• Fade to Black
    By:MiniMagicMage


    I lazily climbed the spiral staircase that led to the second floor of my spacious, yet comfortable, home. I was about half way up the carpeted stairs when I heard the unforgettable voice of my loud, ostentatious mother. “Keia, darling, I’m going out to do some shopping! Oh, and, Keia,” I heard her pause for a moment. I knew all too well what she would say next: “Why don’t you actually get together with a friend today instead of staying locked in your room.” I rolled my eyes. The books in my hands were starting to get on the heavy side. “Yes, mother, whatever you say,” I answered, while starting to make my way up the steps again. I guessed that my mother was satisfied with my answer because I had heard the front door click closed.
    I sauntered across the wooden floors of the hallway and then into my small upstairs room. There I nudged the white-painted door open with my right foot, for my arms were full with the pile of books I had planned on devouring during this late gray afternoon. As I crossed the room, my stack of books started to teeter and rock this way and that, causing me to quickly set them down on the dresser in front of my ancient mirror. I caught a glimpse of my pale complexion in the smudged mirror. I couldn’t help but take a good look at myself. “Yup, same ol’ same ol’,” I thought with a soft sigh. I still had dark-brown, almost black, hair, annoyingly large green eyes that were at the moment made up with black eye liner and gold eye shadow, and thin yet nicely shaped lips painted a light pink. Honestly, in my heart I wished I could be the beautiful blonde girl who was always considered little miss perfect, but I knew that I just wasn’t cut out for that role in life, so for now I was content to stay locked in my room with my books, a soda, and a bag of chips.
    Shaking my head, books in hand, I headed over to my window seat. There I dropped the books on the floor and grabbed one off the top. I sat down on my tan seat cushion, decorated with thick chocolate brown and dark red stripes sewn onto the soft fabric. Then I kicked off my brown leather boots and rested my feet on a red silk pillow at the end of the window seat. I started to flip through the book in my hands, but for some reason I couldn’t concentrate on the story. Looking up, I surveyed my room. It was comforting to see the usual oak floor with matching wood furniture, gentle peach-colored walls, and a homey-looking bed piled high with pillows. However, my attention soon wandered to the outside world. As I stared out my bedroom window mindlessly, I couldn’t help but notice a dark shadow slinking across the front lawn.
    At first, I wasn’t really sure what I had just seen, “What?” I thought out loud as I pressed my face against the window. My breath fogged the cold glass as I stared hard at my front yard. I peeled my face off the window pane and shook my head. “It was nothing. I must just be imagining things,” I thought as I mentally scolded myself for acting like such a child. In a few moments, I went back to reading my book. About an hour later, for some reason I started to feel as if something just wasn’t right, and there seemed to be an odd smell in the air. I set down my book and headed for the door. As I turned the brass knob, to my surprise and horror, a flood of smoke poured over me. I coughed and rubbed my stinging eyes. “What in god’s name is going on?” I thought frantically as I desperately tried to get hold of myself.
    Fear filled my already wide eyes as I stumbled back into my room. Thoughts flashed in my swirling mess of a mind. “What’s going on? How did this happen? And what am I going to do?” I did what anyone would do in my situation, try to escape. I half ran, half tripped down the smothering hallway to the guest room, where a phone was located. I picked it up and fumbled with the keys for a moment before I could manage to get my shaking fingers to press 911. I heard the phone ring three times before someone picked it up. Trying desperately to relate my situation, I managed to tell the woman on the other end where I lived. She tried to calm me down, saying, “Honey, you just hang on. We’ll send the firefighters. They’ll be there in just a few minutes.” Once the call had ended, I ran back down the hallway and through a small doorway at the very end of the passageway which I had come down. I made my way down the fiery inferno of what used to be a small set of back stairs. I could not go any further. I was now officially trapped in the upstairs of what used to be my lovely home. The local fire department was twenty miles away, for I lived out in the country. It was only a matter of time before the fire would consume me as well. . . .
    I tried once more to save myself. Crawling back up the stairs to avoid the thickest of the smoke, I slowly stood up when I reached the top. However, I couldn’t help but inhale some of the dark smoke that now filled the house from top to bottom. I stumbled through the doorway back into my room, falling across the threshold. I could feel the smoke starting to go to my head as I dragged myself over to my desk. There I lay on the floor, coughing and shaking as the precious minutes passed, praying that the firefighters would reach me in time.
    Almost unconscious, I knew I had to get air or die. With my last remaining strength, I picked up my desk chair and with shaking hands threw it through the window. I heard glass shatter and then dropped to my knees. I could also feel fresh air flooding into my room, but it wasn’t nearly enough. As I dropped back to the burning floor, too weak now to rise again, I heard in the distance what might be sirens. With what could be my final breath, I choked on the smoke swirling around me as tears ran down my face, leaving black streaks from my eyeliner. All I could see were dancing, bright, deadly flames that licked my ankles, but soon everything faded to black.