Chapter 7 [Final]

Something vibrated from under me. It paused and started again, repeating it until I was annoyed enough to check. My phone had been buzzing.

I clicked accept on the call, putting it to my ear, still being slumped onto the desk.

"Hello…," I greeted groggily.

"Happy Birthday!" A cheerful male voice yelled from the other side. A voice I knew very well. My eyes widened, immediately checking to the caller name.

Asaru….

"Hey, make sure to open your door when it rings."

"Why? Why are you even calling? We haven't spoken in weeks…," I sniffled.

"Because it's your birthday? You're mom isn't home right? You shouldn't spend your birthday alone."

"Asaru, it's literally past midnight right now…and I don't deserve to have someone around on my birthday. I've been terrible to you, I ghosted you, stopped talking to you without a word."

"First, I don't exactly care it's past midnight. You act like I haven't done this before. Second, I know you needed space. Maybe I should've pried though…you sound awful right now," he scoffed.

"Thanks, that makes me feel tons better..," I replied sarcastically.

"Now, while I'm biking to your house, you can tell me what's up. What's been going on with you?"

My breathe hitched. I felt so at peace at the moment I had forgotten my problems. Bullying, shit grades, my mother's expectations. I starting to tear up once again.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's wrong?"

"Everything! Everything's wrong! Everything I do seems be wrong or not good enough!" I rubbed my sleeve onto my cheek, letting the flowing tears absorb into the material.

"Why do you say that?" Asaru voice was calm.

"My grades aren't good enough and I can't seem to solve a single problem from the recent lessons! I tried asking Racheal for help and instead she blocked me," I took a sharp breath. My eyes felt heavy and my head was pounding.

"And..and…,"

"And what? You don't have to hold back ya know," Asaru interrupted.

"And then Yuza's shitty group! All they do is pick on me! Shove me! They talk my stuff and ruin it! And my mom… I hate her! Anything I do is never good enough! When I clean, when I do my work, when I do my grades!" I paused to take another breather. It was getting harder to breathe.

"I hate my mother and my father! I hate my siblings, I hate the people at school! I hate the stupid assignments that pile up and taunt me! I hate life! And, I especially hate myself! I can't do anything right! If I wasn't such a screw up I wouldn't be like this right now! I just want to fucking kill myself! " I screamed.

"You aren't a screw up, you just do things differently. And that isn't a bad thing. Everything probably would've happened regardless if you did anything different."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so."

My heart felt a bit lighter. I coughed before responding. "So when are you going to get her-," I coughed again. My coughing became consistent and the air felt heavy in my lungs.

"You alright? Choking on something?" Asaru asked, a bit of concern in his voice.

"I'm not-," I coughed again. Each time my chest hurt a little. I looked around the room. It looked a bit gray. I got up and walked to my door, opening it. The hallway was filled with a dark, hazy cloud. My cough worsened.

"Hey! Aspen are you alright?"

I wanted to respond, my throat felt dry, I couldn't form words through my coughs.

"Aspen, I'm gonna call an ambulance, or maybe even the fire department ok? Aspen?" He frantically yelled.

I dragged myself through the hall, using my shirt to cover my face. I felt like something invisible was clogging my throat, denying air to pass to my lungs. Tears weld in my eyes, growing stingy, making it harder to keep them open.

The house was growing opaque with dark smoke. The stairs were barely visible. I shoved my phone into my pocket as I took the first step. I flailed my right hand towards to wall, finding the familiar wooden railing, grasping onto it firmly.

Asaru's words didn't fully reach me. The panicked statements he uttered through pants sounded of encouragement, desperation, and bargaining. The crackling of the fire and the creaks of the steps overpowered Asaru's voice.

My head started spinning. I couldn't think or see straight. Everything was blurry. My head hurt. My body felt scorching hot. A sense of drowsiness over came me. My hand detached from the rail and my foot missed the next step. I fell forward, tumbling down the stairs before hitting the floor with a loud thump.

"Aspen! Aspen are you ok? Same something! Please, anything!" Asaru shouted, his voice hoarse. "I'm almost there!"

My mouth gapped open a bit. I tried to squeeze a sound out, but nothing but a light wheeze passed my esophagus. The tears welded in my eyes started to flow off the side of my cheek. They felt cold on my face. I watched the flames spread further. They seemed to be the color of a sunset.

Red, orange, yellow….the vibrant warm colors that mellowly blended into each other, creating that beautiful sunset like effect. Something so gorgeous hurt like hell.

"Aspen! Aspen I'm outside! Help is here!" Asaru's voice shouted, this timing there was a faint yelling from outside. The blaring alarm of a firetruck accompanied it.

I was going to be saved. I was going to be in Asaru's arms. I want to apologize, this time to his face. I want to do well in school, to show off to my sister and Yuza…. I want to show my mother that I'm not like my father.

It's ridiculous a life and death situation fueled my motivation.

I heard crackling above me, this time it was more violent. My eyes looked up. The wooden framing was starting to collapse.

I tried to lift my body, out of the way, roll over, something to get me away. The front door busted open, men in large yellow attire rushing in.

I limply lifted my arm, trying to reach for help.

Something heavy fell on top of me. It burned. It hurt. It hurts so much. It's so hot. I wanted to cry in agony, cry my lungs out but my body didn't corporate.

My hopes of surviving and proving everyone wrong, my chance to try to be happy, was nothing more than an illusion of dreams.