Christmas in Flames
Liam
I blinked several times, trying to clear the burning from my eyes. I was on my back, head pounding from the impact of being thrown backward. Heat surrounded me—flames, smoke, chaos.
Where was I?
Cries echoed through the hall. Shadows darted across walls of fire. Ash hung in the air, scorching my lungs.
My arms were locked around something small and trembling. Then I heard the cry—high, desperate.
Adelaide. My princess.
Her sobs broke through the haze, dragging me back to the moment. I looked down. Her chubby cheeks were flushed, streaked with tears, ash tangled in her short baby hair. She was alive.
A jolt cut through the fog. The big hall that only minutes ago had been glowing with Christmas lights, laughter, and music was now an inferno. People screamed and pushed toward the exits.
Emma. Nicholas.
“Emma!” I shouted, panic slicing through the smoke.
“I’m here!” Her voice came through coughing.
I turned and found her on the ground, Nicholas crying and squirming in her arms.
“Emma! Are you hurt? We have to get out!”
“My leg’s pinned.” She coughed again, wincing. One of the heavy oak tables had collapsed across her foot.
“Take Addie. I’ll lift it.” I handed our daughter toward her.
“No!” she choked out, gripping the edge of the table. “Take Nic and Addie—get them out. I’ll be right behind you.”
I froze, torn. I couldn’t leave her.
She grabbed my shirt, pulling me close, her green eyes fierce even through the smoke. “Save our children, Liam. I can lift this myself. Go!” She shoved Nicholas into my arms and pushed me back. “Go!”
My throat burned with more than smoke. But I turned and ran, clutching both children to my chest. The fire roared around us, heat biting at my back as if the flames themselves were trying to pull us under.
I burst through the rear doors into the freezing night. Snow whipped against my face. I turned back—flames devoured the hall, climbing into the sky. Smoke poured from the doorway, but Emma didn’t come through.
I couldn’t put the babies down. I couldn’t go back. My heart split open as I realized I might lose her.
Please… I need help.
“Liam!”
I turned. Susie was running toward me, her face streaked with soot.
“Where’s Emma?”
“She’s still inside!”
Without hesitation, she reached for the babies. “Give them to me. Go!”
Relief hit hard. I passed Addie and Nic into her arms and turned back toward the hall. The fire was worse now, the doorway a wall of orange and black.
I scooped up handfuls of snow, rubbed them over my hair, face, neck, and shirt. Then I covered my mouth with my wet sleeve—
—and leapt back into the flames.
