Unleashing Demons

Smoke.

The young girl smelled it before she saw it. She flashed her eyes open, and there it was. The thick smoke clouded the ceiling and only grew denser by the second. Its source was from the small space beneath the door.

Fear got a deathly hold of her and she crawled weakly out from her bed. She coughed heavily at the inhaled fumes as it polluted her lungs. Her fingers barely reached out for the doorknob before she stopped. Her father's warning echoed through her ears. She bleakly searched for a towel of any kind, but was difficult due to the smoke that obscured her sight.

Yet somehow she managed to find one and covered the knob with the towel. She desperately yanked the door open with her frail hands. Fire consumed the ceiling and half of the walls; the heat scorched her skin.

The air was pierced by the screams that came from downstairs. Tear-stricken, the girl bravely traversed through the unburned path of the hallway. When she was several steps down the stairs, she gawked helplessly at the place she called home-or what was almost left of it. Foundations crumbled, embers glowed menacingly and furniture neared to ashes, the blaze swallowed greedily on anything that stood on its way.

The girl did nothing more but cried for her parents. She stood there amidst of the fiery abyss, soon to be consumed by the flames.

"Allie! Get back upstairs!"

She turned to the voice of her father who appeared out of nowhere. He quickly ran to her, and sprinted back upstairs with his daughter in his arms. He ascended the steps just in time when portions of the ceiling crashed down on where she once stood only moments ago.

They were back at her room, yet to be touched and destroyed by the inferno. "W-where's mom?" She asked him as she wept

"She's gone, Allie." He answered solemnly. Soot and tears covered his face.

Thuds of footsteps signaled that they were no longer alone. Her father marched towards the threshold. "You will never get us!" He shouted at the unknown assailant.

He slammed the door shut and stood there for a mere five seconds. Suddenly, a blast of flames engulfed the room and trapped them into a fiery grave.

He kneeled in front of his daughter. "Listen to me, Allie. Always remember that daddy loves you. Okay baby?" He wiped away a stray tear that trickled down her cheek and embraced her for the last time.

Without warning, he scooped her up. With his body as a shield, he hurled both of them out of the window. He softened the blow once they made contact with the manicured lawn. One second she felt the strength of her father's arms around her, then the next his weight and protection disappeared. An instant later, the whole second floor exploded. Fragments of the once beautiful home that held her childhood memories soared at all directions.

A second explosion completed its fate, which shattered the windows. Allie, who just stirred from a momentary concussion, ill-fatedly wasn't able to avoid the incoming rain of glass. The shards grazed the left side of her face, with one that tragically punctured an eye. She howled in pain.

Fire trucks siren wailed at a distance as they closed in on the property. The last thing she remembered were the firemen as they extinguished the blaze, while one carried her to safety.

She lost consciousness until nothing was left but darkness.

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A/N: Don't forget to vote if you liked the chapter so far! And please don't be a silent reader and comment your thoughts! - J