking her seat belt on and turning to her friend, who was staring straight ahead in embarrassment, she murmured, “This is nice.”

“I know,” Clara mumbled, pulling out into the road.