Chapter 8: Remembering the night before

Black. Burning. Pain.

Calm. Comfort. Sleep.

I woke up disoriented. Slowly I opened my eyes, finding Jane next to me in bed and Kenna and Rose on the floor on a blow up bed. I tried to remember what happened last night, and flashes of the fire came running back to me. ‘‘Oh my god!’’ I said out loud, waking the others. ‘‘My Mom!’’ I hopped out of bed, greeted by my three friends who pushed me down on my bed.

‘‘Your mom is in the hospital, Tris. She's doing okay. P is with her,’’ Kenna said with concern written on her face. I couldn't remember that. ‘‘What happened?’’ I asked my friends. ‘‘Oh my god Tris, you can't just run into a burning building like that! You could've died, you psycho!’’ Jane shouted, completely ignoring my question. ‘‘My mom was in there, if I wasn't there with Mr. Hayes, she would have not made it out on time.’’ I said, not being sorry for my action. Jane got a fearful look at that and hugged me. Kenna and Rose followed and we had a tight hug, happy that everybody was fine.

‘‘So,’’ Rose started, ‘‘what the hell. Saved by the teacher much?’’ ‘‘I don't know what happened, he was suddenly there. He saved me and my mom.’’ I said as an explanation. ‘‘I asked him to get my mom out, I don't remember anything after that.’’ ‘‘Let me tell you, girl’’ Jane said and continued, ‘‘when you ran into that building, he was suddenly gone, like, nowhere to be seen. The firefighters were called immediately and I called Rose and Kenna, who actually arrived before the firefighters. We still didn't see a trace of you and we were getting really worried. Then suddenly Mr. Hayes steps out with your mom in his arms! The doctors arrived at that point and took her straight to the hospital and P went with them.’’ Jane said, her mind deep in thought. ‘‘Then he ran back in, and he came out with you in his arms! You were screaming in pain and I saw burn marks on your body. The doctors tried to get you into the ambulance but Mr. Hayes didn't let them. He was in all states. He must've had some sort of panic attack. He actually looked more a beast, ready to murder anyone who came close. He told the doctors to take care of the other victims first. He then walked behind the ambulance and when he walked out, you were fine. Sleeping like a baby. No more burn marks.’’

We all fell silent at that. ‘‘Mr. Hayes then let the doctors examine you and they told us you were very lucky. Because you had no visible marks and your lungs were also fine, they let you go home. Mr. Hayes drove us to your house and here we are.’’ Kenna said while grabbing my hand.

I frowned, not remembering the screaming part or anything after that. I looked at my friends, grateful I wasn't alone. ‘‘P is with my mom?’’ I asked Jane with a smile. Jane rolled her eyes and nodded, a smile touching her lips. ‘‘So, I say no school today.’’ Kenna chimed in and we all looked at her, shocked. Kenna never missed a day of school. ‘‘Let's visit your mom and then watch series and order takeaway.’’ She added with an evil grin. We all agreed at that and Moose barked behind the door, realising we were awake and wanting to join the party.

We walked Moose in the forest and then drove with Kenna to the hospital. ‘‘Mr. Hayes drives a Maserati.’’ Rose said dreamingly. ‘‘Wait. He actually drove the four of us to my house? How did your car get here, Ken?’’ I asked the girls. ‘‘He told me to give him my car keys and then he drove my car here. He must have taken a taxi.’’ Kenna explained. Huh. No taxi's drove here. Weird.

We got to the hospital and rushed in. The lady at reception told me that P slept in the room with my mom, guarding her. Even I had to admit that was pretty cute. I was the only one allowed in, since I was direct family and my friends waited for me in the hallway. I walked in and P was awake, looking at my mom with a soft look. ‘‘Hi.’’ I said, startling him. ‘‘Tris! Are you alright? Sorry I didn't check up on you, I didn't want to leave your mom!’’ P said while giving me a big hug. ‘‘That's okay P, thanks for taking care of my mom.’’ I said to him, hugging him back. ‘‘How is she?’’ I asked while looking at my mom. She was wrapped in bandages and resting peacefully. ‘‘She's okay I guess, she has burns all over her body and a nasty head wound, she hasn't woken up yet.’’ I noticed a worried tone to his voice. ‘‘What does that mean?’’ I said, taking my moms hand.

‘‘Well, she may have head trauma. We don't know when she will wake up.’’ My face drained. ‘‘But she will, right?’’ I asked him. ‘‘Yes, she will. In time. We will look after her.’’ P said while putting a hand on my shoulder. That calmed me down but worry still overrode my emotions. I can't believe the restaurant caught on fire. ‘‘How did the fire start anyway? It was more an explosion. Gas leak?’’ I asked P. P looked at me with a worried expression. ‘‘The thing is Tris, we have no idea how the fire started. The restaurant is all electric so there couldn't have been a gas explosion.’’ We looked at each other for a moment. ‘‘Okay, let's wait for the professionals to find out. There's nothing we can do now anyway. The most important thing is that we are all alive. Why don't you go home and get some rest? I will stay with mom.’’ I said to P. He smiled at me and left, promising me he would be back soon.

I FaceTimed my sister, letting her know what happened. She insisted she would get on the first flight home but I told her I would manage it. No need to worry more people, my mom was asleep and in good hands. We called for a long time, reminiscing about our childhood and telling funny stories about mom. I promised her I would visit her soon and we hung up. I sat with my mom for a while. The girls snuck in and the four of us sat around her, just talking to each other about last night, school and the upcoming year. My phone rang, signalling a text. It was from Javier.

'Hope you feel better soon and your mom will be alright. Let me know if you need anything. Maybe we can catch up and have a coffee together? Anyway, I will see you on Friday. Looking forward to it! xx Ball guy'.

I smiled. He was an alright guy. If I could get my teacher out of my head, maybe I should go on a date with him. We stayed for another two hours, all sleepy by this point. P came and sent us away, saying mom needs rest and he preferred to be alone with her. I gave him a big hug, grateful that he was doing this for us. ‘‘I'll see you tomorrow Tris, take care and don't run into any burning buildings.’’ He joked. I hit him on his arm and gave him another hug. ‘‘I'll run into 10 more burning buildings if I have to, to save you guys.’’ We said our goodbyes and went to my house, empty without my mom.

We watched three movies, ordered loads of food and ordered desserts. We all fell asleep in the pillow fort we made and in the middle of the night, I woke up by some noise. I sat up straight but couldn't see anything. Moose was sleeping in between Rose and Kenna, snoring softly. I went to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water and thought about all the things that had happened the last few days. Finally some time alone, my thoughts ran crazy. I kept seeing those dark eyes and there was just something about him that was different. I wanted to blame it on my crazy head but I swear he moved with superhuman speed yesterday. The strength of him as well and the way he didn't even flinch when he was touching the burning wood. I can't remember anything about my skin burning or screaming but apparently I magically healed when I was with him. I frowned. There must be a logical explanation for this. And otherwise I was going to find out what it was.

On the other hand, he was my teacher. Not even my teacher, but the school coordinator. And way older. I should NOT think about him. The last thing I wanted was to be kicked out of school for inappropriate behaviour. And he definitely should not lose his job over something silly. There was no future between us. Not that he was thinking about me anyway. That's it. No more teacher thinking. I should go on a date with Javier, he is nice enough. I texted Javier, asking him if he wanted to have a drink together before the party tomorrow. I immediately got a text back, even though it was 3 am.

'Definitely. Pick you up at 8!'