City On Fire

11

Ella had no idea where she was running to but didn’t stop until her lungs were burning. She was out of breath and her legs were weak and throbbing. The small park she stopped to rest in was relatively quiet except for a few nannies and their respective responsibilities. While they got up to date on the latest gossip the children occupied themselves on the play sets and neither as much as batted an eyebrow at her hasty arrival. They simply continued about their business. The only other person that seemed as out of place as she did was a man dressed in black on a blue bench on the other side of the park, though no one paid him any attention either.

Slowly catching her breath she sat on one of the benches and leaned her head back. She had no idea how far she had run but she couldn’t hear any sirens, which to her meant she was in the clear. The only thing about being in the clear was that she wasn’t sure how to precede form here. Honestly neither she nor Benny had thought this far. They had a vague idea but nothing definite. Wonderful. What the bloody hell now?

A woman looking as nervous as she did sat on the bench next to the man in black but she didn’t stare any longer for fear of intrusion and suspicion. Instead she watched a boy running past with a Frisbee in his hand as a long legged fox terrier chased after him. It looked so tranquil, so peaceful, but there was a familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had been this peaceful tranquillity she had felt in that house right before it was plunged into heartache.

Still in thought she heard another dog barking but this dog had a bark that could level an airport. It was so loud and deep she might have thought it was a hellhound. Nothing on this earth could possibly have a bark like that. Strangely enough when she looked around for the source she saw that none of the others present seemed to have even heard it. When the dog barked again and she looked up she got the shock of a lifetime. What she also got was a plausible explanation why she seemed to be the only one who heard anything.

A man and woman walked past with a monstrous black dog. The woman wore an old fashioned emerald green dress and the man a top hat and formal suit. The two walked arm in arm appreciating their surroundings. The dog had barked at her and stared as they walked past happily wagging its tale. The dog may have acknowledged her but its master did not. She stared after them, thumb struck.

“What the...”

When she spoke the pair stopped and the woman turned to look at her. There was no doubt, it was the same woman she had dreamt of and now she was looking right back at her.

“Time is running out. You had better hurry.”

After the man tipped his hat the woman turned and the pair walked off leaving Ella winded. As they walked and started disappeared in the distance Ella regained control of her legs and took off after them.

“Wait.”

She was pretty sure her voice would be no more than a whisper but the nannies glanced at her momentarily even thought they thought nothing of it. Ella chased the couple out of the park and into the street but lost them amongst the lunch hour crowd. She stood in the middle of the bustling street turning round and round trying to spot them again but they were gone. She was pushed and shoved and told to move but felt too weak to do so. What the woman said burdened her with concern. Why did she have to hurry? The same earth shattering bark she heard before came emanating through the crowd again and once again no one heard it. As she turned she had to duck back behind a corner. She didn’t notice it initially but she had ended up right back at the gallery and the fuzz hadn’t calmed down yet. Authorities as well as a few reporters still hung about the building and the owner, an impish man in a blue suit and white shoes with single patch of hair in the centre of his head that may just be a deceased rodent, of the gallery stood arguing with a policeman about what all this was doing to his business. “Are you trying to ruin me?! Get these people off my sidewalk and away from here!” He shouted throwing his hands in the air.

“The sidewalk belongs to the taxpayers and not to you. They want to be here, then they will be here.”

The policeman, who wondered today much like every other why he had not gone into the family plumbing business instead, checked his watch pissed that he was missing lunch to deal with this s**t. He wouldn’t have to stand here if he had listened to his mother. “This is ridiculous. Who do you think you are talking to me like that?! I pay your salary!” The policeman stood with his thumbs tucked into his belt as he sighed.

“No sir, the government pays my salary.”

He answered with the kind of tone that would lead one to believe this was a remark he got quite often. The gallery owner was now not only fuming but his little man’s syndrome had kicked in and he pulled out his cell phone and waved it around in the air. “I can ruin you. You may expect a call from my lawyer.”

The imp flipped his rodent before walking back into the gallery.

“You have a nice day too sir.”

Yet another thing the policeman heard very often.

After watching the comic display Ella stood with her back against the wall. Why would she be led here?

Looking through the sketchbook she found the portrait of the woman for positive identification and sure enough the two were identical. When paging past the other drawings something caught her eye but she wasn’t sure which one exactly it was. So she went back slowly and found out very quickly why the place had looked familiar. Like the couple and their dog she had seen the place before, or at least after the roof gave way. The night before she had dreamt of the roof of a building caving in and trapping its visitors under a mass of steel and glass. She also knew that should this be allowed to happen there would be no survivors. That gallery was the building she had seen and the owner was one of the dead.

She shut the book with a loud snap thinking at a hundred miles per hour. What in the high holy hell was she supposed to do now?

This was what the woman meant when she said to hurry and Ella knew time was running out as well. The problem was not her willingness to help, it was purely that she didn’t know what to do. She shut her eyes and tried to think. The problem was the roof and that it wasn’t up to code. It was the support beams that would cave in sending the roof down on the unsuspecting souls beneath it. That meant the only option she had was to get the place evacuated.

Ella glanced back around the corner. Despite the commotion earlier there were still people going in and coming out of the gallery. This gave her an idea but that would mean walking right past the fuzz and back inside. Her reason for not getting on with it was that she did not know whether the cop was there to keep an eye out for her, they surely knew by now she was unaccounted for.

She was wasting too much time and after a deep breath decided to take the risk. If she didn’t the consequences would be far greater. Trying desperately not to look out of place she stepped out from her hiding place and walked with the crowd right to the entrance. Not a soul even looked in her direction but she could swear she felt eyes on her. Head held high and breathing erratically she walked right past the policeman who didn’t even look at her. Her relief was short lived as she set to work. Despite her best efforts as she walked in she stalled at the portrait of the burning ship and then again at the ballerina statue. Finally she shook her head and walked past.

There was a curiosity shop in the back that was unattended but open. If her plan was going to work she hoped she found what she needed there. Unfortunately her ultimate plan was delayed three more times as she walked and by nothing other than a portrait of puppies with their mother, kitten in a flower pot and a cat fast asleep on its back. Benny would have died laughing at this.

As she had both hoped and expected the curiosity shop was abandoned but the door was open. The small space had posters and trinkets all resembling the exhibition and half of her was tempted to take one of the post cards with the ship on it. However she didn’t. She may be out on the street now but she was not a thief. When she was sure there was no one in the vicinity she ducked behind the counter and found a pack of cigarettes next to the phone, which meant there would either be a spare lighter of box of matches. As she pulled open one of the drawers she found not one but two boxes of matches and three more packs of cigarettes. It’s no wonder there was no one in the shop, at this rate he or she would have to smoke permanently.

She grabbed the metal waste basket from under the counter and threw its contents out on the floor. Next she grabbed the two match boxes and on her way out three A2 posters of whatever. It didn’t matter what they were. They were made of paper and as long as that stuff burned there wouldn’t be a problem. Sneaking out of the small shop she came to a halt and listened carefully, she could have sworn she heard creaking.

“Oh no...”

She quickened pace and ducked under the staircase that lead to the upper level the gallery. Half of her wondered what was up there and why they never saw it but then again whatever. The creaking roof got louder and louder but it was very evident only she heard it or the small crowd would already be charging out in hoards. She tore up the posters and tossed two of them into the waste basket. She struck three matches and threw them in as well setting the scraps alight. They burned allot quicker than she thought and lighting the corner of the third poster she got out quickly. She dumped the other poster under one of the small wooden tables that didn’t have anything on it. It wouldn’t be long before the table cloth also caught fire but either way the room was slowly filling with smoke and before long someone would notice and cause a panic.

“Fire! Fire!”

Well that was fast. A woman ran from around the corner and past with a small child in her arms and when Ella looked behind her she saw the rug on the staircase had caught fire. It must have happened when she moved past with the other poster. Whatever the reason people were running from the building and someone had triggered the fire alarm. Though the high pitched noise for the alarm did somewhat drown out the sound of the frightened crowd all Ella could hear was the sound of the roof moaning painfully. From somewhere in the room the owner came running with a fire extinguisher.

“I’ll give my life before I give up my gallery!”

The extinguisher had a short two bursts of foam before dying. The building wasn’t up to code and the extinguishers were not serviced, why was she not surprised?

“Come on!”

She pulled the man by the arm as the table behind them was engulfed in flames.

“No!!!”

He was pretty strong for someone smaller than her.

“Come on!!”

She called out again but the imp stood like a mule on the riverbed. She wasn’t sure how it happened but the two small fires she started were now burning out of control and at the same time she heard one of the roofs support beam snap. She pulled the man’s arm again and dragged him to the door while still trying to protect herself for the smoke and heat. Fresh air cooled their skin as the burst thru the door but Ella didn’t stop until she had pulled the man to the other side of the street. They reached safety just in time for the roof to come crashing down extinguishing the fires and sending a cloud of dust and debris up into the air and over the crowd of onlookers.

The fraction of the city around them fell quiet. Cars stopped in the middle of the street and the gathering crowd and authorities stared in disbelief. All that was left of the place was rubble and all around her people thanked God for their timely escape.

Ella was weak and sank down to her knees on the sidewalk with tears in her eyes. She had managed to stop what would have been a devastating disaster but she felt more grief than relief. Instead of thinking about all the people she had saved today she thought of all those she had failed to in the past.

A white Chevy Cruse pulled up in front of them and when two more uniformed officers got out of the car she thought it best she make her get away, grief-stricken or otherwise. Before she could a paramedic stepped in front of her and asked if she was hurt.

“No, I’m fine.”

She raised her hands and stepped backwards. She didn’t even hear the ambulance arrive. The paramedic didn’t stay a second longer. He walked past her to assist the others. More and more sirens were rapidly approaching and if she didn’t take her leave now she might not have another chance. She would have liked to stay and hear from the authorities what had happened. Of course she knew exactly what happened but it would have been nice to hear it from a third party who can confirm everything she knew. It was, sadly, not a risk she could afford but as she turned to leave a man called out and she was sure he called to her.

“You there! Wait”

The person could have been calling to someone ells or if he was calling to her it might be completely unrelated. In her head all those sirens were looking for her but what if they weren’t? What if she was blowing this whole thing out of proportion, it was after all the scene of an accident. There would be cops.

Just to be sure she turned to face the man who had climbed out of the Chevy and sure enough he was addressing her. She could just make out his partner saying ‘That’s her’ and when he advanced she took off running.

“Stop!”

She didn’t even slow down. Instead she bulldozed through the crowd and around the corner with three uniformed policemen hot on her trail. It was already late afternoon and the number of people out on the street had practically doubled between those leaving work and those running the last of their errands. The only advantage it gave the situation was that it made it harder for the authorities to catch up to her and keep tabs on her. Her intentions were to lose her pressures around the next corner where she could blend into the crowd and find a place to hide. Intentions were all good and well but she didn’t know the city and she didn’t know where she was going. The ultimate result of which was that she ended up in the half abandoned parking lot of a shopping mall and there was no crowd to hide in.

When she eventually stopped to look behind her and instead of three uniformed men chasing her she found two police cars. There wouldn’t be no outrunning them. There was the roar of an engine somewhere in front of her but she was so preoccupied with what went on behind her to pay it much heed. That was, not until she nearly collided with the approaching motorcycle. She stopped but the rider had to break and swerve to the side to avoid hitting her. Frightened of the consequences of her capture and slowly becoming exhausted Ella was shaking as she stared at the rider who hardly seemed fazed. When the sirens were right behind her she dodged around the motorcycle and made for the mall’s entrance.

The rider rested an arm on the gas tank and watched the cops leap from their cars and chase after her. He watched her scale the wall and run off in the opposite direction. At this hour the mall’s back entrance would probably already be locked. Her only chance was to head back to the inner city and if she did the two cars would go after her again and would catch up fast.

With the engine still idling he dismounted and after pulling a knife from under his jacket slashed the cars two front and rear tires. Just as the two cops ran from the mall’s entrance back to their cars he sped away.