I tripped.

My body flew forwards as I skidded across the surface of the forest floor. I laid there, still and silent. The forest floor was cold and damp, layered with a thin blanket of icy mist.

What was I running from to begin with? I didn't know. All I knew was, I was running from something. Or maybe, I'm running to something and not from it. But what could it be?

I lifted my head up from the ground, brushing the wet leaves from my face. I stared out towards a clearing in a field. In the very center of the field, was a building up in flames. The flames stretched several yards into the air and roared out in anger, releasing a massive wave of heat my way. The reds and the oranges and the yellows, all collided within the boundaries of the flames. It was a kaleidoscope of heat and anger. Clouds of smoke escaped from shattered windows as angry flames peeked out into the open air, looking for more to burn. The crackling fire and the breaking wood. The heat and the sparks, it was all too familiar.

I blinked and when I opened my eyes, a woman was on her knees, her ash covered hands over her face. I pushed myself off thew ground and stumbled towards her. I placed a hand on her shoulder and she look up. Part of her face was burned and she had streaks of tears running down her face. Her eyes were wide and frantic as she grabbed my shoulders and began to shake me. “My babies! My babies are still inside! Save my babies!” she shrieked.

“Alright, alright. Ma'am, please calm down.” I pried her off of me. I turned up to the burning building. The flames looked alive, as if it were trying to reach out to me and grasp me. The woman broke out into a hysterical fit beside me, pounding the ground with her clutched fist as she shrieked out loud, screaming for her children. I turned back to the building, I had no choice but to at least try. I won't be able to live a life knowing I didn't at least try to save her children.

I took a deep breath, exhaling before I broke out into a run for the building. I kicked the door down as it slammed hard against the floor with a thud. I looked inside the open mouth of the flame. It was an apartment building, a long corridor of doors and rooms. I listened past the crackling flames for the sound of crying children or cries of help, anything that would lead me to the woman's children. I closed my eyes, trying my best to concentrate on listening rather than the flames that grazed my skin, teasing to engulf me and burn me to a crisp.

That's when I heard it, the faint shrieks and cries of agony. I ran down the corridors, passing them as I made my way up the stairs. I could hear the cries getting louder and louder as I passed the second floor and the third floor. On the fourth floor, I began checking rooms. Room after room I was disappointed to find nothing, but the cries were there. I pushed the last door open and the cried of the children broke out with the wave of heat as I stumbled back, catching flames on my back. I pulled my jacket off and patted the fire down as I made my way into the room.

There was only one crib, but I could distinguish three crying infants. Inside the crib, was one moving bundle, but six arms hanging out. I reached down, covering the infants with my jacket and pulling them out of the crib, cradling them close to my chest as I turned for the door. I looked up to the ceiling, and it looked as if it were about to cave in. I raced for the opening of the room and managed to escape the falling planks of wood. With that, I actually had hope that maybe the three infants and I would be able to escape the burning building. Maybe, I will be a hero after all.

I raced down the hall, feeling almost invincible. Down the stairs I went and down the last hall and out into the cold open air. I searched for the mother and when I found her crouched figure far from the fire, I ran to her, wondering how happy she would be to see her children are safe.

“Miss, I saved your children.” I said as I approached her still body. “Miss?” I bent down, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. Her body fell to the side and I shrieked out in horror. Blood oozed from her mouth and a large blood stain was painted on her white nightgown. She laid on the floor, a knife protruding from her stomach. I turned away, feeling sick, clutching the three children to my body, but by doing so, I realized something. There were six arms and six legs, three heads, but I could only identify one body.

I pulled the wailing children from my body and removed my jacket. In my arms, kicking and screaming, was an infant with one body, but had three heads, and twelve limbs. The infant's skin was cracked, bloody and burned brown. Its eyes, red and protuberant, staring right at me. Its open mouths were lines with sharp incisors. I dropped the creature, which couldn't have been an infant. It made it's way from it's back to crawl onto its forelimbs, crawling towards me.

“Sirenia Szane.” I moaned. “Sirenia Szane.” The voice was inhuman and satanic. How could such a small creature create such sounds and emit such dark force?

I stepped back, terrified and awestruck at the same time.

“You, will die, Sirenia Szane.”

My eyes narrowed at the creature and angered by its words, I stepped forwards towards the creature. The creature seemed pulled back, as if it didn't expect me to react the way I did. “I will die? Really? Well you'll be the one dying first!” I shoved my foot right into the creature's face, pushing it down against the ground until I felt it's head shatter under my foot, like a bubble bursting. It shrieked out in pain at first, but then went into a sudden silence as I continued to stomp at it, making sure it was dead. When the flattened creature was definitely dead, that's when I realized something.

I turned up to the burning building, only to find the flames put out, the sky no longer lite by the living flames, but dark and silent. The windows were no longer shattered, the door wasn't kicked down as I had done to it. There was no agonizing wails, no cries for help, no sign of struggle, but something inside the building was luring me to it. I looked around, the woman's body suddenly gone and the creature beneath my feet, vanished. I shook my head, thinking maybe I was hallucinating that whole fire situation, but I had burn marks and scratches all over my arms and I could still feel the heat of the fire around my body.

I searched the open field for a sign that showed the fire had really happened, but there was no sign at all. I turned for the building and without taking second thoughts, I made my way to it. I pushed the large doors open, finding the surface to be cold as ice. Inside, it was dark and the cold mist from outside quickly entered the open area of the building, filling the room. The first floor was no longer a long hall of doors, but an open space, wires hanging from the ceiling and large beams holding the building up as a support. It was no longer an apartment building, but an abandoned factory.

I stepped inside and the large metals doors quickly slammed shut behind me. I turned around an the empty opening was no longer empty. A man stood under a pale light that came through an opening from the ceiling. He stood in front of a washing machine, its door open, ready to be filled. I sighed out in relief, seeing it was only a man doing his laundry. But that relief quickly left when I saw the man had no clothes on him, except for the cloth around his waist, and no basket with dirty clothing in it. I walked towards the man, circling around him to look at his face.

I stood still on the other side of the washing machine, facing the man as he stared directly at me, or rather, right past me. His eyes were hallow, plain white and only the black pupils visible. His eyes were sunken into his pale skin, which almost looked like an icy blue. His high cheeks bones were sharp and his chin almost pointed. His pale blue lips looked as if they were sewn together, and then torn open, because red string juttered out from around the man's lips. It was a frightening image and what was worse, was the fact he opened he washing machine and stepped inside. That's when I knew something was terribly wrong. I walked around to the other side, until I was watching him force his tall figure into the machine.

I just stood there, watching him. One foot in and then the other. He crouched into a ball, hugging his knees close to him as he closed the door of the washing machine. The machine began to turn and start the cycle, water pouring in and soap as well. At first the man just rolled inside in silence. But then as the machine began to speed up, the washing machine began to have a fit, jumping up and down and side to side. Inside the little window, I could see the man being torn apart, his limbs getting tangled and the water and soap was replaced with crimson red blood.

I backed away in fear, watching the thick blood come from the sides of the door. I was several yards back when suddenly the door of the machine opened up, no blood or body parts pouring out as I expected. Instead, a steel conveyor belt rolled out, the man's body parts sprawled out across the whole thing, his blood dripping off of it and onto the floor. It reached me, the mans head right at the end, looking at me with wide eyes.

I didn't panic though, he was already dead. That was until he started to spit up blood. The blood seeped from his mouth, as he uttered words in a language I couldn't identify.

“Ex hodierna die, maledictus eris Sirenia Szane.”

And then I forced myself to wake up.

*
*
*


The words lingered in my head as my eyes fluttered open to only be greeted by darkness. But there was a familiar feel to the thick air that filled the room, and blanket of smog that wasn't normally there. I sat up, finding the whole room filled with thick smoke and the smell of burning wood filled my nose. I rushed out of bed and ran for the door, opening it up to hear the crackling flames. I ran out of the room, reaching for the nearest fire alarm and pulled it.

“Wake up! There's a fire! There's a fire!” I yelled out loud as I began banging on doors, waking everyone up, trying to get over the ringing alarm. Doors began to open as tired girls in their pajama's came out from their rooms, realizing what was happening and began to scream. Their screams were as loud as the alarm and I was amazed that they all stood still in their place, even if the alarm was going off.

“Get moving and out of the building!” I jerked two girls from their rooms and pushed them towards the stairs leading to the lower floors. “Come on! Single file! Down the stairs!” I yelled.

I was one of the oldest in the dorm building, which held girls from forth grade to eighth grade. I was the dorm leader of the third floor, the top floor and I was responsible for every girl there. AS they all filed down the stairs, I went to the end of the hall, checking every room and making sure all the girls were out. I finally came upon my room, finding Mikilay's bed empty. I rushed out of the room and headed for the second floor, checking rooms with Amber, the second floor dorm leader for other girls.

Outside, I could already hear the sirens of firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances, as they made their way through the front gates of the dormitory sector. I ushered all the girls away from the burning building, seeing the fire was coming from the music room in the third floor. The girls were screaming and some were crying, clinging to one another.


“Girls.” I said, trying to keep calm. “Girls.” I repeated. “Girls!” I yelled when my first two attempts failed. “Stop screaming! Screaming doesn't help anything. Get into a single file according to floor and room number.” I ordered. I watched as the girls assembled themselves. “As I call you name, say here. If you see anyone missing, please report them now.”

Rebecca rose her small hand in the back. “Rebecca? Do you know if someone is missing?”

“Mikilay.” she simply said, dropping her hand back down to her side.

I stood there for a minute, trying to analyze what she had said. That's when I remembered, she had said she was sleeping over at another girl's dorm. I turned to the building that was aflame, and broke out into a run for the building.

“Sirenia!” I heard Amber call out. “Sirenia come back here!”

Her words simply passed over me as I raced across the lawn and to the house. A police car drove right in from of me, keeping me away from entering the building. The officer came out from the driver's seat and took hold of me.

“Where do you think you're going?” he asked with a stern voice.

“My sister's in there!” I barked at him.

“Leave it to the professionals, kid.” the officer said, pulling me away from the burning dorm building as firemen started hosing the building down, but no one was going inside.

“No one's going inside! Tell them there's one more kid inside! My sister's in there!” I screamed as I started to claw at his hand around my wrist. The officer did nothing to inform the firemen about my sister and so I took matters into my own hands. I brought my clenched hand back and wanting to make a big impact on the officer's face, I gave it to him, dead in the nose. His grip around my wrist was released as he brought his hands up to his nose, which began to gush with blood. I shoved him aside and leaped over the front of the police car and made my way to the building.

Inside, the building felt like a totally different place with the fire burning everything. The paint of the walls were starting to peel and the smell of burning wood filled my nose. I began to run the maze of halls that I couldn't recognize with the fire. I made my way up to the third floor as wood fell from the ceiling of the halls landing everywhere around me. I found the room in which belonged to the girl that Mikilay was supposed to be with. I kicked the door down as it broke from the frame and landed on the ground inside the room. Ashes blew into the room, feeding the fire as it grew bigger and bigger. I ran on top of the door and into the room, which was in flames.

Looking at the fire from where I was, I froze. The heat, the sound of crackling wood and the anger that the flame had. It vigorously burned and crackled, as if it were alive. The way it tried to reach out at me, but couldn't seem to touch me. It reminded me of the flames in my dreams. Is it possible, those flames could have materialized and have come to attack me here in real life, and put the lives of young girls in danger as well?

I shook my head, pushing my fear of death aside and placed Mikilay's life back to being the priority. I felt the hot flames brushing against my skin, the smoke quickly entering my lungs. I stood in the center of the room, looking around, turning in circles, wishing she'd come lunging out from somewhere, anywhere.

“Mikilay!” I screamed. “Mikilay!” Tears were streaming from my eyes. They burned the scrapes and cuts that were on my face. The smoke made my eyes sting and my lungs were burning with hot smoke. “Mikilay!” I began to cough. I bent forwards, grabbing hold of my aching chest. “Miki-”

“Sirenia?” The faint voice broke through my crowded thoughts and my head shot up to search the room frantically.

“Mikilay?” I whispered.

That's when I saw the pile of wood in the corner of the room, the entire ceiling above it, a gaping hole. A small shard of wood rolled off and I broke out into a run towards the pile. I leaped over a chair that had been knocked down and was being eaten by the flames, but tripped over it. My body flew forwards to skid across the hot floor and the burning flames. I screamed as I got up and began patting the fire out. I tripped over the rug and landed hard against the wall beside the pile. I leaned up, rubbing my head. Mikilay's arms were out, twisted in an awkward angle.

“Miki!” I gasped. I began prying through the pile of wood, until I saw her face. Her left cheek was burned completely, the skin black and peeling off. “Oh, Miki!”

“Sirenia...” she whimpered as tears began to come from her shut eyes. “Sirenia...it hurts. I can't feel my legs.”

“It's okay, Miki. I'm here. I'm right here. Just hang on, alright? Can you do that for me?” I said, trying to keep calm, but my heart was racing, frantically prying to a higher power I didn't know if I should believe at that moment in time. As I continued to talk to her, just to keep her awake and listening to me, I pulled the wood off from her body. Once she was open for me to pick her up, I did. I pulled her over my shoulder and began to make my way through the thick smoke and the growing fire.

“I'm sorry, Sirenia. I'm sorry. I love you.” she whimpered into my ear. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't talk right now. Just listen to my voice. Think about us at the beach. Can you remember?”

“Mom...”

“That's right, Miki. Mom was with us that day. She walked with us along the beach. We collected shells. Remember that?” I felt her nod. “And while you were walking through the water, a little crab pinched your little toe. You cried out so loud mom said they could hear you in Russia. But you turned out okay. Miki, you threw that little crab so far into the ocean...we thought you were Super Woman.” The memories of that day flooded my mind, making the tears run fasted down my cheek. It was the best day of my life, and probably her life too, but it was also the last time we had ever seen out mother.

“Even though you were mean to me sometimes, you were always there for me. You protected me from those bullies back at home. You always cut the crusts off from my sandwiches and always made sure I had milk in my lunch pack...even if you hated milk so much.”

“Yeah. And I'll do it forever if you want me to. Even if I were old and using a cane, I'll always bring you that packed lunch. No matter where you are. Just stay with me.” The door I'd come in through had been blocked with fallen wood. I turned for the window. I brought Miki into my arms, covering her face as I slammed my elbow through the window. It shattered and I pushed out the rest of the sharp edged shards.

“Look!” Someone yelled from outside. “Sirenia! Miki!”

A fireman appeared outside the window and another, and another. I pushed her through gently and they took her as I leaped out on my own. They placed her down on the cool grass, away from the fire and I collapsed onto my knees beside her. I took her hand into mind. Her limp hand gently gripped mine back, but it was so faint, I could barely feel it. What mattered though, was that she had a grip on my hand, that she was still alive. Tears were still running from my eyes, dripping onto my pants, which were covered with black ashes.

She opened her limp eyes and she turned to me. “It's okay, Mikilay. You're out of the fire. Everything is going to be okay.” I smiled. My throat clenched up as I tried to hold my tears back. Her conditions were so bad, it would be a miracle if she makes it to the hospital. A pure miracle. And if she does, I'll believe in anything after this. Anything, as long as she lives, anything will be possible.

My lips were quivering, but I had to hide it form her. Show her that I was being strong and maybe, just maybe, she'll try and be strong too.

“Do you see the light, Sirenia. I can see it.”she whispered. Tears rolled down from the corner of her eyes. She was looking past me, towards the sky.

“No, Miki. There's no light! Listen to me, there is no light! You're looking at the stars! The stars Mikilay!” I was forcing it onto her. As much as I didn't want to yell at her, I was yelling.

“I can see Mom and Dad...”a faint smile rolled across her face.

“Miki! No, you don't see them! Miki! Look at me!” A man placed something over her mouth, giving her air.

She pulled her hand from mine and I released it. She reached her hand up, reached it high up towards the sky. I watched as her burned hand gently curled up into a small, fragile fist, right around the moon, as if she had grabbed it and it was in her hand. It was in her hand, in my mind at least, because just as she did that, the whole world went dark for me. She had taken the moon from my world and was taking it with her.

“I'll tell them... miss them and love them.” she turned to look at me. “I love you, Sirenia.”

“Miki!” I screamed. “Miki!” I grabbed her hand, shaking it. “Don't leave me! Miki!”

“I'm...sorry...” Her eyes slowly shut. Her head dropped to the side, her hand slipping out of mine. I grabbed it again, holding it tight between my hands. The color of her light tan skin slowly turned to a lifeless gray, her lips changing to a chilling blue. It surprised me how quickly she changed.

“Miki!” I screamed. Several paramedics came over, hauling me away from her body.

“No. Let go!” I screamed. I started kicking and thrashing again. I kicked a guy in the shin and punched another one dead in the chest and another in the face. But there were too many of them. Too many hands holding me back as they took her and hauled her into the back of an ambulance parked out on the parking lot of the dormitories.

“Miki!” I screamed through my tight lungs. “Miki! I forgive you! I was never mad at you! Ever! Miki! I forgive you! Please! Please! Miki!”

All the sounds around me suddenly disappeared. The heat from the flames was fading and my pain, I couldn't feel it. I was still trying to pull away from the people who had me, my eyes locked on Mikilay's little body on the gurney in the back of the ambulance. A paramedic began pumping her hands against Mikilay's body as another gave her mouth to mouth.

Inside my head, I could see the physiologic monitor, the machine that keeps track of your heart rate, beeping violently, the line spiking up and down, up and down. And then...the line just turned into a line. The loud screech of the machine echoed in my ears, fading as reality returned to me. I opened my eyes, the doors of the ambulance were slowly being shut, a paramedic slowly lifted the covers that was laid at Mikilay's feet, over her body and over her face. As the doors closed, the ring of the screeching beep echoed back in my head, causing me to bend forwards and cover my ears. I shut my eyes tight and began to scream in hysteria.

“Miki!”

My arm dropped beside me, my knees buckled, and I dropped to the ground. I buried my face into my hands, my tears rushing into the open gashes on my hands. I slouched forwards, feeling light headed and empty at heart.

Growing up, I always knew who was with me. When our dad had left us, I stopped getting the feeling that he was with us, just as I lost the feeling that our mom was with us when she left a years later. Mikilay was the one last person who I cared about and cared about me in return. She was the last person I felt with me all the time, even if we were separated. There was that bond still holding us together, no matter how far apart we were, we were together.

I sat there, crying, feeling as that bond slowly faded into nothing.

I felt nothing. But in the back of my head, I could hear his voice. The man's voice in my head, repeating himself over and over again.

Ex hodierna die, maledictus eris.

“Cursed.” I whispered to myself. “Is this what he meant by, cursed?”