Sara opened her eyes to find the room on fire. Flames crawled up the walls of Soren’s bedroom, consuming everything in their path. She sat up in bed, shaking Alex, who woke up immediately.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
He looked around him, and Sara saw the panicked expression on his face.
“We need to get out of here,” she said.
But there was nowhere to go. The door was covered in flames, which had now spread across the ceiling above her. She feared that any minute it would collapse.
“Soren!” she screamed. “Ken!”
She could hear muffled shouts behind the door, but she couldn’t make out anything they were saying.
“Over here,” a voice said.
She turned to see a figure at the window. It was the one spot in the room other than the bed that wasn’t on fire. She couldn’t see the figure very well, but she could hear him through the glass.
“Open the window!” he shouted. “It’s locked from the inside.”
Sara looked to see the flames nearing the bed and she scrambled to get to the window before it caught fire. The heat was excruciating. She felt like she was being boiled alive. She didn’t know how the fire had started, but it was going to kill Alex and her if she couldn’t escape.
She reached the window, pulling Alex along behind her. She unlocked it and pushed down the safety latches as the fire burned around them.
“Hurry!” the man at the window said. “You don’t have much time!”
She tried to open the window, but the pane was stuck and wouldn’t budge.
“Help me!” she shouted back.
“You have to do it,” the man said.
Sara braced herself against the window, bending her knees and pushing the window up with all of her might. But she wasn’t strong enough. The window didn’t move as the flames closed in.
Alex stepped beside her, imitating her movement and pushing up against the window. It burst open all at once, apparently free of whatever obstacle had been keeping it in place.
“Quickly,” the man said. “Hand Alex to me.”
She started to do as the voice commanded, but then suddenly held back. She looked around the room, which was still alive with flames. It seemed to shimmer for a second and she had a glimpse of it as it was when she’d first walked through the door with Alex. There were photos on the wall, including one of Soren, John and her in their younger days. They weren’t on fire. There was nothing wrong with the room at all.
“Sara!” the voice said. “Hand Alex to me! Hurry! He’ll die if you don’t.”
The flames reappeared and she felt the heat coming off of them. She had trouble thinking straight. But something about this felt wrong to her.
Don’t leave this room, she thought. You’re safe here.
“Sara, look at me,” the voice outside said.
The figure leaned down and stuck his head through the window. She called out in surprise when she saw who it was. She’d assumed it was Soren or Ken, or perhaps even a firefighter there to help them.
But it was instead the last person she’d expected — the figure in front of her was John Townes.
“You have to trust me, Sara,” John said. “I can save you and Alex. Just give him to me.”
She felt a surge of joy so powerful it blotted out everything else. John was here to help. Of course she would trust him. He was her fiancé.
“Okay,” she said.
She turned to Alex.
“Take my hand and don’t let go,” she said. “Even when you go through that window, hold on to me.”
Alex nodded solemnly. When she turned back to John, he was frowning. When he noticed her eyes on him, he smiled as if nothing was wrong.
“Hurry,” he said again.
Sara looked one last time at the room. The flames had devoured the bed, leaving an inferno in the center of the room. She needed to leave before they were both burnt alive.
Sara scooped up Alex and passed him through the window, making sure to keep his left hand clasped tightly.
As soon as he was through the window, it shut on their hands. Sara yelped in pain but didn’t let go. With her left arm, she yanked the window open again and crawled through.
She found herself standing on a fire escape with Alex and John. She had a sudden sense of relief but noticed something odd. There was no smoke pouring out of the window behind her. Standing outside, she no longer felt the heat from the fire. She waited to hear fire trucks in the distance or the sounds of others in Soren’s apartment building, but there was nothing.
It didn’t matter. Her family — her true family — was in front of her. It was John, Alex and her, the only time they’d all been together. John had died before Alex was born.
The thought caught her up short. John had died? That wasn’t right. He was standing in front of her.
Perhaps seeing her confusion, John hugged her tight, and Sara’s doubts melted away.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said.
“I know,” John said. “But I’m here now.”
When they pulled away from each other, she put her hand to John’s face. He had the same tousled blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes that she remembered.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you soon,” he said. “But we need to get going. The shade Soren warned you about is nearby. We need to get Alex to safety.”
Sara turned back in alarm.
“Soren,” she said. “Is he okay? What about Ken?”
“They’re fine, Sara,” John said. “Look at me.”
She looked into John’s eyes and felt like she could be lost there. She never wanted to stop looking. She felt Alex tug on her arm. She was still holding tightly to his hand.
Reluctantly, Sara looked down. Alex was eying her strangely.
“Mommy? I don’t think that’s who you think it is,” he said.
She turned to look back at John, who smiled broadly. He casually put a hand on Alex’s head and ruffled his hair.
“That’s my boy,” he said. “Always making jokes. Come on, Sara. We’ve got to go. The shade is coming. Do you want him to take Alex away?”
Before Sara could answer, John broke away and started heading down the fire escape.
“John, wait!” she said.
“No time, Sara,” he responded. “We’ve got to go. Hurry!”
She looked behind her to see that the entire building had now caught fire. She could abruptly feel the heat again. Without thinking, she leaned down.
“Get on my back,” she told Alex. “I’ll carry you down.”
He climbed on to her back, reminding her of the days when she used to give him piggy-back rides.
“Hold on tight,” she said and began climbing down the fire escape.
When she reached the bottom, she saw John already running away from the burning building, fleeing into the woods behind Soren’s apartment.
“Mommy, no,” Alex whispered in her ear. “He’s not daddy. He’s a bad man.”
But Sara didn’t hear him. John was leaving her again and she would be damned if she’d let him go.
She set Alex down and pulled him along behind her as they ran into the woods.
Chapter Eleven