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hall
until he found himself at the door to the front room. The door was
open and as he peered into the room he could dimly see through the
smoke, what appeared to be, a body lying motionless on the floor.
He scrambled across the floor on hands and knees and through
streaming eyes he made out the form of young woman laying on her
side. Her face seemed unnaturally pale, her eyes were closed and
her long dark hair cascaded across the carpet, giving more
impression of life that any other part of her.
    He shook her
and shouted at her but he couldn’t rouse her. He held his face
close to her mouth and tried to feel her breath on his cheek but to
no avail. He needed to get her out of the house but he hadn’t the
strength to move her. The smoke was so thick that he couldn’t see
the walls of the room nor could he see the door. He didn’t even
know in which direction the door lay any more. He was sure the girl
was merely unconscious and he just had to wake her, it was
unthinkable to leave her here to die in this burning house.
    He remembered
something that he had learnt at school and pinching her nostrils
together, he blew firmly into her mouth and then he pressed down
onto her chest. He repeated this many times, although he coughed
and fought for each breath and in this way at least, she
breathed.
    He wouldn’t
give up now, it was just a matter of time until she regained
consciousness, he would just have to keep on going; there were no
other choices. Meanwhile the thick and all engulfing smoke lay
across them like a deadly blanket. It swirled and it settled, ever
denser and ever closer, cloying and suffocating, hungry and
hungering to bring to them the intimacy of its final embrace.
    Then, in an
instant, just as sunlight breaks from behind a cloud, her eyes
opened and she smiled up at him. His former panic melted into a
blissful calm. She was alive; he had known all along that she had
just been sleeping. Her adoring smile dazzled him, left him quite
breathless and dazed. He could sense the rhythmic rise and fall of
her chest and feel the soft pulse of each breath against his face
and it was clear to him that in saving her, he had also saved
himself.
    As she
breathed, so each breath pushed gently against the dense smog that
hung all about them. He watched mesmerised as, each time she
exhaled, the pressure of her breath sent ripples cascading through
the smoke, turning it away from them like an ebbing tide. In no
time she had created a smoke free cocoon in which they could safely
rest.
    It was so
exhilarating to be free of danger at last, he was just too weary to
move, but it was no longer necessary to move, for he now knew what
he would do. He would help the girl to keep the smoke at bay and in
this way, by working together, they would remain safe.
    With this final
thought, he lay his head down contentedly at her side and
synchronised his breathing with hers.
    ###

Authors Afterword

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this story and will not be
suffering unduly from nightmares tonight! If you did like it, then
perhaps you would consider adding a favourable review on the
download website. If you didn’t get on with the story then I am
sorry, I obviously failed in my task on this occasion.