With a compelling force grabbing me, I sat up straight in my bed in one swift motion; something was going on. My eyes were watery and it was hard to breathe. Around me, the others were still sleeping soundly, but the air around us was hot and heavy. It was never this warm in the dorms, not in the roughest summers and certainly not during the toughest winters.

“Merie?” I called out faintly. I was unsure how long I had been dreaming, and for a moment I wondered if this was all in my head still.

I looked over to the bed next to me and reached out to one of the siblings lying serenely. It was hard to say how soundly they were sleeping but they didn’t move as my hand shook their shoulders.

“Guys?” I asked, carrying my voice a little more and hoping to get a response this time. There was a strange glow under the door at the opposite side of the room. It was bright enough that the light was reaching me, like a little sun. Although outside the window, much closer to me, the darkness of the night was still heavy and opaque. I quickly turned my eyes back to the door, wondering what demon was waiting behind it.

I coughed a few times. The dust in the air was thick and indifferent. Soon another voice raised and coughed, and it was clear that something dark was going on. I called out again without getting an answer. There was hardly any sound around us, only the crackling of the dead of night.

I pushed the blanket away from me and slid off the bed. With a few strides I reached the heavy door and grabbed the now warm handle. Before I could change my mind, I threw the door open to find the raging flames of a fire. Confused, I stepped away from the frame inviting me into hell. Voices in the distance were calling for help, cries of our little brothers and sisters just as afraid as I was.

An impenetrable layer of ash hit me as I covered my mouth with the sleeve of my pj’s. The heavy heat pushed me hard on the floor, squeezing all the air out of my lungs. There was no point in screaming anymore. No one was coming, I could feel it.

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I turned back towards my friends and now a handful were standing behind me, some were crying silently, and others were shouting at the top of their lungs for help. With one arm, I closed back the gaping hell and grabbed a cover hanging off the closest bed. I tried to push it under the door as much as I could but I could see the smoke invading our room already, like a poison killing us slowly.

At the other side of the dorm, a few kids were hitting the tall window with their fists. The tallest among us, a couple of years older only, bashed their fists at the windows and walls around, desperately. We were on the second floor, but I would risk a broken ankle if it meant fleeing the oven we were trapped in. I ran as fast as I could, throwing myself at the glass. We had no chair to throw at it, nothing heavier and more frightened than our fists, but it didn’t give.

I prepared myself for the hit, and launched my elbow against the glass. The loud thump marked the end of our efforts. If it hadn’t cracked by now, it would never break.

The frail wooden frames that once let the cold of winter embrace us were now trapping us in the inferno. I could barely distinguish the silhouettes around. A loud scream of pain resonated in the distance, I guessed it was coming from behind the door. Next to my feet, the wooden boards shook and vibrated as my friends fell on their knees gasping for air.

The sounds and shapes were dissolving in my head. I fell, my back to the wall right under the window. It hurt to cry, and it was impossible to catch my breath and think about getting out of here. I tried to gather my knees against my chest, to protect myself from the heat but my legs were so heavy already. In front of me, the flames were already licking the ceiling and creeping closer to us. Some were still crying and shouting. My own voice rang in the cacophony, begging.

Soon, the darkness covered the embers falling from the sky. A searing pain traveled through my arm and my chest, breaking my bones one by one. My insides twisted and turned as my heart was pulled out of my body in one big hit. I screamed.

Once again I sat up in the bed I was laying in. The light of the sun blinded me with the force of a thousand fires. Everything was quiet.

I gasped a few times, clinging onto an invisible thread holding me straight. I looked at the ceiling where the screeching blazes once were, now transformed into old flakes from a well-worn paint.