Something was in that building. Something that I can’t explain, and something that I can’t get out of my head.
It isn’t an easy job, you know. That goes without saying, but I could always see it as something simple.
I get to the scene, put out the fire and get everyone out that I can.
Maybe it’s an oversimplification, but that is basically the job.
I don’t look at faces and I try not to remember names. I just get in, put out the fire and get everyone out that I can.
Today was different.
That child was different.
Now I don’t know if I will ever be the same.
I’ve been a firefighter for eight years and I’ve never seen anything like this, or felt anything like it.
The whole building went up in minutes, and we still don’t know why. People were running for their lives down the fire escape as we tried to put the fire out, but it was relentless. No matter what we tried, it was never enough.
A few of us went in to try and look for survivors. We stayed as long as we could, until there was no hope. My boots were heavy as we ran back towards the fire exit, and that was when I heard the child.
I almost didn’t believe it at first. The sound was faint, barely there beneath the roar of the fire, but unmistakable: a voice, high-pitched, calling out. Not panicked. Not even urgent. Just… calling.
“Hello?”
I told the others to wait, that I’d check the upper landing. I don’t even know why I said it. Something in the way that voice tugged at me, like it knew my name before I ever gave it. I had to get closer.
The heat was unbearable, even through the gear. Walls cracked and groaned around me, paint blistering off in flakes, flying round the hallway like snow. But somehow, on that top floor, there was a corridor untouched by flame. The air was cooler there. Silent, almost.
And at the end of it stood the child.
A little girl, no more than seven, I’d guess. Pale as ash, barefoot, hair matted to her face. She was just standing there, in the middle of the hallway, staring right at me. Eyes wide, with a soft smile. .
“Hey,” I called, as gently as I could. “It’s alright. I’m going to get you out of here.”
She didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just tilted her head, birdlike. “You came,” She whispered. She extended her hand to me, her eyes seeming to shine in the dark night. “And now, we may begin.”
That was when the lights went out. Not just the flickering hallway bulbs, everything. My radio died. My torch blinked once and fizzled out. Suddenly it was just me, and her, in the dark.
I took a step forward. The floor groaned beneath me, but I didn’t stop. She didn’t step back. She just whispered: “I’ve been waiting for you, for such a long time.”
The wall behind her split, a line of flame racing up it like a serpent, licking toward the ceiling.
I knew that I should grab her, and try to run, but her face…
There was something wrong with her face.
Gaunt and grey, with bloated lips and a map of deep wrinkles that spread across her brow before my very eyes. The child began to grow, towering above me as the flames surrounded her, lighting up the blistered skin of her arms and legs.
She took a heavy, laboured step towards me and I fell back, shuddering as sharp nails sprang from her outstretched hands.
The flames followed her, engulfing us both as she stood atop me, her claws clashing with my skin until blood pooled in my mouth.
“Hmmm… it isn’t you.” She growled. She cocked her head, almost curious, like I was a puzzle she couldn’t quite solve. Her warm breath stank of soot and rot, and her eyes were hollow pits, leaking smoke.
“You’re close, though,” She murmured, voice low and cracking. “So close.” She knelt beside me, one hand brushing my temple, nails grazing me as I wept in pain, and a strange sense of sorrow that seemed to overpower me. “Not today,” She whispered, almost tender now. “But soon.”
And with that, she stood and turned, her body folding impossibly in on itself, limbs twisting like smoke in a breeze. The fire surged behind her, and then the floor gave way.
I fell.
There was no weight. No heat. Just the sickening sensation of falling.
I was cold, shivering as I awoke in the ambulance. They told me I was found alone. Said there was no child. No trace of her. No one else heard the voice. No one saw her.
Everyone got out. Everyone was accounted for, and there was never a record of the girl being in the building.
Every time I close my eyes, I see her standing there in the smoke. Waiting for me to come back.
And the strangest part?
There have been fires all over town since that night. They spread fast, but everyone gets out. I’ve talked to other officers, asking questions about what they saw, but nobody will talk to me.
I wonder if she’s still looking for the one she seeks, and… as much as I don’t want to think about it, I wonder why it wasn’t me.
Sincerely, Jennifer x 