Chapter 23 – Smoke and Mirrors
Chapter 23 – Smoke and Mirrors
The fire was alive.
It roared through Sarah’s apartment like a living beast, swallowing curtains, gnawing at walls. Emily was exhaling thick smoke that burned her throat with every gasp. Heat blistered against her skin and the air vibrating with the angry hiss of wood splintering and glass cracking.
Her lungs screamed. Her mind screamed louder to Get out and Get out now.
Emily dropped low, her chest nearly scraping the floor as she crawled toward the bedroom window. The dish towel she had pressed to her mouth was already damp with sweat and smoke, doing little to stop the suffocating stench clawing down her windpipe.
The window latch jammed under her slick fingers. She tugged, coughed and tugged again until her wrist ached. Finally, with a shriek of metal, the pane gave way. Cold night air surged in, slicing against the suffocating heat.
Emily shoved the window open, coughing violently, her vision swimming.
The alley yawned below her, dark and narrow. Too far to jump.
Her eyes darted across the room, frantic. The sheets. She yanked them off the bed, twisting them into a makeshift rope with trembling fingers. She knotted them around the leg of her dresser and threw the other end out the window. The knot held, barely.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, almost drowned out by the roar of fire. For one reckless second she pulled it free, heart hammering.
Unknown Number: Run, little mouse. Run faster.
Tears blurred her vision. She shoved the phone away. No time. She swung one leg over the sill, then the other, gripping the sheet rope with white-knuckled hands.
Smoke poured out behind her, black against the night. The fabric burned her palms as she lowered herself, the knot above groaning under her weight.
Halfway down, the dresser shifted. The rope jerked violently, nearly sending her plummeting. Emily bit back a scream, clinging tighter, forcing herself lower inch by inch.
When her feet finally scraped the alley pavement, her knees buckled. She collapsed, coughing so hard she thought her ribs might crack.
Above her, flames gushed out the broken window like the breath of hell. Sirens wailed in the distance closer, closer until red lights strobed against the brick walls.
Emily staggered to her feet, one hand pressed to the filthy alley wall for balance. Her chest heaved, her hair clung damp to her face, and every inch of her shook. She stumbled toward the main street as fire engines screeched to a stop in front of her building.
Uniformed firefighters leapt out, dragging hoses, shouting orders. One of them spotted her and ran over, grabbing her arm.
“Ma’am! Were you inside?”
Emily nodded weakly, smoke-smeared tears cutting tracks down her cheeks. “Yes... I... I just... ” She coughed, doubling over.
The firefighter guided her toward the curb. “Sit down. Paramedics are on the way.”
Neighbors crowded the sidewalk, their faces pale in the glow of fire. Some pointed at her, murmuring. Emily wrapped her arms around herself, shivering despite the blistering heat radiating from the burning apartment.
The paramedics reached her, one slipping an oxygen mask over her face. Cool air surged into her lungs, cutting through the burn. Her body sagged with relief, but her mind would not stop racing.
The napkin at the gala.... The text.... The fire.
She tugged the mask off, her voice hoarse. “Did... did you see anyone leave? Before the fire? A man, maybe... ”
The paramedic frowned. “You need to stay calm. Don’t try to talk too much, your throat... ”
“No! Just tell me if you saw anyone.” Emily rasped, panic spiking. She looked around wildly at the faces in the crowd. No one stood out. No hooded figure lurking. No mocking smile in the shadows. Just strangers watching her home burn to ash.
Sarah.
Emily’s stomach twisted. Sarah had told her to go home first. Sarah was supposed to be right behind her. Where was she?
Her phone buzzed again in her pocket. Dread churned as she pulled it free, her hands trembling violently.
Unknown Number: Pretty flames, aren’t they? You almost did not make it out.
Emily’s stomach heaved. She clutched the phone so tight her knuckles whitened.
The paramedic touched her shoulder gently. “Ma’am? Please, you need to stay seated.... ”
But Emily shook her head, ripping off the mask again. Her voice cracked through raw lungs. “No. You do not understand. He did this. He set this fire.”
The paramedic exchanged a look with the firefighter standing nearby. They looked concerned and skeptical looking at emily with pity.
Emily turned away from them, choking back another sob. She was not imagining this. She was not. She had proof she had the texts. She raised her phone again, ready to shove it in their faces—
But the screen was empty.
The messages were gone.
Every.... Single..... One.
Her body went cold, her breath hitching violently. What else did she expect, the messages always disappeared whenever she tried to show someone else.
“Emily!”
Her head whipped around. Sarah was shoving through the crowd, her face pale, her eyes wide with horror. She dropped to her knees beside Emily, pulling her into her arms.
“Oh my God...you are alive.” Sarah’s voice broke against her hair. “I thought.... when I saw the smoke.... I thought I had lost you.”
Emily clung to her, sobs shaking her body. For a moment, the world blurred into Sarah’s steady arms, the familiar scent of her perfume, the warmth of her presence against the cold claws of fear.
But then she remembered.
The napkin.
The missing woman.
The fire.
Emily pulled back, her eyes wild. “Sarah... he is not stopping. He was in the apartment. He burned it down. He was going to kill me.”
Sarah held her tighter, whispering against her ear, “You are safe now.... You are safe.”
But Emily knew better.
She could still feel the killer’s words burned into her skin.
And she knew he was still out there. Watching.... Waiting.
The fire raged on behind them, devouring the life Sarah once had, leaving only smoke and mirrors in its wake.