42
Edward woke with a start. He had a headache, which was unusual for him, and then he smelled the smoke. He looked around his bedroom and then pulled on his slippers that Eve had given him and opened the door to the hallway. Smoke came bellowing into the room.
‘Jesus Christ,’ he said, covering his face with his T-shirt.
He went back to his bedside table and called 999.
‘Fire,’ he said, pulling on a jumper and finding a scarf to put around his neck.
‘There’s a fire, Cranberry Cross,’ he said, giving directions to the house. ‘Send help immediately. There’s no one else in the house. I’m leaving now,’ he said and he slipped his phone into the pocket of his tracksuit pants and covered his face with the scarf.
He covered his face, tightening the scarf as much as he could around his nose, and he opened the door and ran.
The hallway was dark with smoke and he fell over a table leg and crashed to the ground.
He got up again but his head was pounding. The smoke smelled acrid, inorganic, but he couldn’t describe it exactly. He could hear crackles behind him and the hallway walls felt like they were closing in on him.
The stairs were there but he could feel heat now and he realised the fire had started downstairs. He turned to head back to his room and see if he could wait for help – keep the door closed and lean out the window – but the sound of windows shattering told him that wasn’t going to happen. He had to make a choice.
He stood for a moment and then he heard a sound.
What the hell was that?
Christmas. Jesus, Flora’s kitten. He couldn’t leave it here to die. He listened again and heard it coming from the left of him. His eyes were burning from the smoke but he found the door to the tower.
Christmas must have been locked behind it all night. He found the notch and opened the door, reached in and felt the kitten rub against his hand. He snatched it up and put it down his jumper, gasped the clean air in the stairwell for a moment, and then fixed his scarf back in place. He thought about the way out from where he was. Down the stairs, then to the right and past his study and then to the foyer and outside.
A normal journey would take less than one minute; now he wondered if he would ever make it out.
He opened the door to the hallway again and his eyes watered as he cradled the kitten beneath his jumper and made his way to the stairs.
One at a time, holding on to the wooden banister, he made his way down, the stone wall on one side radiating heat.
Christmas mewed as he took one step at a time. The last thing he needed was to fall down the stairs as well, then they were done for.
Sirens sounded and he felt relief as he knew help was coming.
Nearly there, he told himself as he took the next step.
And then he heard it. The laughter from above him. The hysterical screams of his name followed by laughing.
He turned and looked up. Squinting, he could just see the outline at the top of the stairs.
‘Amber,’ he cried and she lunged at him, which was the last thing he remembered.
43
Eve woke with a start. She had dreamed of Edward. He was trying to call her but he couldn’t make a sound. She was trying to hear him but she couldn’t get close. Anxiety flooded through her and she texted her mum.
What time is Edward coming to get Flora?
Not sure yet, why?
I might come to yours. I want to talk to him.
Good idea.
She thought about calling him but she didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone. They needed to face each other and decide what their future looked like and what they were worried about. She knew Edward had as many concerns as she had, but they were different.
