Forgetting You

The extinguisher was large, but I knew from experience that the contents of the can would run out quicker than most people would expect. I lifted it up, took a few deep breaths of clean air, then I ran. The fire hadn’t spread to the entire floor or to all the sections of the walls and ceiling. I jumped and crouched and kept my body in the fire-free zones. As soon as I reached flat 406, I didn’t hesitate; I kicked it open and instantly stumbled back when flames darted out of the doorway.

“Fuck!” I paled as dread slammed into me with the intensity of the flames that surrounded me. The smoke was thick and overwhelming, and breathing it in caused my lungs to burn. “Noah! Noah, can you hear me?”

I pointed the nozzle at the base of the flames and sprayed. The CO2 helped, but the fire inside Anderson’s flat was bad. The smell of petrol was heavier inside the room and I knew this piece of shit was the cause of it. I felt it in my bones. Using a now-fire-free patch of floor, I reserved the remainder of the extinguisher and hopped and weaved on to dry patches of floor. I dipped into the kitchen and quickly ran the water at the sink. I took my T-shirt off and completely soaked it, then I pulled it back on. I soaked my hair and body, and used a pot of water to douse my trousers in the liquid too.

I dropped the pot on the floor when I heard a scream.

“Noah!” I roared. “Noah, I’m here!”

I grabbed the extinguisher and followed the sound of the scream, spraying CO2 on the worst of the fire in the hallway that I assumed led to a bedroom. I began to cough as oxygen around me was replaced by thick, black smoke. When I reached the end of the hallway, I kicked the door open. The second my eyes landed on what I was seeing, I dropped the can and shot forward. Anderson, that sorry excuse for a man, was on top of Noah and he was strangling her.

“No!”

My hands gripped his neck and arm and I forcibly yanked him off her. He hit the ground with a thud, and I unleashed my fury, and fear, upon him. I cracked my fists into his jaw, nose, chest, and any other piece of flesh I could connect to. My body was shaking with anger, and I only stopped hitting Anderson, who was so dazed that he couldn’t even fight back, to look at Noah when she moaned in obvious pain.

She looked right at me, but then her eyes rolled back. I jumped on to the bed and gathered her up in my arms, and I almost cheered in delight when I heard the sirens of fire engines. My brothers were coming to help me.

I shook Noah and she moaned again. I could hear the roar of the flames as they ate their way through the flat, inching closer and closer to the bedroom. The smoke had already begun to fill the room, and I knew that at that very moment, it was the immediate threat.

“Noah.” I shook her. “Sweetheart, wake up.”

Her eyes opened, and it took her a minute to focus on me, but when she did, she gasped.

“It’s Anderson,” she coughed, as under her nostrils darkened with soot. “He chased me and Bailey that night, I was leaving him and he tried to kill me because of it. He forced the crash . . . he killed Bailey. I remember it, Elliot. I remember everything about that night!”

I was stunned into silence.

“I recorded it all,” she said as she fumbled with her dress.

She pulled out her phone, tapped on the screen then pushed it at me.

“Keep it safe,” she rasped. “Protect it. It’ll put him in prison.”

I looked from Noah to the phone, then pocketed it.

“You remember?”

“Just that night,” she answered, groaning as her hand went to her head. “I was leaving him. I phoned Bailey and she came to pick me up, she came to help me and he chased us. Elliot, if I hadn’t phoned her—”

“No,” I cut her off. “Don’t. This is not your fault, it’s his.”

I looked down at Anderson. He wasn’t moving, but the rise and fall of his chest told me he was still alive.

“He beat me,” Noah whimpered. “He broke me, Elliot. It’s why I stayed with him and cut everyone out. He controlled everything I did. I never loved him though. I thought I did, but it was always you.”

I heard Noah as if she’d screamed every word.

“He beat you?”

She nodded and began to cough once more, wincing in pain as her hands touched her throat. Her already-bruised throat. I had to close my eyes for a moment and focus every ounce of my energy on getting Noah out of the building and not putting her down to kick the fucking life out of Anderson Riley. He’d killed my sister. He’d abused Noah. I wanted to hurt him, to make him feel pain he could never imagine feeling.