The most horrible sound Noa ever heard split the air.

He closed his eyes tight and covered his ears. But he could still hear it. It was an electrical screech so loud and so horrible, like a scream…

No. Someone was screaming. Noa could hear screaming too.

His ears were buzzing. Noa’s hair stood up on his arms.

No!

No, no, no, no, no…!

He pressed down on his ears until it hurt, scrunching his eyes shut so hard that he saw stars. He sat there, trembling, the memory of the sound repeating in his head over and over and over again even though it ended quickly.

He sucked in sharp breaths. He didn’t want to open his eyes, didn’t want to unplug his ears.

Noa wanted to wake up. He wanted to wake up from this horrible, awful nightmare. He hated it! It was evil! He wanted it to stop!

He choked on a sob, trying to swallow it down, wondering where Rion was, wondering what he was doing. Why was he taking so long? What was he doing with Amber? What was happening?

He wanted Rion. He wanted his best friend. Noa didn’t want to be alone.

But he deserved it. He was a murderer. He murdered Amber. He killed her!

She loved him. She just wanted to help him. All he had to do was answer her stupid questions! Why didn’t he lie? Why didn’t he just tell her that it was okay? Why didn’t he just say that it was fine and that they should just go back to the cabin and that they could talk there and…and…

Then Amber would still be alive.

He wanted her back. Noa wanted Amber back.

He sat there, shaking on the floor. He would have kept sitting there, but a disgusting smell began to waft through the air.

It smelled awful, like burning plastic. He tried to ignore it, tried to wait for Rion or anyone to come and help him. But the smell was getting worse and worse, and it was giving him a headache. He could taste it at the back of his throat, like he’d taken a bite out of something burnt.

He lifted his hands from his ears and opened his eyes.

The lights were out, the cabin dark. And there was a weird hissing sound. What was that? The smell was getting worse and worse too.

There was something dark crawling up the wall…

Smoke… It was smoke. And it was coming out of the…power outlet on the wall? Noa could barely make it out in the dim light.

He stared. He didn’t understand, but… That looked bad. That looked really, really bad.

There were several pops and a crackle. Noa jumped, not knowing where they came from. He was lost, confused. But that smell was terrible and power outlets were not supposed to smoke.

Wait… Did that…? Smoke meant fire…right?

Noa’s feet moved before his mind caught up. He scrambled to get up off the floor.

Rion. He needed to get to Rion. He had to make sure Rion was safe. They needed to get out of the cabin right away.

The door to the bathroom was closed but Noa didn’t hesitate to open it. Immediately, he stumbled back, holding up his arms.

Fire!

The whole wall was on fire! Hot flames billowed out, crawling up to the ceiling, heat and smoke washing over Noa in a wave. Noa’s eyes watered. He stumbled back, blinking. Then he saw...

Rion was balled up on the floor, shaking and sobbing. And the bathtub…

Amber.

Amber was…!

Noa choked on his own breath. He tore his eyes away, forced himself to look at Rion even though the motion made everything spin, his vision red from the fire. Lightheaded, he swung to the side, shoulder bumping into the doorframe. He leaned heavily into it.

Amber…

He couldn’t think about Amber. He couldn’t…

Rion needed to get up and run. They needed to go. They needed to escape! There was a fire!

Noa stumbled, pushing himself forward, forcing himself to move. He grabbed Rion by the back of his jacket and pulled as hard as he could.

Rion flailed at the contact, lashing out, scrambling on the floor. He knocked into Noa, who fell forward, off balance. His hand went out to break his fall–

Noa braced himself on the burning wall.

Noa tore his arm away, a foreign sound clawing its way out of his throat, a strangled scream. His hand was blisteringly hot, almost numb from the pain, hot sparks spiking up his wrist.  He leapt back, flailing, falling to the floor next to where Rion had been a second ago.

Noa’s arm felt like it was on fire. He clutched at his wrist, kicking his feet, frantically trying to push himself away from the heat. He was grabbed by the arm and dragged out the bathroom door.

It was Rion. His eyes were too wide, his face whiter than white. He’d come back to himself enough to pull Noa away. He was screaming something but Noa couldn’t hear or maybe he couldn’t think. Nothing made sense except Rion’s sudden, insistent jerking on his arm.

Noa stumbled to his feet, half-dragged up by Rion, his hand still burning, blistering. The fire roared as it ate away at the wall, the scalding air pressing down on everything, making it hard to breathe. The air was toxic.

Noa ran.

Rion ran with him.

They flew out the front door, all the way down the walkway, and threw themselves onto the road. Noa couldn’t stand. He was dizzy and sick, and…

He rolled on the ground, gravel biting at his burned hand, and threw up.

Noa lay there, heaving breaths, gagging, his mind struggling. His heart was beating too hard in his chest and he still felt like he was in horrible danger. He felt like he was still trapped, like the cabin was burning around him even though he knew he was outside.

He’d seen…Amber…in the bathtub. He’d seen the blow dryer.

The cabin was burning.

He turned back, dazed, trying to scrape himself off the road, tucking his burnt hand against his chest, blisters popped, gravel digging into his palm. His hand pulsed, ached, throbbed.

The cabin was puffing dark smoke in a steady stream. Some part of his mind told him that all their things were going to burn. Everything they brought with them…

Amber would burn too.

“Noa!”

Rion was next to him, screaming at him.

“Noa, your hand! Noa!” he was screaming. “We have to–! The fire! What do we do?! What do we do?!”

Noa stared at Rion’s tear-streaked face. Noa had no idea. What could they do? What…?

“John…” Noa said in a daze. “We’re supposed to…go to the cabin next door and…phone at the corner store.”

Wasn’t that what Uncle Charlie said they should do?

And then he felt even worse.

When Amber fell, he should have gone straight to the store to call home! Why didn’t he...? What if he could have helped her somehow or…or…!

But he’d killed her. And then Rion…

Rion had…

“John,” Rion breathed and looked down the road. “The next cabin over…”

Noa looked down that way too. There were people in the street now. They were pointing. They noticed the smoke.

“We have to… Noa…” Rion said and held out a hand to him. “Please!”

Noa took it with his good hand. He allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He was unsteady and weak. It made him feel nauseous all over again and he gagged, tucking his injured hand against his chest.

Rion clung to him and pulled him along. They stumbled forward, heading for the neighbouring cabin.