The fire

Running through the forest trying escape the fear. Hole in the fourth floor causes me to lose my step however I push forward dragging my brother along side me. "Keep going we are almost there." I tell him in my breathless voice.

"I can't go on" he wines at me. Just up ahead I see the river that will lead us to salvation.

"See the river? We just need to go up stream to the lake and we will stop."

"Ok but no further"

We keep running and I pull my brother to make up for his short legs. I wish he had his growth spurt by now so he would be the faster one. We make to the river and in the middle it comes to my knees. Turning up stream out of the corner of my eye I can see the red glow of the fire behind us. The ash dancing in the breeze sets the fear in my heart. We do our best to wade through the water as well as move upstream.

I keep focusing on moving forward and staying alive no matter how much my body is protesting. As we travel further up stream the river keeps getting wider. The crackle and roar of the fire is growing distant. Time passes by and we get slower as the desperation leaves and the weakness of our new muscles sets in. I cannot let us stop until we are truly safe as we may not be able to move again.

The smoke clouds cover the sun so I am not sure how much time passes when we reach the lake. Luckily we are close to the rock wall and the waterfall. The size of the lake is large enough that I do not think the fire can jump across. The lake is many fathoms deep and so much more across. While it is a bit low because of the dry season I know it will keep us safe.

"We need to get behind the waterfall and we can rest"

"I'm ok with following your lead but what is behind the waterfall?"

Smiling I tell him "it's the secret clubhouse of the sisters. There is a series of caves filled with glowing plants and one of them even has a hot spring."

"Really no way! You girl get all the best stuff. You know what race you there!" He takes off slipping out of my grip to run down the shore to the waterfall.

Laughing I do my best to run after him but my legs just hurt and weigh like stone. He makes to the waterfall before me and is trying to figure out how to get in the cave.

"Follow me" I jump into the water behind the fall. In the center I find the natural stone ramp that leads into the cave. Looking behind I see that my brother is having no problems keeping up with me.

In the cave I feel safe and secure and the fear filled flight catches up to me. I stumble over to a bed of glowing moss and start drifting off. Before I fall asleep I feel my brother crawl next to me and I pull him in close.