AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A good sign.
Then embers floated down around us, like bright orange snowflakes.
My heart thundered against my ribs.
Liam descended the creek bank, chanting, “Mud, mud, mud!”
“That’s it, Liam,” I crooned, desperately trying to keep my voice calm and confident.
Plenty of wet, decayed leaf litter and small branches were scattered around the creek bed. I gathered up as many branches as I could carry when Liam waddled towards me.
I froze, spotting a small piece of corrugated iron submerged in the creek bed.
My heart raced. Sweat broke out on my forehead.
The roofing iron had scorch marks. Panic threatened to consume me again.
“Stacey?” Liam asked, appearing beside me with two handfuls of mud.
I barely heard him.
I could feel the heat of the fire ten years ago. The smell of my flesh burning under the iron. The smell of the hot iron itself. The feeling of being trapped, face down, so much pain.
It’s just a bit of farm scrap.I cried out, trying to control the despair threatening to take control. Acid burned in my throat.
It’s happening again. The fire is after me again.
A mistletoebird with bright red chest and oily black feathers, flitted across the creek bed, landing on the corrugated iron. The red and black bird hopped across the iron, chittered at me, and then flew away.
Dad had nicknamed me after these little birds.Firebird.
Dad,I breathed.Dad… I took another deep breath.
In my mind, I was on the window ledge of our burning house. Dad was helping me to the edge, holding me tight and whispering in my ear, “I love you, Firebird. Now get out of here!”
My eyes flew open and I stumbled, the memory so real and vivid. I fell into Liam and he caught me, squishing mud over my arms. Liam laughed, rubbing it in.
The shock of the cold mud broke the spell of the memory. Liam laughed again as he splattered more mud down my shirt and across my face.
“Mud! Mud!” he yelled, throwing another two handfuls at me.
“Get really muddy, Liam,” I coughed. “Cover yourself with lots of mud.”
I scooped up handfuls, throwing it on Liam’s legs. The firefighting jacket would protect him but his jeans needed a barrier to shield from the heat of the fire. Thank god my jumper was wool, not acrylic yarn. Liam kept throwing mud as I smeared more over my clothes.
I’d just finished plastering mud over my neck when I heard the dull roar of the fire, not the crackle of flames, in the distance.
“Liam, we need to play a game where we bury—”
BOOM!We both fell to the ground. Liam pawed at my arm, whimpering.
I pulled him into my arms and held him tight. “The car,” I whispered.
The tyres had exploded. Plumes of black smoke blew over the trees.But if the fuel tank cracked when I crashed …
“Liam, we have to bury ourselves. Now.” Liam whimpered again. “We’ll be okay if we hide from the fire.”
“Hide?” he asked.
