HELLFIRE

Lilah Lehner

7th Grade • Bell School

Beep! Beep! Beep! Sophie Evanten groaned and smacked her alarm. It was centuries old, and it made the loudest noise Sophie had ever heard. She rolled out of bed, blearily standing up. Staggering to her window, she yanked open the curtains. Smoke. She sighed and flopped back down on her bed. It hadn’t always been like this. Death. Smoke. Fire.

It had started when a mystery illness came to a remote part of the US. At first, people hadn’t been worried. They thought the illness was harmless, that they would find a cure quickly and the whole thing would be over in a few weeks. But it wasn’t.

The illness spread like wildfire — literally. Some of the symptoms were smoke coming out of your ears, coughing up blood, and listlessness. But that wasn’t the half of it. At the end, just when it seemed like you might recover...You burst into flames. And burned to death.

People called it Hellfire, and it had swept over nearly the entire world. Scientists were working tirelessly to find a cure, but so far nothing had been found. If one of your close family members had it, you most likely did too. The illness spread by human interaction, so the president had ordered everyone to stay inside. People were still getting sick every day, though.

Sophie was fed up with quarantine, but most of all, she was terrified for her family members and for herself. She definitely

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did not want to burn to death, and she didn’t know what she would do if one of her family members got sick with the disease.

She turned away from the window and proceeded to get dressed, trying to ignore the smoky scent that had settled on everything in her neighborhood ever since the illness had arrived. Since everyone was quarantining, she didn’t really care what she wore anymore. Only her family was going to see it, anyways. Worn red t-shirt, old jeans and a grimy pair of black sneakers? Yup!

“Sophie? Could you come downstairs?” Sophie heard her sister, Cheryl, call from downstairs. Sophie paused at the note of barely concealed sadness in her voice. Sophie shrugged it off. Reading the newspaper nowadays did that to you.

“Yeah sure,” she called back casually. She thudded down the familiar dark brown stairs of her home, stopping on the last stair when she saw her sister’s stricken face.

“Cherry? What happened?” Sophie asked. Cherry was the nickname everyone called her, though at the moment she looked more like a Cheryl, the sadness etched over her face making her look much older than thirteen.

“Dad,” she said quietly, her voice softer than a whisper. Sophie nearly tripped over her own feet running to Cherry.

“What is it? What happened to Dad?” Sophie asked, nearly yelling in her terror. Cherry looked up at her, her face streaked with tears.

“Dad has Hellfire,” Cherry whispered. Sophie reeled back. No. NO. Sophie took a step back...and fell over the stairs. The last thing she could remember before she blacked out was a rush of pain and one word. No.

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“Sophie? Sophie!” Sophie’s mom shrieked in relief. She flung her arms around Sophie, crushing her ribs in the process. Sophie awkwardly patted her mom’s back.

“I’m fine Mo—” Sophie stopped. Dad has Hellfire. The memory came rushing back. She shot straight up off the couch, where her mom had put her.

“Dad!” she shouted. Cherry and Sophie’s mom shared a sad look. “What’s going to happen? How do you know?” she asked frantically. She had meant to say, “What’s going to happen to Dad?” but in her panic, she had left off some of the words.

“He woke up exhausted with smoke coming out of the ears,” she said quickly like she was trying to avoid the subject. “We could be infected too, so I’ve come up with a plan,” Sophie’s mom said calmly.

“What is it?” Sophie asked cautiously, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. Her mom sighed.

“You and Cherry need to leave the house for your own safety. I’ll take care of your father,” her mom said sadly. Sophie stared in disbelief. She knew she wasn’t going to like it. Just then, she heard a whimper. It was from Charlie, their 3-year-old Australian shepherd dog. He was nervous from all the tension in the room.

Sophie felt her heart shatter. “Mom, you can’t send me and Cherry away! We need to help you take care of Dad! What if you get sick!?” Sophie shouted. She knew she shouldn’t be yelling, but she was too angry to care. She had lived in this house for eleven years. Her whole life! And now she and Cherry had to go out on their own?

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“Sophie, of course you can’t! What if you don’t have the disease? We need to get you out of here as quickly as possible!” her mom said angrily. Sophie recoiled. She had never heard her mom talk like that. To her surprise, she found herself crying.

Charlie padded cautiously over to her, resting his head on her leg. Sophie buried her face in his fur to keep herself from looking at her mom and Cherry. She took a deep inhale of Charlie’s fur. He smelled like home, and dog.

Sophie reluctantly looked up at her mom, willing herself not to cry again but still overwhelmed with a thousand different emotions. Her mom looked troubled. She and Cherry were whispering. Sophie felt herself getting annoyed.

“When you’ve finished planning the rest of my life without me,” Sophie said loudly. Her mom and Cherry looked startled, then relieved that she was over her crying episode, then weary, as if they were sure that she would be annoying.

“Sophie, I’ve worked everything out. I reached out on the neighborhood website, and someone in the area has an old house they’re not using that’s not far away, so you’ll be close to us. It’s also close to a grocery store, and I’ve created a separate bank account for you girls that’s for groceries and appliances and things. I won’t be able to get you girls anything, so you’ll have to work it out by yourselves. I’ll put money in it at the beginning of each week,” she said, and then continued to rattle off a long list of everything they might need. Sophie didn’t pay attention. Cherry would remember that sort of thing.

“Who’s taking care of Charlie?” Cherry asked cautiously. Sophie’s mom sighed.

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“Well, there are two options. Charlie can go to the shelter, or you girls can take care of him. I won’t have time, I’ll be taking care of Dad,” she said.

Sophie instinctively swept Charlie up onto the couch and held him in a tight hug. Cherry joined the hug as well. Sophie felt a lump of emotions rise in her throat. She was losing her home, her parents, her old life. She couldn’t lose Charlie too.

“We’re keeping him,” she and Cherry said fiercely at the same time. Then they looked at each other and laughed. It was a nice feeling, but it didn’t last for long. Their mom sighed.

“I thought you would say that, but how will you take care of him?” she asked, sounding genuinely curious. Cherry answered before Sophie could.

“We already are responsible for him. We do all the feeding and walking and poop-picking-up and buying toys and food for him...you and Dad just provide some of the attention,” Cherry said, her voice breaking on the word “Dad.” Sophie vehemently nodded.

“All right. Go pack your things and we’ll leave for the house. I’ll pack Charlie’s,” Mom said. Sophie and Cherry gaped at their mom.

“You mean we’re leaving now?” Sophie asked incredulously. Her mom gave her an exasperated look.

“Of course we’re leaving now! You need to go as soon as possible in order to keep you girls safe!!” her mom said, waving the girls towards the staircase. “Now go. Pack,” she ordered.

Cherry and Sophie trudged up the stairs. Every little detail about the house mattered to Sophie now. The worn green

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wallpaper. The way the fifth stair from the top was taller than the others, so you always tripped if you weren’t careful. The whistles and hums of the house. She turned at the top of the hallway and headed to her room.

She took a long look at her room. The polished dark wood bookshelf in the corner. The creaky floorboard right next to her pastel green bed that made it impossible to sneak out at night. The light blue walls covered in posters. She soaked up everything.

Sophie grabbed the biggest backpack she could find and began filling it with everything that wasn’t clothes. A phone, a phone charger, her favorite books, trinkets, and toys, a stuffed animal...the list when on and on. While she was packing, she had to force herself not to cry. Sophie filled a rolling suitcase with everything she would need. She wished she could stay longer in her bedroom, but they had to move as quickly as possible.

Finally, Sophie was finished. She took a long look around the room, taking a deep breath. Then, after checking to make sure she had all her bags, she collapsed on the floor in tears. And that was where Cherry found her fifteen minutes later.

“Sophie! What — Oh I shouldn’t ask. It’s pretty obvious,” Cherry said after a moment of thoughtful contemplation. Sophie looked up at her, her face streaked with tears. It took her a moment to find her voice.

“Wh-what if the house s-seems cold a-nd un-unwelcominng?” Sophie made out before she collapsed into tears. Cherry knelt down beside her and put a hand gently on her back.

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“Hey, it’s okay. You can take your posters and things to decorate your room, and we can paint it a fun color. It won’t be permanent anyways,” Cherry said softly. Sophie buried her face into Cherry’s shirt. Cherry’s fiery red hair fell into Sophie’s face as Sophie hugged her.

“I wouldn’t be able to last a day in that house without you, sis,” Sophie said, looking up at her sister. Cherry smirked.

“And why not?” she asked, tousling Sophie’s hair. Sophie noticed tear tracks on her sister’s face but decided to ignore them.

“Well, for one, I would have already forgotten all that junk Mom said,” Sophie put in. Cherry smiled. “And I can’t very well comfort myself, can I?’ Sophie added, smiling now. Cherry gave a soft chuckle.

Sophie felt slightly sick at the thought of her, Cherry, and Charlie all alone in a creaky old house with no one to take care of them. Cherry stood up.

“C’mon, let’s go. The house is in the neighborhood, and Mom says it’s pretty nice,” Cherry said, trying to make their situation optimistic. Sophie perked up.

“We might be able to see our house from one of the windows!” Sophie said, shooting to her feet. Cherry looked surprised, then happy.

“I never thought of it that way!” Cherry said. Sophie smiled, and the two trudged down the stairs, dragging their bags alongside them.

“Oh good, you’re ready,” Sophie’s mom said when they reached the bottom of the stairs. She had a mask and gloves on

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and was carrying two duffel bags. Charlie stood next to her, his tail wagging, but with less gusto as if he knew what was happening.

Sophie slung her backpack over her shoulder and picked up a suitcase and a duffel bag full of her stuff. She headed to the door. She felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. Her mom spun her around.

“Wear these. You too, Cherry,” Sophie’s mom said, handing gloves and masks to both girls. Sophie reluctantly pulled her mask on, checking her reflection in the small mirror that hung beside the front door. As usual, she looked like some sort of serial killer. She sighed resignedly and pulled on the gloves.

Cherry stood beside the door, somehow managing to look normal in a mask. She picked up her bags and joined Cherry at the door. Charlie trotted after them.

Sophie’s mom shakily pulled open the door and went out first. Sophie took one last long look at the place she had called home for eleven years. Fighting back tears, she turned her back on her home and stepped into the harsh, cruel world.

“Hurry up girls, it’s a twenty-minute walk,” her mom said, hurrying along the sidewalk. Cherry looked confused, which didn’t pair well with the barely concealed tears in her eyes. Sophie fought back a large lump growing in her throat.

“Cherry said it was a couple of blocks away,” Sophie said cautiously, preparing herself for the worst. Her mom turned back to reply.

“And so it is. However, the house is up on Soverton Hill.”

“Soverton Hill!? Is there another house besides Soverton

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Mansion?” Cherry asked, sounding surprised. Sophie’s mom shook her head.

“We’re not staying at the Soverton Mansion, are we, Mom?” Sophie asked with rising excitement. Her mom merely raised an eyebrow and kept on walking.

Sophie barely even noticed as they walked past rows of houses, immaculate gardens, and towering trees. She was too focused on memorizing every last detail of her house. She stopped suddenly when she reached her parent’s bedroom. We didn’t say goodbye to Dad.

“Mom! Stop!” Sophie shouted. Sophie’s mom turned. She looked slightly exasperated.

“What is it, Sophie?” she asked. Sophie swallowed back a rush of emotions fighting to get out of her.

“We — we didn’t say goodbye to Dad,” she said softly.

“We can’t, Sophie. I can’t risk you two getting the disease,” her mom said. At this, Sophie gave up. Sophie felt a wave of determination overpower her grief. She would say goodbye to Dad.

“Can we at least FaceTime him?” Sophie asked desperately, pulling out her phone. Without waiting for a response, she jabbed her father’s contact and called him. Ring! Ring! Ring! Suddenly, the phone picked up.

“Dad!” Sophie shouted. Her dad looked terrible but ecstatic to see his daughters as they talked about everything and anything- except Hellfire.

“Ok girls, I have to go now. I love you!” Sophie’s dad said.

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Sophie waved goodbye, and her mom and Cherry shoved past Sophie to wave goodbye, possibly for the last time. Her mom swallowed loudly.

A couple of minutes later, they crested over the top of Soverton Hill. Cherry gasped. Sophie could barely believe it. They were staying in the Soverton Mansion?

The house was a towering five-story mansion. It was made out of gleaming quartz, with immense Grecian pillars in all of the corners. There were gracefully arcing windows with intricate iron designs, and elaborate French doors. There were archways above a magnificent patio, and the landscaping was incredible but overgrown.

Trees and bushes and a set of huge hedges surrounded the property. Sophie could see a glint of a backyard patio/pool. She could catch glimpses of majestic rooms through the spectacularly designed windows.

“We live here now?” Cherry gasped. She looked like she was hardly able to believe it. Sophie felt similarly. Their mom looked equally stunned.

“I did not expect the house to be this nice,” she said. Cherry spun to face their mom.

“How on earth did you save up enough money to get this house?” Cherry asked in disbelief. Their mom blushed.

“I told you, a neighbor wasn’t using this house anymore and said we could borrow it for as long as we want,” she said, looking over the house once more. Cherry turned back to the house with a face full of awe.

“We have some rich neighbors,” Sophie said. Cherry gave her

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an exasperated glare. “What??” Sophie asked. Cherry huffed and sashayed towards the elegant French doors, her long red hair swinging. Sophie rolled her eyes, following Cherry inside. Her older sister could be insufferable sometimes, but she did want to see the inside of the house.

The inside of the house was, if even possible, even grander than the outside. Dark hardwood floors with plush carpeting everywhere, long countertops, fluffy couches and pillows, a massive TV, and a dance floor! And that was just the first level! Cherry gasped and ran around the rooms, oohing and aahing over every little thing. Sophie surveyed the room. There were a lot of missing things. A microwave, plates, bowls, silverware... they would eat up the money Mom gave them in no time! She turned to her mom, about to say something when Charlie burst through the door.

Sophie dropped down and gave him plenty of pets and belly rubs, surveying the room as she did so. There were a lot of things to fix. Or...maybe she just needed something to do. The grief of what had happened was taking over her brain.

She shook her head. Walking past Cherry, she headed for a grand staircase in the center of the room. Cautiously placing a hand on one of the banisters, she made her way up to the second floor.

The second-floor was full of bathrooms, vanities, a gym, a library, a dance studio. The third floor was a huge indoor garden. The fourth and fifth floors were bedrooms, and Sophie headed straight to the fifth floor.

She picked the smallest bedroom, which was still impossibly large, and pulled the dusty covering off of the four-poster bed

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and flopped down onto it. Her dresser, bed, window seat, vanity, and couch barely took up a third of the room. She suspected she could play soccer in this room and still have plenty of room to spare.

She reluctantly set to the task of unpacking her stuff. She could barely bring herself to do it. Unpacking her stuff meant accepting what was happening to her. To her family. She could hear the noises of Cherry unpacking her stuff and her mom unpacking Charlie’s stuff. Let’s hope he doesn’t get lost...Sophie thought absent-mindedly. Then the realization of where they were living hit her. They were going to live in the Soverton Mansion, just the three of them, with lots of missing supplies and limited money to fund them. The thought made her want to cry again, if not for the fact that she felt completely dry of tears.

She finished unpacking the rest of her stuff and headed downstairs. To her surprise, she found Cherry already downstairs, looking somber. Sophie felt her heart clench. Her mom was leaving. This really cemented things in place.

“I’m going to miss you, Mom,” Cherry said tearfully. Sophie vigorously nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“I love you girls,” she said, her voice breaking near the end.

“We love you too,” Cherry and Sophie said in unison, but this time Sophie got no satisfaction from their harmony.

After a lot of air hugs and kisses, her mom picked up the empty duffel bags, waved goodbye, and left. And that was that. Cherry fled upstairs, presumably to text her boyfriend for the six hundredth time today to check if he was still healthy. Sophie

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stayed downstairs and petted Charlie on one of the massive couches, her mind still reeling. Her mom was gone. Her dad was gone too. She buried her face in Charlie’s fur, inhaling the smell of home.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Cherry made dinner, though with the missing plates, silverware, and proper appliances it was hard to do. They ate silently and watched a movie, though Sophie barely remembered any of it. At the end of the movie, she said goodnight and quickly went to bed. She cried herself to sleep.

“Good morning, sleepyhead! Did you sleep well?” Cherry asked when Sophie blearily came downstairs.

“I slept fine,” she said. She didn’t exactly know if this was a lie or not, as she could barely remember anything. She’d had a dreamless sleep. She was thankful for that since she’d been preparing herself for vivid nightmares of her dad going up in flames.

She wrenched open the cabinet doors, hoping to find something for breakfast. There was a box of cereal sitting in the cabinet. “For a millionaire mansion, this place is not functional,” she sighed, wondering how much of Mom’s money they would spend just to get the place working. Just then, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Sophie wearily said.

She pulled open the front door, expecting to see someone there. Instead, all she found was a Tupperware with a steaming loaf of cinnamon bread in it. She picked up the bread, looking around to see if anyone was there. A small note fluttered to the ground. Sophie picked it up, studying it carefully.

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Dear Evanten girls,

I am so sorry to hear about your father. I hope he is doing okay. I know that the old mansion isn’t very functional since the old owner moved out, so I made you girls some cinnamon bread in case you didn’t have anything for breakfast. I hope you two are doing well and are safe.

Love, Mrs. Vantor

Sophie stared at the note. Mrs. Vantor? Sophie thought she was one of their neighbors. She stared down at the delicioussmelling bread. Since when did their neighbors care about them? She’d made little contact with them, as well as the rest of the people in her neighborhood since Hellfire. Shaking her head, she went back inside with the bread.

Cherry was rustling through the cabinets, trying to find something for them to eat. She turned as the scent of cinnamon wafted through the air.

“That smells delicious! Where did you get it?” she asked, a little wary. Everyone was nowadays. You had to be careful not to accept food from people with Hellfire. Sophie silently held the note out to Cherry, wrenched open the Tupperware, and inhaled half the bread in thirty seconds.

“Mrs. Vantor sent it to us,” she said. Cherry looked startled but put the note down and ate the other half of the bread.

And so it went. Every morning, we would come downstairs.

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There was a ring at the doorbell, and one of our neighbors would have some food for us or a toaster or some silverware. Sometimes there would be a note, and sometimes there wasn’t. But we never saw anyone.

In this way, we managed to survive in the mansion and even have fun. But a gnawing worry about Mom and Dad was always eating at the back of our minds.

THREE YEARS LATER

Ding dong! Sophie hurried downstairs. She had slept in and wasn’t fully prepared for today’s neighbor delivery, as Cherry called them. She groaned as she finally made it down the fifth flight of stairs.

“SURPRISE!!!” Cherry screamed. The ground floor lights flicked on to reveal streamers, balloons, confetti, and a huge banner saying, Happy Birthday Sophie! Charlie was sitting underneath the banner with a sparkly party hat and a bright red bow tie. Sophie gasped.

She has spent so much time fixing up the old mansion and busying herself with things like gardening and cleaning that she hadn’t even realized today was her fourteenth birthday! She laughed and ran to Cherry for a hug. A wave of happiness and excitement crashed into her, intermingled with sadness. It had been three years since she had seen her parents in person.

“Happy birthday!” Cherry said. Sophie grinned.

“I forgot I was turning fourteen!” Sophie said happily. Cherry pulled out of the embrace and stared at her like she was a crazy person.

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“Anyways, I made a cake!” Cherry said happily. She whipped out a humongous cake decorated with frosting depictions of her and Charlie surrounded by balloons and confetti with the words Happy Birthday Sophie! written on the top in blue icing. Cherry was just about to slice into the cake when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Sophie called, pulling on one of the masks that hung beside the front door. She opened the front door to find an unmasked government official standing there.

“Can I help you?” she cautiously asked. He curtly nodded.

“Doctors have found a cure for Hellfire. Please report to your nearest doctor’s office wearing a mask to get the vaccine,” he said. Sophie’s entire brain came to a sudden stop. They had found a cure to Hellfire. By the time the words had sunk in, the government official was gone.

“CHERRY!” Sophie screamed slamming the door behind her and fighting back tears that threatened to spill down her face. Cherry came running into the room, looking frazzled.

“What? Where’s the fire?” she asked. Sophie couldn’t hold it in anymore. She collapsed on a plush white rug and let the tears spill down her face.

“They found a cure for Hellfire,” she sobbed. Cherry clapped her hands over her mouth. She dropped to the ground beside Sophie.

“This is the best birthday present of my life,” Sophie cried.

The girls rushed to the doctor’s office to get the vaccine, grabbed Charlie, and full-on sprinted to their parent’s house. Sophie hammered on the door as hard as she could. She and Cherry waited with bated breath. The door swung open.

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“I’m sorry but we don’t — girls!?” Sophie’s mom said. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked exhausted. Sophie flung herself into her mom’s arms.

“They found a cure for Hellfire!” she screamed, bursting into tears again. Her mom gasped and started crying herself. Cherry gave her mom a brief hug and ran inside. Sophie followed. Both girls ran to their parent’s bedroom. Sophie seized the knob of the dark wood door and flung it open.

“Missed me?” their dad asked. He looked really weak and exhausted, like her mom, but he wasn’t on fire. He held out his arms for a hug. Both girls screamed at the top of their lungs with joy and sprinted towards their father. They crashed into him at the same time and squeezed him with all their strength.

An entire ocean of feelings was slamming itself into Sophie repeatedly, but she didn’t care. Her dad was okay! This had been the craziest, most insane day of her life, but in the best way possible.

“What happened?” Cherry asked through her tears. Their mom came into the room.

“It turns out your father was immune to the disease, so he retained the symptoms but didn’t suffer anything else. And I have it, so I should probably go get the vaccine,” their mom supplied. Sophie smiled. Their family was complete again.

SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE...

“Cherry, are you ready to go?” Sophie asked. Cherry came around the corner. Her sister was 32 now and had a husband and a 2-year old daughter. She had a job as a doctor, devoting

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herself to the practice ever since doctors found the cure to Hellfire.

Sophie smiled. She loved seeing her sister so successful. Sophie herself was almost 30 and was furiously working on her first book, which was a memoir based on her experience living in their neighbor’s mansion.

“Yup! Dave said he could look after Hope for the day,” Cherry said. Dave was her husband, and Hope was her daughter. Sophie smiled and linked arms with her sister.

“Let’s go then!” she said. Sophie led her sister out to her neon yellow car. Cherry clambered into the passenger seat and Sophie started the car. They came to a stop at their community.

“Commence Operation Neighborhood!” Cherry said, and Sophie laughed. Then the two set off.

Ever since their neighbor lent them a huge house and their neighbors had left them things every day, the two had gotten together once a year and driven back to their old neighborhood. The sisters then spent the day helping the residents of the neighborhood in any way they could, as a way of paying their community back.

As Sophie helped a young lady carry mountains of groceries back to her house, she smiled. Her community had saved her and her sister’s lives, and for that, she was forever grateful.

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