[Into the Ashes][Another RPC story by Jay][Preface - Chapter IV]

Everyone else immediately greeted me, after Eric (or Suburbia) had yelled out ‘JAYJAY!’ at the top of his lungs. This was not exactly how I planned to introduce myself. Maybe, with a touch of subtle, and a basic ‘Hey, It’s Jay.’ I guess ‘JAYJAY!’ worked well too. I was obviously sort of, kind of late, since everyone was there. I rubbed my neck with my left hand in embarrassment as everyone turned his or her heads towards me. I was nearly positive I was glowing like a Christmas tree. I got random hugs from both Rebecca and Lauren, and a confused Anna. It was almost as if she was inspecting me like Sherlock Holmes before she grinned at me and gave me a thumb up. I also got multiple grins and waves from the others. (Ben, Danny, and Alex.) In addition, I addition I got a second bear-sized hug from Rebecca.
I set my bag on top of the twin bed in the left side of the room. My ‘roommate’ was Eric. Rebecca was with Vixen and Branch. And Danny and Ben were obviously paired together, while Alex chose to sleep in her own house. After about thirty minutes of unpacking and resting, I heard a soft knock on the door along with Alex’s voice. ‘Time for dinner.” She said and I heard the footsteps echoing on the crunchy gravel as she headed to go tell Sherlock and Watson. For dinner, Alex’s Dad had been nice enough to make us all hamburgers. We acted as if we had all known each other for our whole lives. Once the sun had set, Alex set up a huge bonfire. Let’s just say it was exactly like it was in the Chat box on a daily basis. There was one point where we literally had a food fight with marshmallow’s and graham crackers. Then another where everyone was yelling at the top of their lungs whenever they talked, then, at 3:00 AM the fire had finally burnt out and Danny had fallen over into the dirt, asleep. Everyone said goodnight and we headed towards bed. It had been one of the best days of my life. I had the exact same dream as I did in the cab that night. However, the ground shook so much that it knocked me off my feet.
I woke up to the sound of Eric yelling my name. “What in the world…?” I said in surprise. I checked the time: 9:00.
“Alex is taking us out on this big boat!” He said in an exciting manor. I knew he was talking about one of those big fancy boats that people had when they lived near or on a lake. I still did not get what he was so excited for though. I slipped out of bed and got fresh clothes on. And followed Eric over to the other’s who were already awake. Rebecca came over to me and shoved me playfully before muttering, “Come on Sleeping Beauty we were waiting on you.” I rolled my eye’s at her and then Alex came over and lead us down towards the lakeside beach, where a pretty large pontoon boat was lodged in the sand. I saw half the people gasp at the fanciness of it. But I just shrugged along with Branch, we’d both grown up in the Pacific Northwest where there were rivers and lakes around every corner. We all boarded via; ladder and the boat roared to life. Alex puttered us out to the deep water before I helped her set the anchor down. And the boat rocked peacefully. I was nearly scared half to death as she flicked on the music, which blasted as loud as it probably could have gone. I settled down into a large, cushy chair. We talked and chatted for at least an hour before our lives all changed forever.
There was a bright flash, as if someone had turned the suns intensity up to one-million. The flash died out after a few moments, leaving me disoriented. Then the boat flipped upside down because of the vicious waves that were now rippling throughout the lake. I swam up to the top and looked around for everybody. Right after I counted everybody, I realized the sky was burnt with flames and smoke.

I ignored the fact that the sky was redder than a tomato, and focused on getting my friend’s and me to shore, safe and sound. I counted the head’s, excluding me. Five, I made another quick count and got five again. I looked around and worked out that the only person that was not present was, Anna. “Everyone, start heading back towards shore, I am going down after Anna.” I stated tilting my head towards the large, expanding sandy bank. Luckily enough, we were only a fourth of a mile out from shore. I could tell Lauren really wanted to retaliate but thought better of it. I was about to dive in when I noticed where Rebecca had been treading water, there was a large ripple as if she had thought I was taking too long and dove in after Anna before me. I decided to give her a minute before swimming down after both of them.
I watched my watch count down from a minute. Each second seemed to last an hour. Right as the time was about to change to 12:32 I saw Rebecca’s head come out of the water, with Anna grabbed onto her hand. I shook my head in relief. In addition, I helped support Anna (Who said she could swim perfectly fine.) It took us both about twice as long as it should have to get back to the smoky shore. I dropped to my knees in exhaustion once we got onto solid ground. I looked up, the tree’s were burning like someone had went and torched them. The water seemed to erupt in steam right off my body. Before I knew it, I was sweating like crazy. The temperature had to at least, be up to 120 degrees. Even more adrenaline shot through my veins like someone had injected me. I looked up at the sky; it had swelled up with grey, horrendous smoke. As far as I could see, the sky was red and orange like a sunset. Just worse.
I stood up, pulling the neck of my shirt over my nose so that I would not suffocate in the smoke. Everyone had already done this. “What in the world?” I whispered in distress. Flames lapped at the sand just feet away from our feet. My eyes watered in pain from the smoke that wafted into my eyes. Every plant and tree in sight was erupted in flames like a huge candle. I looked around for any sign of an exit. Danny and Ben had both already started trying to through water on the fire. That was going to do a whole lot. My heartbeat quickened as I realized that the only way out was through lake, but there was no guarantee that the fire wasn’t as thick there. Moreover, in the state an condition of everybody with smoke filled in our lungs, we weren’t going to get across the lake without drowning like a bunch of sick sea lions.
There was a sudden pulling sensation in my chest as if something was trying to get out. It urged me to head towards the flames. I tried to resist but it dragged me. I just hoped that the flames would die out for some odd reason. I noticed that both Eric, and Danny had both stopped what they were doing and were staring at me weirdly. Before anyone could react, my hand had reached out into the flames. They only felt mildly warm, I took a deep breath and knew I was going to die, but there when I looked down the flames around us had died out nearly instantly. It leaved a soot littered path to lead our way out back towards the cabins.
All of the cabins were erupted in flames just like the trees. Full of flames. I looked across the road towards Alex’s house. It was burnt to the ground. The earthquake hadn't helped it either.