Nick and Cassandra sat in the living room that night, watching the news.
"Later tonight, a fire burns a house down to the ground. Cause of fire is still unknown. The police suspect arsen-"
"Oh God," Cassandra whispered. "Fire."
Nick turned the television off. "Cassandra," Nick said standing up. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"We need to face our fears. Both of us."
"What?"
"Just come on," he said and grabbed her hand. He dragged her out of the door, down the street and to the front door of A.J. and Isabella's house.
"Nick, I changed my mind. Let's go home," Cassandra refused as soon as they walked through the front door of Isabella and A.J.'s house.
"Come on we have to. You will thank me later," Nick insisted.
"No, we don't. We both know what happened that day. We don't need a reminder."
"We have to face our fears, plus, it will only take a second."
"How are we going to get down there? The stairs were set on fire if you don't remember."
Nick opened the basement door. "Surprise! I had them rebuilt."
"Surprise is right. Why the hell would you have them rebuilt?"
"To show what hate can do."
"Huh? I really don't want to go down there, Nick."
"Austin's dead remember?"
"Yeah?" Cassandra questioned.
"Well then there is nothing to fear."
"I know, but there is just something still there."
"Come on, let's go." They looked at each other and took a deep breath. They stepped down onto the first step.
"You know what I hate about this cellar besides the fact that we almost died in it?" Cassandra asked Nick.
"What?" he asked.
"For one thing, it is so gloomy. There are two, narrow windows, set high in the walls, and they're plastic. There is dust in there, so much so, that only a little bit of weak sun light can leak through. And it has this unpleasant odor, but worst of all, there are loads of spiders."
"You're scared of spiders?"
"No, only when they are in large groups."
"Oh that is what you are scared of. Not the fire, but rather the spiders."
"Ha, ha, very funny, you shut up. You are not being very romantic."
"Am I supposed to be?" She gave him a look. "All right, sorry. I'll tell you what. I'll protect you from the spiders." They took another step down onto a new stair. Nick left the door open behind them. "On the count of three, let's run down the stairs."
"All right, one-"
"Two-"
"Three!" they yelled together. They tightened their hands together and ran down the stairs.
When they reached the bottom, Nick let go of Cassandra's hand and began to dance around.
"What are you doing you fool?" Cassandra said wrapping her arms around Nick's neck.
"Don't you feel better?" he asked.
"Yes, but not about being here."
"Oh yeah? Then what?"
Cassandra kissed him anxiously, letting her tongue wonder in his mouth. "Must you you ask?" she said, and grinned at him.
"Oh man." Giving Nick a seducing look, Cassandra walked slowly away and around behind the stairs. Nick watched as Cassandra's shirt then pants were thrown from behind the stairs towards him. Nick pulled off his shirt and ran to Cassandra. She laughed.
"Oh Nick," she giggled.
"You look better every time I look at you. Love the new underwear!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Thank you God."
One thing lead to another, and about an hour later, Cassandra decided she wanted to go into Nick's room and have some more fun there. Nick agreed and they got up and put their clothes back on. "See?" he asked. "There is nothing to fear."
"Yes there is."
"Like what?"
"Like, if you still have all of that energy when we get back to your room."
"Are you kidding? I have enough energy to carry you back and have the same intensity."
"Oh that sounds very promising."
Nick went over and picked Cassandra up in his arms. She started laughing. Nick swung her around in the air. She continued to laugh. "You have the softest skin."
She only smiled. "What was that? Nick, put me down."
Nick slowly put her down. "Sounded like glass, breaking." Footsteps thumped across the living room towards the front door of the house. The door opened and the sound of birds chirping entered the air then the door slammed shut, blocking out that sound.
"I smell something," Cassandra said and Nick began to sniff the air.
"It smells like-"
"Smoke!" Cassandra screamed.
"Ready to go?" Emalia said.
"Where are we going?" Kevin asked.
"We're taking you out for dinner tonight, Honey."
"Oh cool!"
"Okay, Brian you take Mercedes, Bethany and James, Howie and Angel will go together, and I'll take Kevin, Nick and Cassandra," Emalia said to Brian. "I'm gonna go get Cassie and Nick now. We have got to hurry, though. Our reservations are in ten minutes, and it will take us twenty minutes to get there!"
"Okay," Brian said. "We'll be waiting outside, and I'll follow you there."
Emalia nodded her head and ran out of the door. She ran into the girls' house. "Nick! Cassandra!" she called. She ran up the stairs and into Cassandra's room. "Cassie? Damn it, they probably went somewhere. Well, we'll have to leave without them!" She ran down the stairs and out to where everyone else was waiting.
"Where's Cass and Nick?" Brian asked.
"They probably went somewhere. We have to leave without them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, we gotta go. We'll tell them all about it later." Brian reluctantly agreed and the two cars started off in the opposite direction of A.J. and Isabella's house.
Nick and Cassandra hurried towards the stairs and saw fire on the first floor. The smoke wasn't heavy, but it had a bitter stench. They felt their hearts run wild and pound louder and harder than ever. They climbed to the top step. Waves of heat forced them to squint, but they could see into the kitchen.
She stood outside the house and looked at the half lighten match in between two of her fingers, then threw it at the house. She was very proud of herself. Her greatest fears and her greatest pain would surely go up in flames. "Serves you right Nick, and especially Cassie! You thought that you guys had the most perfect relationship? He was mine! He was always going to be mine! Well now you can have that perfect relationship in hell! If I can't have him, then no on can, especially Cassandra. Rot, bitch!" Very proud of herself, she slowly walked away from the house and smiled to herself.
"The wall of fire isn't solid yet," Nick said. "There is a narrow route to escape through the kitchen, into the living room and out to the back porch. If we hurry, we can make it." Cassandra agreed and Nick grabbed her hand, and they were off.
Before they could reach the back porch, the kitchen exploded with blue flames that soon turned orange. From wall to wall, floor to ceiling, the room was in flames and they were trapped. In the kitchen, windows exploded and the fire swirled in a sudden change of drafts, pushing towards the cellar door, lashing Cassandra.
Startled, she tumbled backwards towards the basement door, and fell. Turning, she grabbed at the railing, but missed it. Toppling down the long flight of stairs, cracking her head against the stone floor at the bottom. With all of her might, she held onto her consciousness. "Cassandra?" Nick called. "Don't worry. I'm coming." Nick jumped over the fire and onto the stairs. He ran down to Cassandra's side.
"Nick, Nick. You shouldn't have-"
"Don't worry, I'm here for you Cassie."
When Cassandra was certain that she wouldn't faint, she got to her feet, and leaned on Nick. Pain spread across the top of her head. She raised one hand to her eyebrow and found a trickle of blood, a small cut. She was dizzy, and confused.
"Hey guys, this has been great," Kevin said as they were talking. They had just ordered their food, and were just making small talk.
"I wonder, where in the hell, Cassandra and Nick could be," Brian said abruptly.
"Yeah, they knew that we were taking Kevin out tonight. This isn't like them," Emalia said.
"Oh really?" Bethany asked.
"Yeah," Brian replied. "I know Cassie, and I know Nick. They wouldn't pass this up for anything in the world. It just doesn't make sense."
"Well, they know the restaurant and the time that our reservations were for," Emalia said. "Maybe they'll show up eventually."
"Maybe I should go back and look for them," Brian offered.
"No, I'm sure that they'll show up later," Emalia said.
"Oh no they won't," Bethany said to herself, smiling.
During that minute, the fire in the house had now spread throughout the entire first floor and seeking it's way down onto the first step of the basement stairs. Cassandra couldn't keep her eyes focused. The rising stairs and descending fire, blurred together in an orange haze.
A ghost of smoke drifted down the stairwell. They reached out with long, insubstantial arms, as if to embrace them.
Nick cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hello!" he yelled as loud as he could.
No answer.
"Somebody, help us! We're in the cellar!"
Silence.
"Howie, Angel, Emalia, Kevin! Nicole?" No friends, no angry neighbor. The only thing they could hear was the roaring of the fire. "For God's sake, somebody, anybody!" Nick gave up and broke down into tears and mumbled, "May God have mercy on our souls."
"So Kevin," Angel started. "How's your dinner?"
"Good, good!" Kevin replied. "And yours?"
"Very good, thank you."
"Are you sure?" Howie asked Angel. "We can switch dinners if you would rather eat mine."
"Howie, stop," said Angel. "That's sweet and all honey, but it's too much, k?"
"I'm just trying to make you happy."
"Just being with you makes me happy."
"I love you," Howie said.
"I love you, too," Angel replied.
"So how is the star couple on this fine night?" Brian asked Emalia and Kevin.
"I am better than ever!" Kevin said.
"You'll feel even better tonight!" Emalia said with a grin on her face.
"Is that a promise?"
"You bet."
"Can you promise me something else?"
"Anything!"
"Good." Kevin got up out of his chair and knelt down onto his knee in front of Emalia. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a beautiful gold ring, wrapped in diamonds. He gently took Emalia's hand and placed the ring on her finger. "Promise to marry me before I die."
"I thought that you would never ask!" Emalia said and flew into his arms and hugged him tightly.
"Isn't that the cutest thing?" Mercedes asked.
"Adorable," Brian said dryly. "Just adorable."
"I bet Nick wasn't that sweet to Cassandra," Bethany jumped in and said.
"No, it was about the same, but, well, it depends."
"I'm sorry, but James is so much better than Nick."
"Hey stop," said James. "That's not nice."
"Well it's true," Bethany said.
"Sounds like someone's jealous!" Brian said, and everyone laughed, except for Bethany.
"Oh please, not even," Bethany said. "I would never be jealous of Nick and Cassie. I mean maybe before, but look where they are now. Can we say, divorce court?"
"Bethany, can I talk to you?" Mercedes asked, eying Bethany. Bethany and Mercedes got up and headed towards the girls' bathroom.
Although Cassandra's head throbbed worse than ever, and the cut above her eye continued to weep blood, she was no longer having trouble focusing her eyes. The only problem was, that she didn't like what she was seeing. "We can't give up yet!" Cassandra yelled. "We still have a chance! We are too young to die now, there must be a way out of here! We've done it before!"
"Well I don't hear you coming up with any bright ideas," Nick said. "I mean, come on Cassandra, let's be real. We are trapped like rats down here. There is no way out."
"Well, smart ass, I don't see you even trying to get out of here! How could you give up so easily?"
"Cassandra, please. We are better off in an oven."
"Nick, don't argue with me. I wasn't the one who dragged you down here to, what was it? Face our fears? Well look whose chicken now! I told you I had a bad feeling about this, but no. Come on Cassandra, let's go Cassandra. Well I guess we are really facing our deadly fears now, aren't we? I have to say, I don't think I will be thanking you later, if there is a later!"
"Don't even try to blame this on me. This is all Isabella's fault!"
"How so? She was murdered. How dare you say that about my sister!" Cassandra slapped Nick across the face.
He wiggled his jaw a little. "Fine, I guess you got me there."
"Yeah I guess so."
"Then it's all A.J.'s fault."
"Do you enjoy blaming everyone else for your problems? He was one of your best friends. Shame on you to even think that!"
"Well if we can't blame them, then we blame you," Nick said with certainty.
"What are your reasonings?"
"You followed me down here, didn't you?"
"I only did it because I love you, and I will take partial blame, but not all of it."
"It's not your fault, or Isabella's, or A.J.'s, or maybe not even mine."
"Oh Nick, listen to us arguing."
"It is the fault of whatever started the fire upstairs. That's to blame."
"You know what? You are right for once." Cassandra smiled for a second, then grabbed the side of her head and squeezed as hard as she could. "Oh my head! There is a continuously loud, ringing noise."
Nick walked over and kissed the top of Cassandra's head. "Don't worry. I'll get you out of here, alive," he said reassuringly.
"I know you will, Nick. Just try to think of some ideas." Nick began to pace back and forth. He stopped to look at the fire's progression.