Tainted Crimson Read online

  "I have to be honest. I thought tonight was going to be the most painful night of my life. Turns out it's started off to be just the opposite." He gives me a smile, raising one half of his mouth.

  Is he flirting with me? Or am I just imagining it? Of course he's not! Why would he, Ari? You told him you have dance offs with yourself in your bedroom for heaven sakes!

  "What do you think about going to that after party of your friends after this?" he asks, almost sounding nervous. He totally is flirting with me, isn’t he?

  I debate it and when I don't answer right away his smile falters.

  "Sure, why not, right? It's not like we're going to have another senior prom. I'll text my dad and ask him, but I'm sure he'll be fine with it," I inform him and pull my phone from my small clutch bag. It only takes dad a second to reply and give his approval. I also read the message Mya sent earlier about the party that I never replied to.

  "Sounds like a plan!" I confirm with Nathan.

  Suddenly all of the colorful, flashing lights that light up the entire room like a dance club go dark, leaving the room in a near pitch black state aside from a few small moving lights which I assume are coming from people's cellphones. The music cuts out simultaneously and a few people begin shouting 'BOO!' as if that'll somehow help the situation. The room instantly fills with confused and upset chatter. Has the power gone out?

  A few of the supervisors and teachers begin trying to calm everyone down while some of the other chaperones try and assess the problem. Who knows, maybe someone tripped over the cord and unplugged the entire DJ system. I mean, that would be something I would do, ruin the dance because of my clumsiness. I instantly check the floor by my feet for any cords I might have stepped on by shining my own phone around for a little light. I'm in the clear.

  Then, I notice something small and orange-colored light up in the far back corner of the stage about the size of a softball.

  "Do you see that? On the stage in the far corner? What is that? The power must not have went out, something else must’ve happened. It looks like a light of some sort," I shout to Nathan over the screaming. He takes a step closer to me. Just as I finish talking, the orange-colored object expands and seems to climb up the black curtains coating the walls behind the stage. I'm quick to realize that it's fire. Something must've short circuited or overheated by the fabric curtains and set them aflame. I momentarily wonder how it's spreading so quickly but shake it off when I hear the screams louden as others begin to panic.

  Everyone begins screaming and pointing. It's not long before students are being hustled out of the building through its one double-doored entrance and into the fresh air. Smoke begins to fill the room and the people nearest to the flames begin coughing. Nathan and I are at the far back wall and out of the smokes reach but only for now.

  I feel a hand wrap around my forearm and he begins dragging me towards the doors.

  "Hurry, Ariella! Look how fast that's spreading. It's like someone poured gasoline all over the building! We won't make it out if we don't hurry!" Nathan demands and I quit resisting his pull, realizing that he's only trying to help me.

  The flames have now somehow spread up to the ceiling engulfing it in flames too. Chunks of debris begin falling from above as the flames burn.

  The smoke soon becomes so dense that I can barely even see the stage anymore. What is going on?! My heart speeds up as my adrenalin kicks into gear and I cover my mouth and nose with one of my dress' bottom layers as we rush towards the doors. Of course, the doors are at the far end of the room beside the stage, where nothing is visible and the flames are spreading towards much too quickly. I realize we don't have minutes, we only have seconds and I begin pushing and shoving my way through the crowd alongside Nathan. By now, people aren't just panicking, they're freaking the hell out as they come to the same realization that I have—we won't all make it out. The flames light up the room and where the smoke has not yet reached, I can see people pushing and shoving through the crowd for their lives like Nathan and I are. I don't waste too much time glancing around as I can't afford to waste any time at all.

  I get knocked down a couple of times and expect Nathan to leave me there to get trampled but he helps me back up and continues to pull me forward. Thank god this big burly guy asked me to prom and not some little stinker who hadn't hit puberty yet.

  I decide that this is not the time to be pretending that I’m a weak little girl. I use my strength from many years of weight training to help Nathan push through the crowd. He doesn’t seem to notice that I’m abnormally strong, then again why would he? We’re trying to escape with our lives. There are more important things to be worrying about right now.

  Then, the absolutely unthinkable happens and when I say that, I mean exactly that. I watch through the smoke as a blonde-haired boy right beside me gets thrown upwards towards the flames on the ceiling as if the room has lost all sense of gravity. I hear his screams as the flames burn at his flesh. I try to hold in my own screams but cannot. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who just saw that.

  "What the fuck?!" someone cries, assuring me that they’ve seen it happen too.

  "We have to get out of here. NOW!" Nathan shouts.

  I gaze up at the ceiling at the boy’s half burnt body for only a moment before snapping out of it and pushing the incident behind my mental wall so that I can focus on survival.

  Thanks to Nathan, we are nearing the door. The room is emptying much quicker than one would think possible, or maybe we’ve just managed to push up to the front of the crowd and there are still tons of people behind us. I have no idea and I'm not about to pause and look back, not that I'd be able to see anything now anyways. The smoke has gotten so dense that my eyes are watering and stinging furiously.

  I begin coughing. I can't breathe. I know you're supposed to 'stop drop and roll' when there's a fire, but let’s be reasonable, if I do that right now, I will be trampled to death.

  Elbows and fists fly into us as we continue to push through people.

  My heart picks up pace again and I realize that I'm about to have a panic attack. I'm not sure if it's because of what I just witnessed or if it's because I can no longer breathe but I decide that I have to push it away so I can be strong and think clearly and so I can make it out of here. Maybe some of dad’s lessons haven’t for nothing after all. My lungs burn and throb, as does my throat as I desperately try to suck in clean air.

  Then, I see a little bit of light and I know that we're only footsteps away from the double doors that will bring us into fresh air. Why in the hell would whoever built this building only put in one stinking door?! Are they not aware that this is a huge safety problem? Was it not required to put multiple exits when they built it? How are this many people expected to leave this room at once in the chance of a fire?

  I hear sirens outside over the screaming behind me. Are the emergency vehicles are already here? How much time has passed? I realize that I don't have any idea...seconds, minutes? I don't even know.

  Right as I'm about to jump out into the fresh air, Nathan's hand leaves my arm. "Nathan?!" I struggle through a hoarse throat and gasps for air.

  Nothing. I know I'm not going to be any help lying on the floor unconscious while people stomp on me so I decide that I have to keep going without him. At least to get a breath, then I can go back in and find him.

  When my lungs get a taste of the fresh air I almost jump for joy. I take a few more rushed breaths and I blink rapidly trying to get the stinging in my eyes to go away. I look around through blurred vision. People are running back and forth and there are red and blue lights everywhere. I wipe away another set of tears and begin blinking again. As soon as I can see, though my eyes hurt so bad they can barely stay open, I scan the crowd for Nathan.

  I see many girls, like me, with their eyes running and mascara ruined as if they've been crying for hours. I look around some more and see that there's mainly men outside. Did they all push through to the front leaving th
e women at the back? Assholes. There's no sign of Nathan anywhere.

  Suddenly there’s an arm around my shoulders pulling me further away from the building.

  "Ari?! Ari?! Are you okay? Come, get out of the way," demands a familiar, very worried, voice. Dad.

  "Dad?" I ask through a cough.

  "Thank god, you're okay. I just got here to drop off a jacket for you for the party tonight. Thank god. Thank god, you're okay. What happened?" he asks frantically as I continue to cough and cry. I’m not sure if the tears are still from the smoke or if I am actually crying now.

  "I don't know. The lights went out and the sound cut out and then a little bit of a fire started somehow on the curtain on the stage and it spread. I mean one second it was just this little tiny spark and the next it was covering the entire room. It was like someone drenched the room in gasoline," I say using Nathan's earlier analogy and reminding myself that he's probably still in there. "I have to find Nathan. He was with me until like three steps before the door. We were at the far back of the room and he helped me push all the way to the front. He was holding my arm until about three steps from the doorway," I cry, still gasping. "I have to go back in."

  "You will do no such thing!" he shouts. “I’m sure he’s made it out and is looking for you too.” He hesitates for a moment and I'm too busy having a coughing fit to argue. "I have to go in, Ariella."

  "No!" I shout.

  "Kids have stopped coming out of the doors now, Ari. It looks like many are still in the building. You know what that means right? I'm just going to see if there's anyone I can pull out by the door. If I can save even one person I will feel better. I can't just stand here when I could be doing something." He's right, I know exactly what that means. It means those who have not already suffocated from the smoke or burnt to death from the fire are dying right now, passed out in the burning building.

  "They won't let you go in there," I shout at him.

  "Ari, I'm the chief firefighter. I call the shots. Speaking of which, I have to go," he says apologetically and then releases me from his grasp. "They're going to want to have a doctor or someone check you over. Go home, you're fine. There are many other kids that need the help more than you do. My keys are in the gas tank of my truck parked across the road. I'll get a colleague to drop me off at home afterwards. They won't like you leaving without getting checked but there's so much going on that you can probably sneak away without notice."

  I've always loved that my dad's a firefighter. I mean, I've always been able to call him a hero. He saves lives for living. But never before, have I totally understood how dangerous his job is. How much he risks for people he doesn't even know. That is, until today.

  He disappears into the crowd and I decide to walk around and see if I can spot Nathan. If I worry, I will be even more useless. I put on the mask that my dad taught me to and push my fear to the back of my mind so I can think clearly.

  "Ari? I'm so happy you're okay! This is all so crazy! Have you seen Geoff? I can't find him anywhere! We were both right beside the doors when it all went down, I'm sure he had to have made it out." Nathaly Matthews wraps me in a firm hug. Geoff is her boyfriend and also my neighbor which is how I know the both of them.

  "No, I haven't. I just got out a second ago though. Have you seen Nathan? I mean you probably don't even know who he is what am I thinking," I blabber and continuously scan the crowd.

  "Was that guy you were standing with at the snack bar all night? I haven't actually. Sorry," she apologizes and releases me from the hug.

  "That's okay, but I better get looking., I say a little rudely and push through the crowd which has thinned drastically since I initially came out. I realize it's because the fire trucks are trying to get in closer to the building and all of us are standing in the way. I follow the crowd out across the road and out of the way.

  Here, people are crying and parents begin showing up to make sure there kids are alright. Word spreads fast. There are even news crews interviewing students already.

  I stare at the doorway of the building I just left and wait for people to emerge. After starring for ten minutes and seeing no one come out, reality sinks in. I wonder how many kids are left in there dying. 100? 200? More?

  Paramedics are pulling people onto stretchers and driving away with their sirens blaring. It's like something off of a TV show. More ambulances are continuously showing up and cops continually push back the crowd so the emergency crew can do its job.

  A school bus pulls up front and people start getting on it. "You all must see a doctor before you go home today! Your parents may take you themselves if it's not urgent. If you are burned or are having trouble breathing or have some other urgent problem please find a paramedic. Otherwise, please get on a bus to go to the hospital," one of my teachers directs through a voice amplifier, her voice shaking.

  I watch as a boy with long brown hair approaches a paramedic while holding a jacket around his arm. When he removes it to show what's underneath I nearly gasp. He's burnt so badly that his arm is barely recognizable. He takes a small glimpse at it before falling to the ground. I hope he's only fainted from the sight of his arm and something worse hasn't happened to the boy.

  We're all lucky that the nearest hospital is only ten blocks away and within walking distance because the roads are so jammed up that there's only enough room for the emergency vehicles and school buses to get through. Parents must be parking blocks away and walking. What a mess.

  Just as I think things can't get much worse, a loud 'boom' radiates throughout the vicinity and flames shoot from the door and roof. Everyone on the sidewalk with me cries out with shock and terror but I just stand there gaping. My dad is in there and possibly Nathan and so many other kids. God, probably a quarter of the school population is still in there I estimate, while glancing around at the people who made it out. I crumple to the ground.

  "Ariella, I found Geoff. Are you-" It's Nathaly, I can tell she speaks through tears even though I'm not looking at her. I cut her off.

  "I think my dad was in there," I shout painfully and finally I feel the tears I’ve been holding back since the fire began, leak from my eyes and down my cheeks.

  I sit there for only a moment before pulling myself together and asking myself what my father would do. He would do anything to help. But there isn’t anything I can do, is there? There are firefighters and ambulances and cops and god, I’ll just get in the way.

  Chapter 3

  After hours of sitting in my dad’s truck trying to hold back the tears that pour from my eyes, I realize that the only people left at the site are the firefighters still working on smothering the flames. I figure that it’s time to head home. I pull my phone from between clutch and look at my messages. I have a million of them. Most are from Mya, some are from other friends making sure I’m okay, but none are from Nathan or my father. I text Mya and my other friends back to let them know I’m fine, physically anyways. I also shoot my dad and Nathan texts both reading 'are you okay?’ Then I put my phone away.

  When I get home, I pull off my dress and slip into some pajamas before slumping onto the living room couch and pulling a blanket over myself, setting a glass of water on the floor beside my makeshift bed for my still aching throat. I leave all of the lights on, afraid to turn them off in case my father somehow miraculously comes home. Maybe he wasn't in the building yet. But then why wouldn’t he have called to let me know that he was okay? Surely he would know I would be worried. Then again, maybe this is some twisted test of my strength. No. He couldn’t possibly be that harsh. Could he? Suddenly, I’m not so sure. The only thing I have to hold onto for hope is the fact that I didn’t physically see him go into the building and therefore it was possible that he wasn’t in there when whatever it was that exploded, exploded.

  In my mind I can hear the screams, still feel how the intense heat felt on my skin, and remember the harsh effects of the smoke on my lungs, eyes, and throat. I try to push it back so I can sleep but then so
mething else emerges. Something that I pushed away hours ago both because it was distracting me from escaping with my life and because it was too impossible for my mind to comprehend. The boy, flying upwards into the flames on the roof and burning to death. Oh god, his screams of absolute terror. They were the worst of all the screams. What exactly did I see back there? I try and shove it back behind my mental wall, but it just keeps escaping. I can’t stop thinking about it. How? I mean, there has to be a logical explanation, I just have to find it. I’m not one to believe in ghosts or zombies or vampires or any of that supernatural crap that the media fills people’s heads with these days. I am a logical person and there has to be a logical answer. And so, I lay on the couch for a very long time attempting to think up realistic explanations. I'm not sure how long I lay there before I finally drift to sleep, but eventually I do get a little bit of rest.

  I awaken to my cellphone ringing and answer it before even checking the caller ID. It’s barely light out and I can't imagine who would be calling me.

  "Hello?" I answer drowsily through a sore throat as the happenings of the night before come back to me.

  "Ari? Oh, thank god! What the hell! Are you sleeping? How did you possibly fall sleep? I've been up all night watching the news! I've been calling you every five minutes since I heard what happened!" It's Mindy.

  "Sorry, I must've slept through the rings," I apologize.

  "I thought you were dead! You had me calling around the country in the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out if you were okay! You couldn't have at least texted me?" she demands.

  "I'm sorry Mindy," I apologize bitterly. "I had other things on my mind. Like you know, I think my dad was in there when whatever it was in the building blew up. I was also busy worrying about how my date was likely still in there too and a lot of my high school classmates," I scold her.

  She's quiet. A first for her.