Chapter 3
Following the smoke, I threw open the bedroom
door.
The room was already filled with thick, black
smoke. Flames licked at the curtains.
I grabbed a pitcher of water and doused the
fire, but it just kept spreading.
In seconds, the curtains were engulfed.
The scorching heat reminded me that I couldn’t
handle this alone.
My only option was to get out.
I stumbled back to the door and heard Rick and
Gladys laughing and gloating. That was the last
<
9:00
984
“You pieces of trash! You’re starting a fire in
my home for money? What kind of humans are
you?”
Rick didn’t seem fazed at all. He crossed his
arms and sneered.
“Hey, watch it. We haven’t even opened the
lock. How could we start a fire inside?”
Gladys chimed in, pretending to be nice.
“Yeah, you gotta let Rick open the door. Your life is worth more than a couple bucks!”
I couldn’t believe I was still being blackmailed. My anger boiled over, and I started pounding on
the door, screaming for help.
Mrs. Davison from the eighth floor was heading
down and heard me. She hesitated near my
door and called out, “What’s going on here? I
hear someone yelling!”
<
9:00
I tried to yell back, but the smoke made me cough so hard I couldn’t speak.
Then I heard Gladys pull Mrs. Davison aside.
“It’s that woman from 1502. She’s stuck inside. Rick’s trying to open the lock. It’ll be fine.”
Mrs. Davison didn’t ask any more questions and
wandered off.
As soon as she was gone, Rick leaned in close
to the door and hissed, “Two grand and your life. Think about it. Don’t be stupid.”
I gasped, “What? It was eight hundred just now!
How did it turn into two grand?!”
Rick laughed, his voice thick with greed.
“This ain’t just a locksmith fee anymore. Eight
hundred was for the lock. Two grand is for your
life.”
984
<
I was furious, but helpless.
Just then, a little girl ran out of the kitchen.
I grabbed her. The girl was clutching her chest,
she could barely breathe. When I realized who
she was, I froze.
“What? Why are you here?!”
The girl, Lily, was Rick and Gladys’s only daughter.
The answer to the riddle that had haunted me
for two lifetimes suddenly became clear.
That was why the fire had started even though I’d gotten home early. She was the one who had snuck into my apartment. But because I was earlier than before, she wasn’t able to run out.
Lily was about the same age as my daughter.
<
She couldn’t even understand the concept of
right and wrong, that she was ordered by her
parents to start the fire!
Forcing myself to calm down, I looked at her
and said, “Lily, you don’t want to burn to death
in here with me, right? Your dad’s right outside. Tell him to open the door.”
She covered her mouth, about to speak, when her face turned red and she coughed.
I knew what that meant. She was about to have an asthma attack.
She was about to pass out. I grabbed her and yelled at the door. “Open the door now! Your daughter’s having an asthma attack!”
