Ninety Seven

CHAPTER 97

It was a call from her parents in New York. And Alicia immediately took the call.

"Hello, Mom-" The voice on the other end made Alicia round her eyes in surprise. "Mom? Mom!"

Without waiting long, Alicia quickly put the cell phone in her backpack on the table, and ran out of the house.

While running in a hurry, she stopped a taxi on the side of the road. When the car stopped, Alicia jumped in and buckled up. She tapped the taxi driver on the shoulder and shouted, "We're going to Avenue Street now! Please hurry, my parents are in danger!"

"Yes, Miss," the taxi driver replied with an obedient nod.

Alicia took her cell phone out of her backpack halfway through the ride and called Nicholas. Nicholas was the only person Alicia could think of in such an urgent situation, and lucky for her, he answered her call immediately.

"Hello, Nic?"

[Hello, Alicia? Why are you calling me so early in the morning? There-]

"My parents are in danger! There's been an explosion!"

But the sound of Nicholas' voice on the other side soon made Alicia realize that Nicholas had just woken up.

[uhm-hm, what did you say?]

"Explosion, Nic! It was an explosion!"

[What?! Where are you now?]

Alicia breathed a sigh of relief, at least she knew that Nicholas had managed to collect his life in just a few seconds. The girl looked out through the taxi window, then replied, "Avenue Street. I'm on my way there now."

[Okay, I'll go now.]

The explosion Alicia spoke of was just a guess. She heard the sound of an explosion on the phone, but the girl didn't really know whether it was a bomb, a fire, or a gas explosion. Alicia could only bite her lower lip in worry. All this time, Alicia had been trying to hide the identity of her new foster parents. She was even willing not to meet or celebrate important days just so that others would not know anything about her new family.

The explosion on the phone, however, seemed to tell Alicia that someone had discovered her hiding place. She couldn't play hide-and-seek now. She was really being chased by something, or someone, Alicia didn't know.

The taxi that brought Alicia made it to her destination in just five minutes. He deliberately sped up the car because he saw the situation of his passengers as an emergency.  And Alicia got off as soon as she paid the bill. She ran with her gray backpack on her back. She was just reflexively carrying all her belongings in that bag, as if to signal that this incident would be a long journey for Alicia to follow.

"Mom! Dad!"

Alicia's eyes opened wide when she saw that her parents' house had been burned down. The blazing flames were sending hot air around them. Alicia could still feel the heat from the burning house even though the fire trucks were trying to put out the flames. The flames and water shouted back and forth. Red filled the sky on Avenue Street, where Alicia's parents lived.

Alicia ran through the crowd. But just as she was about to cross the line, a firefighter held her down and made her turn around. Alicia's gaze turned angry. "Don't stop me! Mom and Dad are right there!"

"You can't go in, it's too dangerous!" the firefighter half shouted.

The atmosphere in front of them was quite chaotic, and the man had to shout to be heard.

But Alicia was still trying to get the firefighter's hands off her body. "Let go of me, I have to save them!"

"It's too dangerous!"

One move caught the firefighter off guard. Alicia managed to push the man's body and make him fall to the ground as he lost his balance.

"Hey! Don't go in!"

Alicia ignored the voice. The girl's mind was already frantic. She was already blinded by the situation. Bravely, Alicia pulled the dangling curtain out of the window of her house, then wet it with the water that was pooling in front of the window to then use the curtain and wrap her body around it. Alicia jumped through the window, ignoring the calls of the firefighters who were putting out the fire through the main door.

She barged into the flames without thinking.

Smoke had already filled the entire room. The hot air immediately spread to Alicia, who was standing in the center of the house.

In a state of panic, Alicia tried to find her adoptive parents inside. "Mom! Dad!"

The voice that Alicia had been expecting did not come. The wet curtains on Alicia's back began to dry and feel hot. Time was running out. So the girl quickly made a decision. She ran to the right side, towards her foster mother's room.

BRUG!

A kick from Alicia caused the door to open. The girl was forced to duck down, low, to avoid the burning ceilings of the room that began to fall to the floor.

"Mom! Are you in there?"

Alicia's blue eyes finally found an outstretched hand under the rubble of a table. Alicia stared in shock, then immediately ran over to him. She let go of the wet curtain she was using to protect her body from the flames, then she tried to lift the table that had fallen on her mother there, Alicia pushed it in the other direction, making it away from Mom.

"Mom!"

Alicia's cry broke when she found her mother already covered in blood. It looked like a scar from the impact of the table, not from the fire. She clung to her mother's body as she cried,

"You have to wake up, Mom! Come on, I'll take you!"

Alicia stood up and tried to lift her mother's lifeless body in front of her. She struggled, but struggled at the end. Her mother's body was really heavy and Alicia was starting to lose oxygen due to the smoke around her.

"Mom, please..."

Crying, Alicia was still trying to carry her mother.

"Please, Mom!"