The Angel in the Dark, The Angel on Fire

Another story I wrote while I was in high school that I was actually really pleased with.

Flames twist and tangle their wicked fingers into the night sky, grasping for relief that isn't there.  Black smoke billows from every broken window pane adding confusion to the already treacherous scene. The air is thick but can not quite mask the explosion of red and orange  within it.  The flames dance everywhere, as wild as weeds dancing with a monsoon wind.  They whip back and forth, snapping their jagged ends in warning.  The wood crackles and pops in protest as it slowly loses its battle.  Heat rolls off of the structure in a blistering wave that doesn't end.  The once beautiful leaves of a nearby oak shrivel and fall to the ground, nothing but ash by the time they land.  Blackness envelops it's branches, leaving it nothing but a scarred silhouette weeping in it's moment of death.  

     A scream, fueled by pure terror, breaks through the chaos, shooting skyward with the deadly smoke.  As its volume increases, the flames burn hotter in an angry rebellion, trying to hide the presence of the tortured soul.  My instincts take over, and before I know I'm moving, I am upon the burning edifice.  The unbearable heat sears through my body as if I wasn't even there.  I crossed through the deadly threshold as the fire roared in triumph of claiming another life.  Just as my logic began to gain control again, and I slowed to almost a halt, that tortured cry broke through the sound of the crumbling foundation, and I was compelled to move forward into certain death.

     My eyes blurred with smoke and tears as I allowed some unknown force  to guide me, moving without thinking.  I reached a door frame, completely encircled in flames.  I pushed through in an invisibly quick motion, barely feeling the fire that licked its way up my painful reddened arms.  There she was.  A small child of no more than three huddled in the back corner of the room, fragile arms wrapped around her knees.  Her face was blackened by ash and tears.  The child had red hair, as red as the fire itself whipping around her delicate face. In that moment I knew she was worth saving, the life among death,  a fallen angel trapped in a worldly Hell.  Her glassy eyes met mine as the faint wail of a siren rang in the growing distance.

     Her shaking hand stretched towards me as she closed her tired eyes and fell to the blackened floor.  Time seemed to stop, yet my heart pumped fasted, willing me into action again.  I ran to the wingless angel.  I wasn't going to let her go.  It wasn't even a possibility now.   I gingerly picked her up off of the ground, scattered with broken shards of glass, and cradled her lifeless body in my arms.  My tears fell on her damaged face, revealing a few delicate freckles beneath the ash.  I smiled and gently hugged her to my chest, legs already working in a mad sprint for our only hope, our exit.  The house became brittle as the ceiling crashed down onto the top floor.  It held though, against the will of the angry fire.  We were in the eye of the hurricane, momentarily safe, but surrounded by death.

     The threshold appeared before me, a sight I was sure I'd never see again. The child remained impossibly still in my arms.  Just as I was about to cross through the doorway to life,  a broken beam crashed from above, sending me backwards again.  I dove to the floor, covering the dying angel with my body.  The fire roared again, thinking it had claimed its victims.  I wasn't going to give in that easy.  I lifted my head to survey the debris, to find a solution to this inevitable situation.  The image of the doorway wavered in front of me like a mirage, intangible, untouchable.  From outside flashed bright red and blue lights.  These lights were not destructive, but hopeful, like a lantern hanging on a somber porch, beckoning  home the lost.

     Just as fast as they had appeared, they were gone, blocked by a dark obscurity.  I was sure it was Death, coming to tell us we had lost the battle.  The shadowy figure steadily approached, the flames around it seeming to vanish.  My consciousness was slipping from me.  Just before my eyelids closed, strong hands tried to rip the angel from me.  I struggled, but Death took her easily.  I cried as I watched my angel being carried away, a silhouette against the flashing lights, and then nothing but black.

                                    *                                          *                                               *

     When I opened my eyes, everything was a blinding white.  I could feel my pupils dialate as pain coursed through my nerves.  My mind was a fog, and I couldn't make sense of where I was.  After a moment, pale objects began to focus in my vision: a wooden frame holding a photograph of a distant seashore,  a metal door with a small window and clipboard hanging from its handle, a dark,ominous machine showing jagged lines that were constantly changing against a black background, a transparent bag containing a crystal clear fluid connected to a thin tube.  I let my sore eyes follow the twisting channel as it came to rest on a pure white surface.  It's end was covered by a small piece of tape.

     I jerked upright as pain shot through my veins where the I.V. was inserted.  Memories flooded back to me so fast the room began to swirl.  I had failed my angel.  I ripped the needles from my arm and jumped to the cold, tile floor.  My legs were unresponsive to my panicking mind, however.  I stumbled across the floor gripping the corner of another bed  that was in the hospital room to keep from falling.  Frustrated and confused, I looked up.  There in the very bed I clung to was the girl.  Her hair, even brighter than before, neatly outlined her perfect, heart-shaped face.  Freckles sprinkled over her lovely face.  Though her eyes were closed in a peaceful sleep, she was absolutely full of life.  Tears poured down my face like a river being freed by a dam.  I shakily reached across the sheets and held her hand, fragile and small, in mine.  I had defied Death and saved my angel.  She was OK. She was alive.  She was safe.

Author's Note

I wrote this in high school and did not edit anything before putting it on here. I wanted to look at my past writing in comparison to now.