Excerpt: Watching the Clouds

This is what happened.

...

At first I was frozen on the spot; shocked, the adrenaline pumping itself through but not being able to break the horror in my mind. I just stood and watched as the house three doors down, surrounded by spectators – all of whom I recognised from living in the street also – billowed dark smoke from its windows and showed us what happens when an old net curtain left there from the previous inhabitants gets caught on fire and burns like a body screaming for mercy.

Tears pricked my eyes as I watched. My feet began to twitch in my trainers, eager to get moving again. But I couldn’t at that moment; I was being held back by disbelief at what I was seeing. My own house was burning before my eyes – I was witnessing the death of my brother.

...

I can’t remember much about what happened next. I remember the orange and grey, and the deafening roars of the fire, but that’s about it. I don’t remember somehow reaching my brother’s room and heaving his lifeless body back down the stairs and out the front door. I don’t remember ever dropping him on the concrete, or having him dragged away by the newly arrived Ambulance crew.

But, what I do remember is looking up at the sky and suddenly seeing blue. The clearest, sharpest blue. And then I was watching the clouds, seeing the different shapes like bunnies and mountains and flowers and hearts. It was like suddenly I was seeing everything clearly again, like the missing piece from my life had finally been put back.

Like I said. This is what happened.