LONE SURVIVOR

Chapter 1

Sobs filled the silent air, sounding out of place in such a vivid environment. As Millie cried, Jonah put his arm around her trembling shoulders and supported her. Sometimes it was hard to stop her from crying but Jonah knew that as long as she knew she had someone to lean on she would continue to have hope. The sunset beyond the forest clashed bright colours of oranges and reds making Millie replay it over and over again. The fire was torturing her.

The fire had consumed her father just hours ago leaving Millie more alone than ever before. All she had was Jonah, but somehow Jonah was different. He had a shiny white scalp with not a hair in sight. He was always telling Millie that he preferred it that way, that hair just got in the way, that hair was useless. Millie didn’t believe him. Suddenly everything clicked; she had no one left in her life. Her grandparents died the week that she was born in a car accident on the way to visit their new grand child and they crashed on a bridge. Her parents were both the only child, meaning she had no cousins nor aunties nor uncles. Millie, now being an orphan, felt homeless, lost and worried sick. She had nowhere and no one but Jonah.

The sobbing stopped and was replaced by loud rumbling and bright bolt like streaks across the sky. Millie and Jonah took cover under a thick tree and Jonah called his dad. The rain began pelting down seeping through the tree and landing in fat drops on their heads. All they were wearing were ripped t-shirts and shorts because the fire had seared their clothes so the hugged each other to try and stay warm. A bright light shone in the distance slowly turning into the shape of a Volvo. Jonah led Millie to the car even though he had no clue where he would take her. ‘Jonah who is this girl?’ asked Jonah’s father, he was dressed in a black expensive looking suit looking as though he had just finished work, ‘Father, this is Millie, she has nowhere to go… can we take her home?’ With a humph and a sigh, a ‘sure’ was murmured and with that the car drove off.

Where that car would go was still a mystery, but hopefully it would go far enough away from the fire and from all the horrid screams and bright oranges that Millie was replaying in her mind. All Millie could think about was why she didn’t do something to help him? Why she allowed herself to be saved before her father? Everything would be so different now if only she had done something. That question of ‘what if I had done something’ was something that would haunt Millie for the remainder of her life, however nothing could ever bring back her father.

The sky got darker and darker, Millie felt as though the sky was caving in around her. Rain pelted down and thunder continued to rumble, it was as if the entire world had been shaken up. Millie sat close to Jonah the entire car journey, his warmth making her feel alive. The car slowly turned into a dusty lane and stopped. In front of Millie stood a mansion. Jonah’s father opened the big rusty iron gates that surrounded the property and Jonah ushered Millie inside. Inside the gate was a massive pond with elegant water features and very round lily pads. Behind the pond stood the house, it was cream coloured and had an antique pine oak door. Surrounding the house was thick forest making the house look very out of place. Behind that door stood the next chapter of Millie’s life, once Millie walked through that door her life changed forever for better or for worse that is the question.