“I’m not going outside in a towel!” one girl laughs.
“Don’t worry. It’ll just be a false alarm,” her friend says. “It happens all the time.”
“But what if this is the real thing?”
“Hey, aren’t you the one who was yelling ‘Fire!’ at Mustafa’s last night?”
“I…”
“I thought so! Look, when we smell smoke, we’ll leave.”
I stand anxiously in the doorway, unsure what to do.
“Someone’s been deliberately starting fires,” I warn them. “This could be the real thing. We’ve got to get out of here!”
But nobody is listening to me.
Chapter Thirteen
I scuttle out into the gym, my towel wrapped tightly around me.
Out here, people seem to be taking the alarm much more seriously. I follow the throng out through the fire exit, into the biting cold January morning.
My teeth chatter noisily as I shift from one foot to the other. It’s bitterly cold. My hair is wet and my towel damp from the shower.
“Brr…” I hint loudly, but nobody’s kind enough to offer me their jacket.
“Hey, love, you’re dropping your towel!” someone says, helpfully.
Cheeks burning, I wrap it more tightly around me, the remainder of my self-respect forming a puddle on the floor. Why did I have to pick this morning to walk here? If only I had driven, I would now be snuggled up in my nice, warm car.
A few more people trickle out of the building. The place isn’t nearly as busy as normal, being that it’s New Year’s Day. But the real fitness fanatics are all here. I watch as the girls from the changing room swan out, now fully dressed. They giggle as they walk down the street, apparently unconcerned by the whole thing. Before I met Alicia, I probably would have been one of them, but things are different now. I have to treat every fire drill as if it were the real thing.
“Hey, is that smoke?” someone says, sniffing the air.
“Fire!” someone else exclaims in excitement. “There really is a fire!”
The gym manager gesticulates wildly, urging everyone to move away as a turret of grey smoke billows out from an open window.
Nee-Naw-Nee-Naw-Nee-Naw
The crowd whistles and cheers as a fire engine whirls into sight. I watch with admiration as firefighters leap out and start tackling the blaze. Then another sound fills the air. More sirens. The police are coming. Heat rises in my cheeks. I can’t let them catch me at the scene of another fire.
I have to get out of here!
My arms and legs have turned to jelly, but I will them into action. Frantically, I elbow my way through the mob and dart round to the back of the car park. I gaze down the dark, damp alleyway. Then at my naked feet. Dare I?
I dare. I start to run, slowly at first, then faster, faster. Soon I am running as fast as I did on the treadmill. I try not to care how much the gravel stings my feet, how narrowly I miss stepping on a broken bottle. I don’t have time to worry about any of that. I have to get away from the fire.
You can do this! You can do this!
Sheds and back gardens fly by. My house isn’t that far away, or at least, it never seemed so before.
My heart fills with relief as I charge down the street to my house. The chipped red paint and unwashed windows have never looked so charming. I collapse in a delighted heap on the doorstep, a huge stitch in my side and I reach down for my keys. And that’s when I realise. My keys are in my handbag. Which is in my locker. Which is at the gym.
How could I be so stupid? In my blind panic, it never occurred to me that I had no way of getting into the house. I hold my head in my hands. I am at a total loss for what to do. It’s bitterly, bitterly cold. My hands and feet are starting to turn numb and yet I can’t go back to the gym, not when it took so much effort to get here. And not while the place is swarming with police.
I have to think quickly. Do I wait it out here, or should I try to get to a friend’s house? Kate’s is probably the nearest, but even her place is a ten minute walk.
Or… I could go next door. Mr Krinkle would probably let me use his phone to call Kate and ask her to pick me up. I sigh. The thought of having to explain myself to Mr Krinkle is horrendous, but I don’t have any better ideas.
I stagger next door, my feet cut and bleeding. I ring the doorbell and wait. When there is no response, I ring again. Still nothing. I peer in through the window, but it looks dark inside. I can’t believe it. Mr Krinkle never goes out!
Dammit!
I walk back to my house and try the door, in the vain hope that I forgot to lock it when I left the house this morning. I didn’t. My eyes flit over the house. There must be some way to get in.
The front window is slightly ajar.
It’s very small and rather high up, but maybe, if I could find something to stand on, it might be possible to haul myself in? I wander round the front garden and return with a large flowerpot. I set it down and pray that it will take my weight.
Gingerly, I step up onto the flowerpot and reach for the window ledge. I push the latch and the little window opens further. It looks like there is just enough room for me to crawl through. There’s nothing much to break my fall on the other side, so it looks like I’m going to have to do a nosedive down onto the living room carpet. This could hurt, but I don’t care.
I start to heave myself through, inching forward on my stomach, squeezing myself through the very small space until I am ready to make my descent. I am just about to take the plunge, when…
“Arrgh!”
Someone is grabbing my ankle.
“Help!”
“Come down from there!” a voice commands.
I kick out as hard as I can, but I’m no match for the strong arms that bring me crashing back down into the garden.
I struggle to my feet, attempt to run, but I am shoved against the wall.
His eyes meet mine. They are cold and unfriendly.
Oh god, it’s the police.
Not Penney and his mate, but a couple of others, one male, one female.
“Do you live here?” he asks, his arm firmly on my shoulder.
“Of course I do!”
“Do you have any identification?”
“No, I’m locked out and I don’t have any pockets.” I gesture down at my towel which, by some small miracle, is still wrapped around, or rather welded to, my body.
“Is there anyone who could verify your identity?”
“Mr Krinkle next door… except he’s not in at the moment.”
“What about your other neighbours?”
“I don’t know them. They’re new.”
I shiver uncontrollably. I was so close, I could cry.
The female officer looks at me with concern. “You must be freezing. Why don’t you come down to the station with us while we sort this out? We can get you some nice, warm clothes to wear. “
No!
“Please, this really is my house! If you’ll just give me a leg up, I can get back inside and then I can show you some ID.”
The nice officer looks at her partner, but he shakes his head.
“Come on,” she says, “I bet you could use a hot drink.”
“Am I under arrest?” I ask nervously, as they shoo me into the police car.
“Oh no,” Nice Police Lady assures me. “We’re just going to get you some warm clothes and check that you are who you say you are.”
Well, that doesn’t sound so bad…
I keep my head ducked down low as we drive through the streets of Queensbeach. Luckily for me, it’s still early in the morning and on New Year’s Day to boot, or I’d be the gossip of the town.
Nice Police Lady ushers me quickly into the police station. She provides me with a dry towel, an old tracksuit and a pair of plimsolls. I pull the clothes on gladly, not caring how I look.