Dancing Flame - Prologue

Dancing Flame - Prologue

xXx

It’s a blur in my memory, and yet I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was an innocent little girl back then, and it was the opening night of the dance recital. Madam Ashleen had given me the solo, and I had practiced for countless hours to perfect it. The curtain rose, and we performed like never before. Gliding like beautiful swans across the stage. The spot light shone on me as cue for my solo, and that’s when it began.

Smoke was billowing down from the roof, and sparks showered the stage and audience. The spot light that was trained on me had overloaded and started a fire. The catwalks in the rafters collapsed to the ground, and that’s when the panic ensued. It was mess of screaming, smoke and flames. I was knocked back by a beam that fell on the stage, and had no choice but to run back stage. All around me the girls were screaming and crying as the fire grew more intense. Madam Ashleen was trying to round everyone up and help them escape through the back exit. She looked to me and beckoned for me to hurry. I could feel the heat of the flames around me, and my eyes stung from the smoke.

But I couldn't leave. That night I brought my most treasured item with me for good luck. I had to retrieve it first. I heard her scream as I spun to go through the door that lead to the change rooms. As soon as I got through the entrance the building began to quake. I stumbled over to the racks to find my bag, and frantically searched through it. Finally my hand clasped around it. A beautiful pendant that my mother gave me in celebration to hearing of my role in the recital. It was a flame made out of shining rubies. I secured the necklace safely around my neck and ran back to the door.

Wooden beams and other debris had fallen and the door was completely blocked. I was consumed by panic. I threw myself at the wooden beams and in vain I tried to clear the way. My fingers were bruised and bloodied, but I managed to pry a beam loose. It was too heavy for me and it crashed to the ground with most of my body pinned beneath it. Chunks of concrete fell on top of me as well and created gashes all over me.
I scrambled and after a few minutes I managed to pry my self out, but broken edges of the beam sliced my legs and stomach in some spots. It was getting very hard to breath now with the smoke pouring in constantly. My lungs burned as I hacked. I couldn't move my legs without a raging pain throbbing through them, and tears stung at my eyes as much as the smoke.

On hands and knees and crawled to the small hole I made in the blockage. I managed to squeeze through the gap, and tumbled to the floor on the other side.

It was much worse out there. In the room there was only a limited amount of smoke that could enter, and the fire hadn't approached yet. I was surrounded by flames out there though, and the thick black smoke made me choke for air. I couldn't see a way out, and I was just so tired.

My thoughts drifted to my parents, and I hoped they made it out. Erica too, she was my best friend, and she came to watch with her own family that night.

As I laid there on the floor, I thought I heard a sound other than the roaring fire. It sounded like shouting... I could also hear the sound of rushing water, and steam.

My vision was growing dark as I continued to gag and choke on the smoke. I curled up tightly and wished for the nightmare to end. I just wanted to go home...

“Amelia! AMELIA!” I looked to the back exit slowly. There it was. An ax jutting into the wood of the jammed door. A man in a firefighter suit burst in, and he frantically looked around while shouting for me. I wanted to shout back, but my throat hurt so much. He finally found me and bent down to scoop me up in his arms. In a matter of moments I felt the cool night breeze on my exposed skin. It only occurred to me then that my tutu and leotard were torn up and my beautiful ballet slippers that my mom had bought for me were ruined.

Everything was blurry as the darkness began to engulf me. Slower and slower that blackness crept further in from the edge of my vision. Until all I saw was darkness...

xXx

The girl was about twelve years old when it happened. She was in a coma for a month afterwards and when she woke the first thing she asked for was her mother. None of the nurses had the heart to tell her the truth, but one of the doctors bravely strode toward her and leaned down to her level. He managed to get the confession out.

Her parents were gone. They had been struck by a falling rafter, and were critically unstable on the trip to the hospital. The father didn't make the trip, and the mother died during surgery.

The ginger girl’s eyes went wide, and the rest of her remained motionless. Those gaping blue eyes starred off into the distance for the remainder of her time there.

After she was healed, she was sent to therapy and foster care. That was a horrible choice it seems, because not a week into her new life the foster family’s house burnt to the ground. None one died, but the only one completely untouched was Amelia. She was on the street waiting for the firefighters, and beside her was a backpack that was filled with her belongings from her old home.

This continued with the next three foster families as well. Houses mysteriously burning down, and Amelia left perfectly fine as she watched it burn.

She was finally carted off to the nearest asylum after the fourth family caught her preparing to the light up the house. That was where she stayed for the next six years, and is where she remains today.