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A little out of breath after running up the road Tara hurried across the yard to the house. She was late home and dreaded what her father was going to say; she was too old to be spanked, but that was only a small consolation. She hadn’t meant to be late, if it hadn’t been for her friend distracting her with videos on YouTube when she was about to leave, she would have been home on time.
All thought of the punishment she might receive was driven from her mind when she pushed open the door, which stood ajar and a cloud of thick black smoke billowed out to engulf her. She stumbled away, choking, until she found fresh air and could breathe again.
It took her a short while to recover enough to wonder what was going on, and once she did she cautiously approached the door; the worst of the
