Chapter 1

Firelight burning brightly, illuminating the ash falling upon the dew crusted green grass. Homes burning to a pile of ash before my very eyes. Not just my home, but it was my grandmother’s and the two farmhands, who all lived in the three-story farmhouse.
Lying on the ground, pain coursing through my ankle and up my leg, I cried seeing the sight. I knew I was powerless to do anything with a broken ankle and leg along with a dead cell phone. Horror was coursing through my veins faster than blood as I tried to back away.
My already painful experience got worse as the wind picked up. The wind threw flaming pieces of the house around me. But as the wind kept increasing, a piece of wood fell upon my bad leg, heavy enough to intensify the pain, not enough to burn, and causing enough pain for me to black out.
‘Wake up!’ a voice sounded nearby, or so I thought. A high pitched wail of a siren was in the air, it was annoying. The pressure from the wood had been lifted away though the painful burning sensation was still there.  
As I was still on my back, I pushed myself to a partial sitting position. I saw flashing lights and people running in my general direction, yelling something that was incoherent to me. As dizziness set in and I allowed myself to sink back down.
My eyes fell shut, and the world fell back into darkness, thought it wasn’t another blackout. I heard another set of voices and then hands picking me up. I cried out in pain as my right foot and leg moved, tears cutting through the ash that covered my face. Only a few heartbeats passed before I was placed down again.

It was far more comfortable and felt cushioned- so I knew that I must have been placed on a stretcher. The fact that it was soft was enough to cause me to relax. It felt so amazing after having been lying on the ground for who knows how long. I felt the wind on my face as I think I was lifted up.

The next thing I knew I have bright lights hitting my eyelids, making it uncomfortable. As I stopped moving, finally, I felt a needle penetrate my skin, and then a rush of fluids. A couple of seconds passed before I started to feel better. The pain wasn't as bad as it had been.  

For the first time since I was found, I opened my eyes- blinded by the sudden change in the lighting. I had been right about the bright lights, as it was giving a headache looking up at it. I turned my head sideways, to see a paramedic sitting on the bench beside me. The expression on his face went from strict worry to having relief woven within the frown lines, when he realized that I was indeed awake.

"Hey, buddy. Could you tell us where exactly it hurts?" he asked, his voice gentle like Grandmother’s.

I frowned. I hated questions like that, but I answered his question after a long time being silent. With difficulty from the pain, I answered, "It's all down my right leg...  nearly all the way to my toes."

He nodded, pen flying across a paper that was on a clipboard. He looked back up at me, and asked, "Could you tell me your name? And the birth date?"

I sighed, suddenly annoyed by the questions, "Alexander Tyler Fredricks. February eighteenth, nineteen ninety-seven."

The pain medicine they gave to me wasn't enough. It wouldn't be until they braced the broken bones.

"Well, Alex. We will be at the hospital soon. I don't know what will happen once we give you to them, though, okay?"

"Sure, whatever," I said, fear in my eyes.

I have a terrible dislike and fear of hospitals ever since my Grandfather died in the middle of a visit because he had a really bad heart attack after a major surgery. They never did anything to help him, nor did they come in and make sure he was okay.

I haven't stepped foot inside a hospital ever since and now it looks like I have no choice. Well, I better get over it real quick or I am going to have a long time in the cursed building.