I dashed forward, pushing past people who were trying to flee from the scene.
"Wait! Amon, stop! Why are you running towards the fire?"
Litch, who was behind me, tried to keep up but was eventually falling behind.
I did not bother to answer him as there was only one thing on my mind—the safety of my mother.
Along the way, police officers and citizens who were helping to douse the fire tried to stop me and asked me to turn back.
I ignored them, even pushing past one of the officers who tried to grab me.
'Why! Why is this happening? Please, please let my mother be safe!'
Time was ticking as the fire grew larger and larger. Soon I was covered in sweat due to the intense heat from the fire until I reached the row where my house was.
To my dismay, it was already completely blocked off, and my house was unrecognizable from the damage caused by the fire.
"Mother!"
I cried out, shouting louder and louder. Each time, my voice grew more frantic as I tried to find her.
My mother rarely left the house ever since I was old enough to support her, and now I feared she was trapped inside while the fire raged on.
'What do I do? What do I do?'
At this point, three men from behind grabbed me in an attempt to drag me away from the fire.
"Let go of me! I need to find my mother!"
I tried my best to break free from their grasp, wiggling around, punching and kicking them.
"I said let go of me!"
I snapped. From my pocket, I pulled out the revolver Hugo had given me the day before and fired it into the air.
Instantly, the eyes of the three men widened and they quickly backed off, calling for backup.
Everyone nearby turned their attention to me as the police officers all drew their guns in response.
"I have to find my mother!"
I quickly turned around, running back towards the fire.
Due to my sudden movement, one of the police officers thought I was going to attack them and fired a bullet at me, which hit my right arm, causing me to drop my revolver.
Without picking it up, I continued to push forward.
[Why are you running towards the fire?]
'I have to save my mother!'
[That's stupid. Couldn't she have escaped when the fire started? Why are you running into certain death?]
'No! I know she is there! She needs me, I need to go to her!'
[You are being blinded...]
I ignored the voice in my head as I ran through the heat, passing barricade after barricade until I was in front of my house.
'I have to go in. Yes, I need to save her.'
My eyes were bloodshot as I prepared myself to break down the door and run into the fire to save her.
"Mother!--"
I felt my world spin as I was suddenly on the ground, Litch lying on top of me. He had tackled me before I could enter.
"WHY! GET OFF ME NOW!"
I mustered all my strength to push Litch off my body before getting up. However, he gripped the trousers of my pants, causing me to fall face-first as I tried to run.
"Stop, you idiot! Can't you see? Your house is already a pile of rubble!"
"What do you mean?! My mother is inside! I have to save her! I need to save her!"
Both Litch and I got up, and he punched me in the face as soon as I tried to stand.
"What do you mean? How could anyone possibly be alive in there?"
"DAMN YOU!"
As soon as I recovered from his strike, I went for a haymaker of my own, punching him in the gut with my left hand.
"Argh!"
Saliva spilled from his mouth as he gripped his stomach.
"You..."
He rushed toward me, tackling me once again, causing us to roll on the ground as we clawed at each other.
"Open. Your. Eyes. Damn it!"
He shouted in between punches as he wailed on my face from on top of me.
I felt each blow which cause me to get momentarily dizzy.
"Shut up, you brat, before I gut you--"
We had rolled extremely close to the fire, and above us a piece of burning debris fell.
'Shit!'
I quickly pushed Litch to the side with all my strength before rolling away to just barely dodge the debris.
"See! It's extremely dangerous here! Let's go back to where it's safe and find your mother there!"
Litch once again tried to reason with me, but I was already past being able to be reasoned with.
"In that case, why don't you go back yourself and I stay here to find my mother!"
He gritted his teeth at my words as his face completely turned red in anger.
"You stupid asshole! I know you are a mummy's boy, but look! No one can survive in there! I'm telling you it's more likely your mother has already escaped!"
We were both getting lightheaded at this point, both from fighting and inhaling the smoke up close.
My vision was starting to blur as I felt sluggish.
'No! My mother... is in... there... I have to... save her...'
With one final push, I turned back to the house.
It was then I heard a faint voice from far away.
"Amon! Stop! I am here!"
'Huh? Mother?'
I turned toward the voice, trying to spot her.
Even though my vision was now cloudy, I could make out a figure that closely resembled my mother within the crowd watching Litch and me.
'She is there? My mother is safe?'
"You heard her, stupid! Your mother is there safe and sound! So let's quickly get out of here!"
Litch screamed at me once again as he grabbed the collar of my shirt, pulling me.
'But she should be in the house... I have to save her...'
[Open your eyes wide and look at the house one more time.]
I turned my head back toward the house.
Nothing. It was just a pile of ash and debris with fire raging all around it.
'How did I think anyone could survive in that...'
It was then I realized that what Litch said was not just to persuade me, but was in fact the truth.
"Creek!"
The buildings surrounding us, which were barely holding on, now began to buckle and collapse due to their wooden foundations being completely burnt.
"Shit! Let's go!"
Litch didn't waste any strength and started yanking me away while I was still in a state of shock.
His sudden pull snapped me back to my senses and I started running in the opposite direction of the collapsing buildings.
Time was of the essence. With each step, the buildings were getting closer and closer to falling on top of us.
"Are we going to make it in time?!"
Litch screamed as one of the buildings above us fell.
By just a hair, we managed to escape from being crushed, but we were both knocked down from the impact.
We quickly got up again—but it was too late.
In front of us, one of the buildings collapsed, blocking our exit.
'Hah. We are going to die, aren't we... and it is all my fault.'
I felt the life drain from my body as my face turned ghostly pale.
"What do we do now?!"
We were trapped between two rows of burning buildings that could collapse on us at any moment. It was basically a death sentence.
"Is this how my perfect life is going to end? Just because I tried to save this stupid blind mama's boy?!"
Litch shouted as he fell to his knees, seemingly giving up.
'No. No! I won't let us die like this.'
I quickly scanned the area to see if there was any alternate path we could take.
"Hah. That might be the only way..."
I muttered as I thought of a psychotic idea.
"Get up, Litch. We are getting out of here!"
"But how? We're trapped."
"Simple. Every one of these houses has a back exit, so we will run through one of them to get to it!"
At my words, Litch's mouth went agape.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"Then do you have any better ideas?"
At my rebuttal, he gritted his teeth and got to his feet.
We both took off our coats, holding them in front of us.
"On my count, we run straight into the house over there, got it?"
"Ok!"
The world stood still at that moment as we both prepared ourselves.
"3!"
Beads of sweat dripped down my forehead as time seemed to slow.
"2!"
I looked to my left to see Litch trembling slightly in fear.
"1!"
It was now or never.
"Go!"
We both charged forward straight into the raging flames, prepared to either become a pile of ash or escape from this impossible situation.