Chapter 12: Rebirth from Ashes
Chapter 12: Rebirth from Ashes
Before anyone could stop her, Helen grabbed a wet blanket from a laundry cart, wrapped it around her shoulders, and disappeared into the smoke-filled corridor.
The heat was suffocating. Smoke burned her eyes and choked her lungs, but Helen kept moving. She navigated through a narrow servant passage behind the ballroom wall—a passage she had used for decades to spy on her servants, but which now served as a lifeline.
She kicked open the warped wooden door leading into the nursery. The ceiling was crackling, ready to collapse.
"Tommy!" Helen choked out, her voice coughing against the dense smoke. "Tommy, where are you?"
A tiny sob came from beneath a small wooden frame in the corner. "I'm here!"
Helen dropped to her knees, reached under the bed, and pulled out a frightened five-year-old boy. She wrapped him tightly in the wet blanket and held him close to her chest.
"I’ve got you, sweetheart," Helen whispered softly—words she had never uttered to anyone in her entire life. "You’re going to be okay."
Just as she turned toward the hallway, a heavy wooden support beam cracked overhead and caved in. Helen threw her body over Tommy, taking the impact of falling burning debris across her back and shoulder to shield the boy.
Groaning in pain, with her dress singing and her back severely burned, Helen mustered every ounce of strength left in her body to push the heavy beam aside. She dragged herself and Tommy through the rear emergency exit just as the local fire department pulled onto the lawn.
Bursting through the back doors into the pouring rain, Helen collapsed onto the grass, still cradling Tommy safely in her arms.
Firefighters and paramedics rushed over immediately. I ran to her side, falling to my knees in the mud.
Tommy was completely unharmed, crying but safe. Paramedics immediately gently lifted him away to check his vital signs.
Helen lay on the stretcher, her face covered in soot, her breathing shallow. She looked up at me and Emily through blurred vision.
"Is... is the boy safe?" Helen wheezed, her voice barely a whisper.
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"He's safe, Helen. You saved him," I wept, gripping her blistered hand tightly. "You saved him."
A faint, peaceful smile touched Helen’s lips before her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.
