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Drunk Cow wrote:
>Make a topic about a fire disaster!!!!!
“Christ, it’s not morning already, is it?” Thought Brian, as the beeping woke him up. He reached out with his hand and mashed the top of the alarm clock, but the beeping continued.
He turned his head to look at the time.
3:17
It wasn’t his alarm clock beeping, it was the smoke detector!
Brian sat up, and fumbled for the lamp switch. He turned it on then got out of his makeshift bed.
For a moment he was confused by his surroundings, he hadn’t got used to sleeping in the spare room yet, and hoped that he wouldn’t have to get used to it.
Brian moved to the door, and pushed it open. He could smell smoke. He saw that the living room door was ajar, and the smoke appeared to be coming from there. He pushed the door further open, and could instantly feel the heat of a fire raging in the room. The two-seater sofa was ablaze, flames dancing their way further across it.
Brian ran into the kitchen and begun to fill the washing up bowl with water.
“Come on!” he screamed at the taps as they trickled out the water.
With the bowl still half empty Brian picked it up and ran into the living room. He threw the water onto the flames, dousing a small section, but it had spread further whilst he was filling the bowl.
“Brian?” called a voice from the top of the stairs. It was his wife, Penny.
As Brian was about to respond he heard the sound of smashing glass. He went back into the kitchen, and from there he could see what had happened, someone had thrown something through the dinning room window. Another smash followed seconds later, and fire erupted over the table.
“Penny!” Called Brain, “wake the kids!”
He ran through the hall and started up the stairs. Penny was still standing at the top fully dressed, but looking dazed. The sound of the smoke alarm could barely be heard from up there, thought Brian, though he was sure he’d tested the upstairs alarm recently.
“Quick, we have to get the kids up, get out of here, the house is on fire!” He said, cursing his mind for wandering for even a second.
Penny’s eyes opened wider, “I’ll get Jake, you go wake up Sally” she said, before heading into Jake’s room.
Brian moved swiftly into Sally’s room, and moved to the end of her bed.
“Sally” He spoke loudly, but softly, he didn’t want to alarm her.
Sally was in a deep sleep though, and didn’t respond to her father’s call.
Brian pulled back her duvet and picked her up. She too was fully dressed.
“Dad?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Hi Darling, we’ve got to get out of the house. You hang on to me tightly, and everything will be alright.” Answered Brian.
Holding Sally in his arms he went into the hall where he met Penny, with Jake standing right besides her rubbing his eyes. Brain wondered why he was in his jeans and a jumper, but Jake then started to cough. Brian noticed that the smoke was now climbing the steps at quite a pace. Penny opened the door to a cupboard, and grabbed a number of hand towels.
“Hold these over your mouth” She said, “try not to breathe in the smoke.”
“Dad!” cried Sally “Why is it so smoky?” She coughed, and begun to sob.
“Come on” he said, and started down the stairs, Sally still in his arms. Penny was right behind him, dragging Jake behind her. He was coughing hard into his towel.
When Brian got to the bottom of the stairs his face sunk. Another fire had been started right by the front door. The windowpane smashed, and glass spread everywhere.
“We’ll have to go out the back” Said Brian.
As he passed the living room he looked in. There wasn't a patch of carpet not alight now, and thick smoke passed through into the hall.
“Get down, it will be less smoky on the floor.” He said as he set Sally down.
They begun crawling towards the kitchen. Brian looked back to see that Penny and Jake were also on their hands and knees, following behind. Jake began to cough again.
“Brian, it’s his asthma! He can’t breathe,” shouted Penny.
“Where’s his inhaler?” Brain asked.
“By his bed!” Replied Penny
“What about the spare?” Brian asked
“Might be in one of the drawers in the kitchen.” Said Penny.
Once in the kitchen Brian pointed towards the dinning room.
“See if there’s a path through the fire to the patio, I’ll look in these drawers.” Said Brain, crawling towards the units.
“Take the kids with you, you have to get them out of here!” shouted Brian as he begun to rifle through the drawers. Jake was coughing heavily.
“He can’t go on though, he can barely breathe!” said Penny.
“Then take Sally, I’ll bring Jake once I’ve found his inhaler.”
Brain threw the entire cutlery collection out from the top drawer, them emptied the tea towels from the second. No sign of the inhaler so far. He moved on to the bottom drawer, it was full of papers and all sorts of odds and ends. Brian spotted the inhaler, and moved over to Jake. Brian pulled off the cover, and stuck the end into Jake’s mouth, he gave it a squirt, and Jake breathed in heavily.
There was a crash. Brain looked round to see that the doorway to the dinning room had given way.
“Penny!” He cried.
“Brian” she shouted back. “It’s okay, we’re outside! Is Jake alright?”
“He will be, I have to get him out of here though. I’m going to open the window and pass him out to you”
Brain sat Jake on one of the units, and encouraged him to hold the towel to his mouth. He looked around to see the fire spreading behind him, all through the hall. He pulled at the latch on the window, then pushed it open. The flames welcomed in the oxygen, flaring up and into the kitchen. Brian helped Jake to dangle his legs out of the window.
“Penny, can you get to Jake?”
Brian didn’t need to answer when he saw a pair of hands grab hold of his son, and pull him out of the burning house.
But they weren’t Penny’s hands.
Brian heard a familiar voice “Why were you still in there? Three o’clock, we agreed.” He couldn’t place it though, it just didn’t make sense.
He climbed up onto the side, ready to climb out of the window.
“Not so fast”
It was David. An old friend of Brian’s. He had been Brian’s Best Man at his wedding. But what was going on? The smoke had clouded Brian’s head, he felt dizzy. He tried to make sense of all that he had seen in the last few minutes. Someone had clearly been attacking his house, deliberately setting it on fire. His wife and children had been dressed, just after 3 in the morning.
Why hadn’t Penny picked up Jake’s asthma inhaler when she got him out of bed? Because it was already packed, that’s why.
Why hadn’t the smoke alarm gone off upstairs? Perhaps the battery had been removed, and the one in the hall downstairs by the spare room had been forgotten about.
Now David was blocking his path out of the house.
Brian’s mind cleared, and he kicked out towards David, knocking him back a step or two. Brian shuffled towards the window, ready to jump out. He looked back at David, and the last thing he saw was a handgun pointed right at him. The shot was barely audible over the sound of the fire raging away, now spread throughout the ground floor of the house.
Brian’s body fell back onto the hard kitchen floor until a brave fire fighter pulled him out.
Penny had insisted that someone save her husband who had passed out in the kitchen after saving them all. She even managed a tear or two.
Once the fire was under control David explained what had been going on to an inspector.
“I came here tonight to meet David. He had a lot of problems with gambling, had borrowed money from the wrong people, he said he needed help to sort it out. He had something planned, or so he reckoned, and he needed my help. I didn’t know what he was going to do, ha wouldn’t tell me until I got here. But when I arrived the house was on fire, that’s when I called you.”
“Mr Farino, Brian, died from a gun shot wound though, did you see anyone else around?” asked the inspector.
“He was shot? That’s terrible. I looked in the window and saw him lying there, we thought the smoke had caused him to pass out!”
“That’s understandable. So you didn’t see anyone else?”
“Well yes, now you mention it I did hear someone running off from the side of the house, I suppose I may have heard the shot too, but I assumed it was something in the house. I came straight over to Penny and the children, to check they were alright.”
The investigation lasted some time. Inspectors were able to find some papers in the bedroom (the one Brian hadn’t been into for some time) that were thought to be details of Brian’s illegal loan, but it was impossible to gather details from what remained of them. Brian was buried as both hero and villain. He saved his family, but ultimately, it was said, that if it weren’t for his gambling problems, they never would have been in danger.
Family and friends of Brian and Penny had said that they knew nothing about Brian’s problem, and that she must have had so much to cope with, dealing with it alone. Penny burst into tears during several of these conversations, she’d always been good at turning on the waterworks.
Less than six months after the funeral Penny’s family gathered again to see her marry the man that had helped her through the difficult months following Brian’s death. They commented that Brian would be happy for his best friend to take care of her now he was unable to. They said that they’d put on a really good do too. Plenty of food, great decorations, fantastic disco, free bar, but then again they could afford to. Brian’s life had been insured for a surprisingly large sum.
>Make a topic about a fire disaster!!!!!
“Christ, it’s not morning already, is it?” Thought Brian, as the beeping woke him up. He reached out with his hand and mashed the top of the alarm clock, but the beeping continued.
He turned his head to look at the time.
3:17
It wasn’t his alarm clock beeping, it was the smoke detector!
Brian sat up, and fumbled for the lamp switch. He turned it on then got out of his makeshift bed.
For a moment he was confused by his surroundings, he hadn’t got used to sleeping in the spare room yet, and hoped that he wouldn’t have to get used to it.
Brian moved to the door, and pushed it open. He could smell smoke. He saw that the living room door was ajar, and the smoke appeared to be coming from there. He pushed the door further open, and could instantly feel the heat of a fire raging in the room. The two-seater sofa was ablaze, flames dancing their way further across it.
Brian ran into the kitchen and begun to fill the washing up bowl with water.
“Come on!” he screamed at the taps as they trickled out the water.
With the bowl still half empty Brian picked it up and ran into the living room. He threw the water onto the flames, dousing a small section, but it had spread further whilst he was filling the bowl.
“Brian?” called a voice from the top of the stairs. It was his wife, Penny.
As Brian was about to respond he heard the sound of smashing glass. He went back into the kitchen, and from there he could see what had happened, someone had thrown something through the dinning room window. Another smash followed seconds later, and fire erupted over the table.
“Penny!” Called Brain, “wake the kids!”
He ran through the hall and started up the stairs. Penny was still standing at the top fully dressed, but looking dazed. The sound of the smoke alarm could barely be heard from up there, thought Brian, though he was sure he’d tested the upstairs alarm recently.
“Quick, we have to get the kids up, get out of here, the house is on fire!” He said, cursing his mind for wandering for even a second.
Penny’s eyes opened wider, “I’ll get Jake, you go wake up Sally” she said, before heading into Jake’s room.
Brian moved swiftly into Sally’s room, and moved to the end of her bed.
“Sally” He spoke loudly, but softly, he didn’t want to alarm her.
Sally was in a deep sleep though, and didn’t respond to her father’s call.
Brian pulled back her duvet and picked her up. She too was fully dressed.
“Dad?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Hi Darling, we’ve got to get out of the house. You hang on to me tightly, and everything will be alright.” Answered Brian.
Holding Sally in his arms he went into the hall where he met Penny, with Jake standing right besides her rubbing his eyes. Brain wondered why he was in his jeans and a jumper, but Jake then started to cough. Brian noticed that the smoke was now climbing the steps at quite a pace. Penny opened the door to a cupboard, and grabbed a number of hand towels.
“Hold these over your mouth” She said, “try not to breathe in the smoke.”
“Dad!” cried Sally “Why is it so smoky?” She coughed, and begun to sob.
“Come on” he said, and started down the stairs, Sally still in his arms. Penny was right behind him, dragging Jake behind her. He was coughing hard into his towel.
When Brian got to the bottom of the stairs his face sunk. Another fire had been started right by the front door. The windowpane smashed, and glass spread everywhere.
“We’ll have to go out the back” Said Brian.
As he passed the living room he looked in. There wasn't a patch of carpet not alight now, and thick smoke passed through into the hall.
“Get down, it will be less smoky on the floor.” He said as he set Sally down.
They begun crawling towards the kitchen. Brian looked back to see that Penny and Jake were also on their hands and knees, following behind. Jake began to cough again.
“Brian, it’s his asthma! He can’t breathe,” shouted Penny.
“Where’s his inhaler?” Brain asked.
“By his bed!” Replied Penny
“What about the spare?” Brian asked
“Might be in one of the drawers in the kitchen.” Said Penny.
Once in the kitchen Brian pointed towards the dinning room.
“See if there’s a path through the fire to the patio, I’ll look in these drawers.” Said Brain, crawling towards the units.
“Take the kids with you, you have to get them out of here!” shouted Brian as he begun to rifle through the drawers. Jake was coughing heavily.
“He can’t go on though, he can barely breathe!” said Penny.
“Then take Sally, I’ll bring Jake once I’ve found his inhaler.”
Brain threw the entire cutlery collection out from the top drawer, them emptied the tea towels from the second. No sign of the inhaler so far. He moved on to the bottom drawer, it was full of papers and all sorts of odds and ends. Brian spotted the inhaler, and moved over to Jake. Brian pulled off the cover, and stuck the end into Jake’s mouth, he gave it a squirt, and Jake breathed in heavily.
There was a crash. Brain looked round to see that the doorway to the dinning room had given way.
“Penny!” He cried.
“Brian” she shouted back. “It’s okay, we’re outside! Is Jake alright?”
“He will be, I have to get him out of here though. I’m going to open the window and pass him out to you”
Brain sat Jake on one of the units, and encouraged him to hold the towel to his mouth. He looked around to see the fire spreading behind him, all through the hall. He pulled at the latch on the window, then pushed it open. The flames welcomed in the oxygen, flaring up and into the kitchen. Brian helped Jake to dangle his legs out of the window.
“Penny, can you get to Jake?”
Brian didn’t need to answer when he saw a pair of hands grab hold of his son, and pull him out of the burning house.
But they weren’t Penny’s hands.
Brian heard a familiar voice “Why were you still in there? Three o’clock, we agreed.” He couldn’t place it though, it just didn’t make sense.
He climbed up onto the side, ready to climb out of the window.
“Not so fast”
It was David. An old friend of Brian’s. He had been Brian’s Best Man at his wedding. But what was going on? The smoke had clouded Brian’s head, he felt dizzy. He tried to make sense of all that he had seen in the last few minutes. Someone had clearly been attacking his house, deliberately setting it on fire. His wife and children had been dressed, just after 3 in the morning.
Why hadn’t Penny picked up Jake’s asthma inhaler when she got him out of bed? Because it was already packed, that’s why.
Why hadn’t the smoke alarm gone off upstairs? Perhaps the battery had been removed, and the one in the hall downstairs by the spare room had been forgotten about.
Now David was blocking his path out of the house.
Brian’s mind cleared, and he kicked out towards David, knocking him back a step or two. Brian shuffled towards the window, ready to jump out. He looked back at David, and the last thing he saw was a handgun pointed right at him. The shot was barely audible over the sound of the fire raging away, now spread throughout the ground floor of the house.
Brian’s body fell back onto the hard kitchen floor until a brave fire fighter pulled him out.
Penny had insisted that someone save her husband who had passed out in the kitchen after saving them all. She even managed a tear or two.
Once the fire was under control David explained what had been going on to an inspector.
“I came here tonight to meet David. He had a lot of problems with gambling, had borrowed money from the wrong people, he said he needed help to sort it out. He had something planned, or so he reckoned, and he needed my help. I didn’t know what he was going to do, ha wouldn’t tell me until I got here. But when I arrived the house was on fire, that’s when I called you.”
“Mr Farino, Brian, died from a gun shot wound though, did you see anyone else around?” asked the inspector.
“He was shot? That’s terrible. I looked in the window and saw him lying there, we thought the smoke had caused him to pass out!”
“That’s understandable. So you didn’t see anyone else?”
“Well yes, now you mention it I did hear someone running off from the side of the house, I suppose I may have heard the shot too, but I assumed it was something in the house. I came straight over to Penny and the children, to check they were alright.”
The investigation lasted some time. Inspectors were able to find some papers in the bedroom (the one Brian hadn’t been into for some time) that were thought to be details of Brian’s illegal loan, but it was impossible to gather details from what remained of them. Brian was buried as both hero and villain. He saved his family, but ultimately, it was said, that if it weren’t for his gambling problems, they never would have been in danger.
Family and friends of Brian and Penny had said that they knew nothing about Brian’s problem, and that she must have had so much to cope with, dealing with it alone. Penny burst into tears during several of these conversations, she’d always been good at turning on the waterworks.
Less than six months after the funeral Penny’s family gathered again to see her marry the man that had helped her through the difficult months following Brian’s death. They commented that Brian would be happy for his best friend to take care of her now he was unable to. They said that they’d put on a really good do too. Plenty of food, great decorations, fantastic disco, free bar, but then again they could afford to. Brian’s life had been insured for a surprisingly large sum.
He'll have to wait for tommorow for the GADs to be announced.
Meka that ruled. Lots of romantic backstabbing and action! These stories that you are testing may even win you a hand full of GADs. Nice job dude.
Azul²°°³ wrote:
> Fantastic Meka, every word. Great stuff, the descriptive detailing was
> brill.
> Nice. You called him Brain a few times though.....
> :-D
Damn these clumsy fingers!
:o)
Psycho Fow wrote:
>But it wasn't too clear on who said what to the inspectors, since in >books they go "she said" or "David said".
It's vague so you don't really know. It's there if you read between the lines, but I didn't want to spell it out.
I think a weak point is the gun. David should have clubbed Brian over the head, and made it look like an accident in the fire.
but anyway, there was no real gambling debt, this was made up as an excuse for an attack on the house, documents relating to it were fake, and already partially burnt. Brian's life insurance was high, because Penny had plotted this for some time.
thanks for the comments, by the way.
> Fantastic Meka, every word. Great stuff, the descriptive detailing was
> brill.
> Nice. You called him Brain a few times though.....
> :-D
Damn these clumsy fingers!
:o)
Psycho Fow wrote:
>But it wasn't too clear on who said what to the inspectors, since in >books they go "she said" or "David said".
It's vague so you don't really know. It's there if you read between the lines, but I didn't want to spell it out.
I think a weak point is the gun. David should have clubbed Brian over the head, and made it look like an accident in the fire.
but anyway, there was no real gambling debt, this was made up as an excuse for an attack on the house, documents relating to it were fake, and already partially burnt. Brian's life insurance was high, because Penny had plotted this for some time.
thanks for the comments, by the way.
But it wasn't too clear on who said what to the inspectors, since in books they go "she said" or "David said".
Yeah, it was a set up for the Life Insurance money.
Fantastic Meka, every word. Great stuff, the descriptive detailing was brill.
Nice. You called him Brain a few times though.....
:-D
Nice. You called him Brain a few times though.....
:-D
I don't understand, did David shoot Brian so he could marry Penny and claim Brian's huge life insurance?
Drunk Cow wrote:
>Make a topic about a fire disaster!!!!!
“Christ, it’s not morning already, is it?” Thought Brian, as the beeping woke him up. He reached out with his hand and mashed the top of the alarm clock, but the beeping continued.
He turned his head to look at the time.
3:17
It wasn’t his alarm clock beeping, it was the smoke detector!
Brian sat up, and fumbled for the lamp switch. He turned it on then got out of his makeshift bed.
For a moment he was confused by his surroundings, he hadn’t got used to sleeping in the spare room yet, and hoped that he wouldn’t have to get used to it.
Brian moved to the door, and pushed it open. He could smell smoke. He saw that the living room door was ajar, and the smoke appeared to be coming from there. He pushed the door further open, and could instantly feel the heat of a fire raging in the room. The two-seater sofa was ablaze, flames dancing their way further across it.
Brian ran into the kitchen and begun to fill the washing up bowl with water.
“Come on!” he screamed at the taps as they trickled out the water.
With the bowl still half empty Brian picked it up and ran into the living room. He threw the water onto the flames, dousing a small section, but it had spread further whilst he was filling the bowl.
“Brian?” called a voice from the top of the stairs. It was his wife, Penny.
As Brian was about to respond he heard the sound of smashing glass. He went back into the kitchen, and from there he could see what had happened, someone had thrown something through the dinning room window. Another smash followed seconds later, and fire erupted over the table.
“Penny!” Called Brain, “wake the kids!”
He ran through the hall and started up the stairs. Penny was still standing at the top fully dressed, but looking dazed. The sound of the smoke alarm could barely be heard from up there, thought Brian, though he was sure he’d tested the upstairs alarm recently.
“Quick, we have to get the kids up, get out of here, the house is on fire!” He said, cursing his mind for wandering for even a second.
Penny’s eyes opened wider, “I’ll get Jake, you go wake up Sally” she said, before heading into Jake’s room.
Brian moved swiftly into Sally’s room, and moved to the end of her bed.
“Sally” He spoke loudly, but softly, he didn’t want to alarm her.
Sally was in a deep sleep though, and didn’t respond to her father’s call.
Brian pulled back her duvet and picked her up. She too was fully dressed.
“Dad?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Hi Darling, we’ve got to get out of the house. You hang on to me tightly, and everything will be alright.” Answered Brian.
Holding Sally in his arms he went into the hall where he met Penny, with Jake standing right besides her rubbing his eyes. Brain wondered why he was in his jeans and a jumper, but Jake then started to cough. Brian noticed that the smoke was now climbing the steps at quite a pace. Penny opened the door to a cupboard, and grabbed a number of hand towels.
“Hold these over your mouth” She said, “try not to breathe in the smoke.”
“Dad!” cried Sally “Why is it so smoky?” She coughed, and begun to sob.
“Come on” he said, and started down the stairs, Sally still in his arms. Penny was right behind him, dragging Jake behind her. He was coughing hard into his towel.
When Brian got to the bottom of the stairs his face sunk. Another fire had been started right by the front door. The windowpane smashed, and glass spread everywhere.
“We’ll have to go out the back” Said Brian.
As he passed the living room he looked in. There wasn't a patch of carpet not alight now, and thick smoke passed through into the hall.
“Get down, it will be less smoky on the floor.” He said as he set Sally down.
They begun crawling towards the kitchen. Brian looked back to see that Penny and Jake were also on their hands and knees, following behind. Jake began to cough again.
“Brian, it’s his asthma! He can’t breathe,” shouted Penny.
“Where’s his inhaler?” Brain asked.
“By his bed!” Replied Penny
“What about the spare?” Brian asked
“Might be in one of the drawers in the kitchen.” Said Penny.
Once in the kitchen Brian pointed towards the dinning room.
“See if there’s a path through the fire to the patio, I’ll look in these drawers.” Said Brain, crawling towards the units.
“Take the kids with you, you have to get them out of here!” shouted Brian as he begun to rifle through the drawers. Jake was coughing heavily.
“He can’t go on though, he can barely breathe!” said Penny.
“Then take Sally, I’ll bring Jake once I’ve found his inhaler.”
Brain threw the entire cutlery collection out from the top drawer, them emptied the tea towels from the second. No sign of the inhaler so far. He moved on to the bottom drawer, it was full of papers and all sorts of odds and ends. Brian spotted the inhaler, and moved over to Jake. Brian pulled off the cover, and stuck the end into Jake’s mouth, he gave it a squirt, and Jake breathed in heavily.
There was a crash. Brain looked round to see that the doorway to the dinning room had given way.
“Penny!” He cried.
“Brian” she shouted back. “It’s okay, we’re outside! Is Jake alright?”
“He will be, I have to get him out of here though. I’m going to open the window and pass him out to you”
Brain sat Jake on one of the units, and encouraged him to hold the towel to his mouth. He looked around to see the fire spreading behind him, all through the hall. He pulled at the latch on the window, then pushed it open. The flames welcomed in the oxygen, flaring up and into the kitchen. Brian helped Jake to dangle his legs out of the window.
“Penny, can you get to Jake?”
Brian didn’t need to answer when he saw a pair of hands grab hold of his son, and pull him out of the burning house.
But they weren’t Penny’s hands.
Brian heard a familiar voice “Why were you still in there? Three o’clock, we agreed.” He couldn’t place it though, it just didn’t make sense.
He climbed up onto the side, ready to climb out of the window.
“Not so fast”
It was David. An old friend of Brian’s. He had been Brian’s Best Man at his wedding. But what was going on? The smoke had clouded Brian’s head, he felt dizzy. He tried to make sense of all that he had seen in the last few minutes. Someone had clearly been attacking his house, deliberately setting it on fire. His wife and children had been dressed, just after 3 in the morning.
Why hadn’t Penny picked up Jake’s asthma inhaler when she got him out of bed? Because it was already packed, that’s why.
Why hadn’t the smoke alarm gone off upstairs? Perhaps the battery had been removed, and the one in the hall downstairs by the spare room had been forgotten about.
Now David was blocking his path out of the house.
Brian’s mind cleared, and he kicked out towards David, knocking him back a step or two. Brian shuffled towards the window, ready to jump out. He looked back at David, and the last thing he saw was a handgun pointed right at him. The shot was barely audible over the sound of the fire raging away, now spread throughout the ground floor of the house.
Brian’s body fell back onto the hard kitchen floor until a brave fire fighter pulled him out.
Penny had insisted that someone save her husband who had passed out in the kitchen after saving them all. She even managed a tear or two.
Once the fire was under control David explained what had been going on to an inspector.
“I came here tonight to meet David. He had a lot of problems with gambling, had borrowed money from the wrong people, he said he needed help to sort it out. He had something planned, or so he reckoned, and he needed my help. I didn’t know what he was going to do, ha wouldn’t tell me until I got here. But when I arrived the house was on fire, that’s when I called you.”
“Mr Farino, Brian, died from a gun shot wound though, did you see anyone else around?” asked the inspector.
“He was shot? That’s terrible. I looked in the window and saw him lying there, we thought the smoke had caused him to pass out!”
“That’s understandable. So you didn’t see anyone else?”
“Well yes, now you mention it I did hear someone running off from the side of the house, I suppose I may have heard the shot too, but I assumed it was something in the house. I came straight over to Penny and the children, to check they were alright.”
The investigation lasted some time. Inspectors were able to find some papers in the bedroom (the one Brian hadn’t been into for some time) that were thought to be details of Brian’s illegal loan, but it was impossible to gather details from what remained of them. Brian was buried as both hero and villain. He saved his family, but ultimately, it was said, that if it weren’t for his gambling problems, they never would have been in danger.
Family and friends of Brian and Penny had said that they knew nothing about Brian’s problem, and that she must have had so much to cope with, dealing with it alone. Penny burst into tears during several of these conversations, she’d always been good at turning on the waterworks.
Less than six months after the funeral Penny’s family gathered again to see her marry the man that had helped her through the difficult months following Brian’s death. They commented that Brian would be happy for his best friend to take care of her now he was unable to. They said that they’d put on a really good do too. Plenty of food, great decorations, fantastic disco, free bar, but then again they could afford to. Brian’s life had been insured for a surprisingly large sum.
>Make a topic about a fire disaster!!!!!
“Christ, it’s not morning already, is it?” Thought Brian, as the beeping woke him up. He reached out with his hand and mashed the top of the alarm clock, but the beeping continued.
He turned his head to look at the time.
3:17
It wasn’t his alarm clock beeping, it was the smoke detector!
Brian sat up, and fumbled for the lamp switch. He turned it on then got out of his makeshift bed.
For a moment he was confused by his surroundings, he hadn’t got used to sleeping in the spare room yet, and hoped that he wouldn’t have to get used to it.
Brian moved to the door, and pushed it open. He could smell smoke. He saw that the living room door was ajar, and the smoke appeared to be coming from there. He pushed the door further open, and could instantly feel the heat of a fire raging in the room. The two-seater sofa was ablaze, flames dancing their way further across it.
Brian ran into the kitchen and begun to fill the washing up bowl with water.
“Come on!” he screamed at the taps as they trickled out the water.
With the bowl still half empty Brian picked it up and ran into the living room. He threw the water onto the flames, dousing a small section, but it had spread further whilst he was filling the bowl.
“Brian?” called a voice from the top of the stairs. It was his wife, Penny.
As Brian was about to respond he heard the sound of smashing glass. He went back into the kitchen, and from there he could see what had happened, someone had thrown something through the dinning room window. Another smash followed seconds later, and fire erupted over the table.
“Penny!” Called Brain, “wake the kids!”
He ran through the hall and started up the stairs. Penny was still standing at the top fully dressed, but looking dazed. The sound of the smoke alarm could barely be heard from up there, thought Brian, though he was sure he’d tested the upstairs alarm recently.
“Quick, we have to get the kids up, get out of here, the house is on fire!” He said, cursing his mind for wandering for even a second.
Penny’s eyes opened wider, “I’ll get Jake, you go wake up Sally” she said, before heading into Jake’s room.
Brian moved swiftly into Sally’s room, and moved to the end of her bed.
“Sally” He spoke loudly, but softly, he didn’t want to alarm her.
Sally was in a deep sleep though, and didn’t respond to her father’s call.
Brian pulled back her duvet and picked her up. She too was fully dressed.
“Dad?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Hi Darling, we’ve got to get out of the house. You hang on to me tightly, and everything will be alright.” Answered Brian.
Holding Sally in his arms he went into the hall where he met Penny, with Jake standing right besides her rubbing his eyes. Brain wondered why he was in his jeans and a jumper, but Jake then started to cough. Brian noticed that the smoke was now climbing the steps at quite a pace. Penny opened the door to a cupboard, and grabbed a number of hand towels.
“Hold these over your mouth” She said, “try not to breathe in the smoke.”
“Dad!” cried Sally “Why is it so smoky?” She coughed, and begun to sob.
“Come on” he said, and started down the stairs, Sally still in his arms. Penny was right behind him, dragging Jake behind her. He was coughing hard into his towel.
When Brian got to the bottom of the stairs his face sunk. Another fire had been started right by the front door. The windowpane smashed, and glass spread everywhere.
“We’ll have to go out the back” Said Brian.
As he passed the living room he looked in. There wasn't a patch of carpet not alight now, and thick smoke passed through into the hall.
“Get down, it will be less smoky on the floor.” He said as he set Sally down.
They begun crawling towards the kitchen. Brian looked back to see that Penny and Jake were also on their hands and knees, following behind. Jake began to cough again.
“Brian, it’s his asthma! He can’t breathe,” shouted Penny.
“Where’s his inhaler?” Brain asked.
“By his bed!” Replied Penny
“What about the spare?” Brian asked
“Might be in one of the drawers in the kitchen.” Said Penny.
Once in the kitchen Brian pointed towards the dinning room.
“See if there’s a path through the fire to the patio, I’ll look in these drawers.” Said Brain, crawling towards the units.
“Take the kids with you, you have to get them out of here!” shouted Brian as he begun to rifle through the drawers. Jake was coughing heavily.
“He can’t go on though, he can barely breathe!” said Penny.
“Then take Sally, I’ll bring Jake once I’ve found his inhaler.”
Brain threw the entire cutlery collection out from the top drawer, them emptied the tea towels from the second. No sign of the inhaler so far. He moved on to the bottom drawer, it was full of papers and all sorts of odds and ends. Brian spotted the inhaler, and moved over to Jake. Brian pulled off the cover, and stuck the end into Jake’s mouth, he gave it a squirt, and Jake breathed in heavily.
There was a crash. Brain looked round to see that the doorway to the dinning room had given way.
“Penny!” He cried.
“Brian” she shouted back. “It’s okay, we’re outside! Is Jake alright?”
“He will be, I have to get him out of here though. I’m going to open the window and pass him out to you”
Brain sat Jake on one of the units, and encouraged him to hold the towel to his mouth. He looked around to see the fire spreading behind him, all through the hall. He pulled at the latch on the window, then pushed it open. The flames welcomed in the oxygen, flaring up and into the kitchen. Brian helped Jake to dangle his legs out of the window.
“Penny, can you get to Jake?”
Brian didn’t need to answer when he saw a pair of hands grab hold of his son, and pull him out of the burning house.
But they weren’t Penny’s hands.
Brian heard a familiar voice “Why were you still in there? Three o’clock, we agreed.” He couldn’t place it though, it just didn’t make sense.
He climbed up onto the side, ready to climb out of the window.
“Not so fast”
It was David. An old friend of Brian’s. He had been Brian’s Best Man at his wedding. But what was going on? The smoke had clouded Brian’s head, he felt dizzy. He tried to make sense of all that he had seen in the last few minutes. Someone had clearly been attacking his house, deliberately setting it on fire. His wife and children had been dressed, just after 3 in the morning.
Why hadn’t Penny picked up Jake’s asthma inhaler when she got him out of bed? Because it was already packed, that’s why.
Why hadn’t the smoke alarm gone off upstairs? Perhaps the battery had been removed, and the one in the hall downstairs by the spare room had been forgotten about.
Now David was blocking his path out of the house.
Brian’s mind cleared, and he kicked out towards David, knocking him back a step or two. Brian shuffled towards the window, ready to jump out. He looked back at David, and the last thing he saw was a handgun pointed right at him. The shot was barely audible over the sound of the fire raging away, now spread throughout the ground floor of the house.
Brian’s body fell back onto the hard kitchen floor until a brave fire fighter pulled him out.
Penny had insisted that someone save her husband who had passed out in the kitchen after saving them all. She even managed a tear or two.
Once the fire was under control David explained what had been going on to an inspector.
“I came here tonight to meet David. He had a lot of problems with gambling, had borrowed money from the wrong people, he said he needed help to sort it out. He had something planned, or so he reckoned, and he needed my help. I didn’t know what he was going to do, ha wouldn’t tell me until I got here. But when I arrived the house was on fire, that’s when I called you.”
“Mr Farino, Brian, died from a gun shot wound though, did you see anyone else around?” asked the inspector.
“He was shot? That’s terrible. I looked in the window and saw him lying there, we thought the smoke had caused him to pass out!”
“That’s understandable. So you didn’t see anyone else?”
“Well yes, now you mention it I did hear someone running off from the side of the house, I suppose I may have heard the shot too, but I assumed it was something in the house. I came straight over to Penny and the children, to check they were alright.”
The investigation lasted some time. Inspectors were able to find some papers in the bedroom (the one Brian hadn’t been into for some time) that were thought to be details of Brian’s illegal loan, but it was impossible to gather details from what remained of them. Brian was buried as both hero and villain. He saved his family, but ultimately, it was said, that if it weren’t for his gambling problems, they never would have been in danger.
Family and friends of Brian and Penny had said that they knew nothing about Brian’s problem, and that she must have had so much to cope with, dealing with it alone. Penny burst into tears during several of these conversations, she’d always been good at turning on the waterworks.
Less than six months after the funeral Penny’s family gathered again to see her marry the man that had helped her through the difficult months following Brian’s death. They commented that Brian would be happy for his best friend to take care of her now he was unable to. They said that they’d put on a really good do too. Plenty of food, great decorations, fantastic disco, free bar, but then again they could afford to. Brian’s life had been insured for a surprisingly large sum.