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I look at Trine, who seems to be transfixed with what’s happening in the parking lot but seems unable to move. Her hands are wrapped around the banister of the balcony, her eyes wide, her mouth falling open.
Her skin is pale and there are beads of sweat on her forehead.
“She’s right,” Malon says. “Something’s wrong. We need to get out of here.”
I don’t think any of us are particularly eager to listen to Malon, but he’s right.
Something is seriously wrong.
“Trine,” I say.
Misha’s hand is on her shoulder, but she doesn’t move. It’s as if she doesn’t feel him trying to tug on her.
She’s been through something like this before. She doesn’t need to go through it again. I can see that she’s frozen in place, that there’s nothing anyone of us can do to shake her out of her stupor.
Luke approaches her. I think he’s going to ask her if she’s okay, or, I don’t know, splash some holy water on her. He does no such thing. Instead, he leans down and grabs her so that he’s carrying her.
She seems startled by that, but she doesn’t fight him. Instead, she laughs, throwing her head back.
It’s weird.
Wrong, I think.
Not a normal reaction from someone who’s seeing something bizarre.
Luke doesn’t struggle to carry her. I don’t know where we’re going, but we do need to get out of here. I think things are going to get worse if we stick around. Maybe it’s my own anxiety getting the better of me, but I’m not willing to find out.
When Luke gets to the bottom of the stairs, he sets Trine down softly. He whispers something in her ear–I can’t hear what he’s saying to her, not really, but she cracks a smile when he does. When he puts her down, he extends his hand, and she holds it. Their fingers interlace.
For a second, all I can think about is how jealous I am, despite the fire coming for us.
How am I jealous in an inferno?
It’s roaring now, smoke billowing around us. I can hear the sound of several fire alarms as people come out of their houses, the shriek of the fire alarm coming from the apartments around us.
“Rei,” Misha says. I didn’t notice when he walked up to me, when he stood next to me. He looks as worried as I am. He’s right, of course, we need to get the fuck out of here. Now I’m the one who’s frozen and I’m quite aware no one’s going to pick me up and drag me anywhere, but even then, my limbs are barely responding to any of my commands.
I’m completely frozen in place. I can feel the smoke getting in my lungs with every breath, burning my nostrils and my throat. We’re somewhere open, so in theory, I should just be able to run.
And if I don’t, Trine will stick around because she’s worried about me.
I know her well enough to know that for sure.
And for a split second, something dark comes over me, and I wonder if we should just stay here in the fire…and fuck until we’ve burned.
That isn’t what I want. I need to get her away from this. I need to get all of us away from this.
I’m just fucking useless right now and I can’t figure out why.
“Come on, doctor,” Malon says. He’s tugging at my wrist. It’s a little weird, but it’s enough to get me to snap back to reality. “We need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Where are we going?” I hear myself ask. My voice sounds foreign, barely like my own.
Malon snaps his head to look into my eyes. “Away,” he says. He doesn’t look like himself anymore. His skin looks like it’s melting. But I believe him when he says we’re going away, and I don’t care where we’re going.
He’s a person, but he doesn’t look human anymore. The white of his eyes turn black and the green of his eyes turn into water. He could call me to do anything at that moment and I would do it, no question asked. “Come with me,” he says, except he doesn’t say it, because his lips don’t fucking move.
I just know that I need to do what he tells me.
