Fire! – Chapter 5
18 0 1
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

Maxes face was full of terror. What would he do if she wouldn’t wake up? After a while, he remembered the bead they found earlier. While shaking from the adrenaline he quickly took out the bead from the bottle, went to pry Ella’s hand cold hand open and placed it there. The bead lit up even stronger and she opened her eyes. Max quickly slapped the bead out of her hand so that she would not get burned.

 

“Ella!”

 

Her body started to shiver violently, and Max hugged her. She sat there not understanding what happened.

 

“What are you doing?”

“Y, you almost died.” “Come on, get up.”

 

Ella attempted to stand up, but her legs wouldn’t allow her to.

 

“No, I can’t.”

“Why?”
“M.. my legs won’t move.”

 

Max helped Ella stand up and while supporting her they slowly started to walk.

 

“Max, it’s so cold. I can’t walk.”

“Just keep going.”

 

They kept walking the whole night and Max looked out over the landscape. There was not a light in sight. It was almost as if civilisation never had existed.

 

“Max I can’t keep going.”

“Come on just a little bit more,” Max said while trying to keep his composure.

“No! I literally can’t take one more step.” Ella said grunting.

 

Max smiled, at least she had the energy to be angry. It felt like an eternity had passed, but the sun finally started rising. The sight was incredible and they felt the warm rays of the sun breathe life in their cold bodies. Max sat down and the built-up drowsiness came upon him. It felt like he could go to sleep right here, sadly he couldn’t. If he did last night would just repeat itself.

 

“Let’s head back to our camp.”

“Yeah…”

 

When they came back their clothes had dried and Max proceeded to make fire. This time he had a plan. He rummaged through his backpack and found the book he bought at the store. Max wasn’t sure but it felt like it had something to do with all of this. He decided he would read it later. He grabbed his notebook and started destroying it for the metal string in the binding and grabbed a stick from the forest. After fiddling around for a time, he finally made a makeshift fire bow. His hand still hurt but with this, it would be manageable.

 

–§–

 

Ella felt like she would collapse at any moment. But she wouldn’t dare try sleeping. What if the same thing happened again? She looked at Max while he took multiple trips to collect stick and destroying the things in his backpack. She felt a nagging feeling in her stomach, but Ella was sure she would puke if she attempted to eat anything. Instead, she went and to collect some water.

After about an hour she heard Max screaming triumphantly. He held a bow with a metal string. She was just wondering what he was going to do with it as he grabbed a stick and started spinning it with the bow. After a while she saw smoke rising from the board it was spinning on. That was when she realized they were going to have a fire. Max quickly grabbed some of the paper from his notebook and started blowing. After a while, a small flame rose from his hand. He quickly put it down and started piling sticks on it. Slowly but steadily a fire started to rise. And soon enough they had a campfire.

 

“Finally!!!!!”

“Max you did it!” Ella said while running up to Max with tears in her eyes.

 

They sat down beside the fire and Max went and got the food supplies. He grabbed the minced meat from the grocery bag and started to make two balls that he then wrapped around two sticks. He stuck them into the ground beside the fire. He grabbed an onion and cut it in half. He priced the onion with another stick and then also stuck it in the ground. Then he proceeded to patiently wait for the food to get done. No that was a lie he practically drooled over the food. Ella sat there still not knowing if she could eat but as the food started to get done she also found herself salivating. They both practically threw themselves over the food. Even though it was only minced meat and onion it tasted like a Michelin star dinner.

 

“Ella, are you feeling better? We finally got to use the chilli ingredients.”

“A lot, the food really helped.”

“Maybe we should make a bed for tonight.”

 

Ella agreed and both of them went to the forest to collect some twigs to lay on top of.

 

 

 

After a while, they had made a big pile of twigs to suspend them from the cold ground. Then they sat down beside the campfire.

 

“Max yesterday… What were you doing with those men?” Ella muttered while keeping as close to the fire as possible.

 

Max froze, he just remembered what had happened. He felt anxiety swell over him like a wave. He remembered the kick and how incoherent he felt afterwards. After the adrenaline had worn off everything had started feeling too real. What would he tell Ella? Maybe he should lie. Well, that would feel wrong but… He did try to sell drugs, maybe she even saw the Ziplock bag in his backpack. No, if Ella finds out. He definitely couldn’ttell her. She would worry too much. But maybe she would understand. No, he definitely couldn’t bear to tell her.

 

“Huchuc” Max coughed awkwardly.

“I was like taking a shortcut home and those men thought it would be a good idea to rob me.”

 

Ella turned to Max and looked him in the eyes.

 

“Why are you lying?”

“What are you talking about, why would I lie,” Max answered defensively and even started sweating a bit.

“Max I saw your wallet in your bag. You were obviously upset but if they didn’t steal anything….”

 

Fuck Max thought. What should he say…? It’s not really her thing to meddle in.

 

“Why do you need to know?” Max hissed at her.

“Well sorry. If you really don’t want to talk about it, I won’t force you.“ She said angrily while hugging her legs close to the fire.

 

“No I’m sorry… I guess I owe you an explanation.”

 

After a while, Max started with.

 

“Do you know why I live alone?”

“Doesn’t your parents like live outside town or something?”

“Well yeah that’s what I told everyone when I started school.”

1