Chapter 214 Flame Tame Ch1

• It starts like a bad dream that tastes real — heat crawling up the soles of her bare feet, smoke slipping under her door in lazy black tongues. She’s awake before the alarm shrieks, her throat raw, mouth dry, eyes already stinging.
• She pushes up too fast — bangs her knee on the side table, trips over the old hoodie she left on the floor. Her phone’s dead, charger black from the outlet sparking behind it. She grabs it anyway, useless comfort, and throws her closet open for shoes she doesn’t find.
• A pop, a crack — glass shattering somewhere in the living room. The cheap smoke alarm screams above her bed like a promise: too late, too late, too late.