Chapter 26
Naomi returned to her room, and it was only just past opm by the time she finished showering.
Although it was still early, she wanted to call it a night since she was exhausted from the hikes. She closed her eyes and, as she thought about all the tasks she waited for her, shumber crept up on her and began to envelop her in its warm embrace
“You want to leave, don’t you? to your dreams, Kirk!”
“What do you want to do? Hit me? Come hit me with your best shot!”
Smack!
“Is that all you got? Watch this!”
The vague voices of the arguing couple ripped through the comfortable silence. Naomi was rather annoyed by it, but she was so exhausted from the hike that afternoon that the noises barely even stirred her.
The voices were interspersed with sounds of clattering items, but as the night engulfed her, the noises grew softer and softer until gradually they disappeared.
Naomi drifted off to sleep.
However, after some time, she was jerked awake by the smell of smoke.
Naomi’s eyelids flew open.
Her entire room was enveloped in thick heavy smoke that invaded her airway and made her choke. She clutched her nose and glanced around the room in panic.
Nothing was on fire, but-
Naomi noticed that the smoke was seeping in from underneath her door, so she put on her robe, flung the door open, and sprinted to the room next door, where the smoke was coming from.
The door was wide open, exposing the inside of the room. The room was engulfed in fiery flames that were eating at the wall between this room and hers. The woman she encountered at dinner that night was slumped on the ground, unconscious, with blood seeping out from a wound on her forehead.
The color drained from Naomi’s face. Thankfully, she was able to keep her head on and shouted for help, “Help, help! Fire! This girl’s hurt! Someone come help!”
As she shouted, she sprinted into the room, knelt before the woman, and tried to feel if she was still breathing.
She was.
Thank God.
Naomi let out a sigh of relief, then glanced first at the fire, and then at the bleeding woman. She did
not know where the woman got hurt and did not dare to move her for fear of causing even more damage. She had no choice but to continue shouting, “Help! Fire! Someone is hurt! Can someone hear me? Help!” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
She glanced around the room but did not see the man whom she encountered at dinner with the
woman.
Naomi ran back out of the room and called the police.
It was the middle of the night and everybody was sound asleep, but Charles’s room was just next to Naomi’s, so he woke when he heard her shouting.
He put on a robe and went running.
The color drained from his face when he saw the smoke billowing out of Naomi’s room. “Naomi!
The smoke was so thick that he could not see into Naomi’s room at all, so he did not know if she was in there, but thankfully, Naomi overheard him calling. “Charles! I’m next door!”
Charles was relieved to hear her and quickly arrived at the scene. The first thing he saw was Naomi attempting to remove the woman from the burning room by herself.
She had to find a way to get the woman out of there, otherwise, she would burn to death!
Although they did not know how the fire started, it was clear that they had only a few minutes before the entire room was engulfed by the inferno.
Charles stormed into the room and picked up the unconscious woman in his arms. “I’ve got her! Run, Naomi!”
Naomi was relieved by this and nodded, then turned and sprinted out of the room.
The two of them made a beeline toward the door, but all of a sudden, a pillar swallowed by the flames collapsed–toppling straight toward Charles!