Caught In the Fire

Hey Guys. This is story that I'm writing right now due to some pretty devastating events that are happening here. As you probably know... I live in Australia... and in the state of Victoria... the state that is right now being hit by some pretty big bushfires. I'm not sure how much you will know about this in the states... but it's the worst bushfires to date in the history of Australia. They have beaten previous records this past week. About 300 people have died and thousands more have lost their homes. Where we are living... we are not in any immediate danger but I've smelt the smoke and seen the smoke on the mountains. One whole small township has been completely destroyed. So I would just like to say that I'm writing this with the people who are out there... trying to save their homes against the fires.

This is my first shot at trying an angsty type story. I was almost crying while i wrote this so chances are you might cry while you read it.

I really want to ask you guys to pray for us right now. So many families are going to have to start their lives over again and they only have the clothes on their back because the fires came up sooo fast. So in a way i hope that this story will make you appreciate what you have and i know that i really appreaciate everything more after writing this. My family have even been talking about what we would have to take with us if we did feel the need to leave our house to a more safer area. So all i really ask is for you guys to pray for us. We need to know that we have support and that everything will hopefully be okay.

Disclaimer: I do not own a thing.

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Mitchie's POV

I was sitting in the dining room reading the newspapers. Shane was outside in the garage working on his car. I could hear the fire crackling in the living room and the faint sound of the radio.

"Mitchie?" I heard Caitlyn ask as she waved a hand in front of my face. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at Caitlyn who was looking right back at me. Nate was sitting next to her also looking at me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Are you alright? We lost you there for a minute" Caitlyn said. Nate was smirking at me.

"She was probably thinking about the husband of hers" he teased me with a small laugh. I blushed a deep shade of red while Nate and Caitlyn laughed some more.

"I'm allowed to think about him" I defended myself.

"Yes, but you think about Shane pretty much every minute of the day" Caitlyn said.

"I like the sound of that" a new voice said. A grin made its way onto my face as I turned around in my chair to see Shane standing by the door. Shane smiled as he made his way over to me. He stopped by my chair and bent down to kiss me softly. I pulled back with a dreamy look on my face.

"And we've lost her again" I faintly heard Caitlyn say. Shane chucked behind me as he kissed the top of my head.

"As if you never think about Nate" I challenged her. It was now Caitlyn's turn to blush. I laughed at her as I stood up from my chair. "Who wants some more coffee?" I asked. Everyone nodded their heads. I made my way into the kitchen with Shane trailing behind me. I picked up the kettle and placed it under the tap to fill it up with water when I felt two arms wrap around my waist. I automatically leant backwards while I still filled then kettle up.

"How often do you think about me?" Shane asked me quietly, his breath on my ear making shiver slightly. I knew Shane felt it because he tightened his arms around me.

"So often that I forget what I'm supposed to be doing" I admitted to him while I started to boil the kettle. Shane didn't say anything for a few seconds but I felt his breath suddenly on my neck. He kissed it softly making me shiver again.

"I seem to have that effect on you, don't I?" he asked in a teasing voice.

"At least you warm me up at the same time" I replied in the same tone, turning around in his arms to face him. Shane smiled down at me before leaning down to kiss me softly. I smiled into the kiss as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Would you two stop making out in the kitchen and hurry up with the drinks" I pulled away from Shane to see Caitlyn standing in the doorway, smirking at us.

"Thanks for ruining the moment Caitlyn" Shane said in an annoyed tone. Caitlyn just laughed.

"Hey, you've ruined plenty of moments between Nate and I so it's only fair that I ruin some for you" she said before walking back towards the table. Shane glared after her while I laughed and started to make the drinks.

"I'm going to go and get cleaned up now" Shane told me as he kissed my cheek and made his way to our bedroom. I watched him walk away before returning my attention to the drinks.

I set the drinks down on the table and sat down next to Caitlyn.

"Thanks Mitchie" Nate said as he took one of the cups. I smiled at him. I watched as Caitlyn reached for one but stopped.

"Can anyone smell anything funny?" she asked. I sniffed the air but couldn't smell anything.

"I don't smell anything" Nate said.

"I can't either" I said to her. Caitlyn shrugged.

"Must just be my nose" she said as she took a sip. I smiled at her before taking a sip of my own drink. After about 20 minutes, I decided to go into the living room to stoke the fire a bit. I stood up after telling Caitlyn and Nate what I was going to do.

"Shane sure takes a long time in the shower" Caitlyn said.

"Have you ever known him to take a short one?" I asked her as I started to walk out into the living room. I stopped when I noticed something different.

"Does anyone smell anything funny?" I asked, repeating Caitlyn's earlier question. Nate and Caitlyn sniffed the air and immediately got worried expressions on their faces.

"That smells like smoke" Nate said. We all looked at each other before quickly following the smell of the smoke. We came to a short stop when we saw that some fiery logs had fallen out of the fireplace and the carpet and curtains had caught fire.

"Oh my gosh" I said to myself.

"Mitchie, we have to get out of here now!" Nate yelled at me. I turned to follow them when I looked around to see if Shane was behind me. I stopped when I realised that Shane was still upstairs. I made to move but Nate grabbed my wrist.

"Mitchie, come on!" he shouted.

"I have to get to Shane!" I yelled back at him.

"It's too dangerous!" he said. As soon as the words left his mouth, a loud crash was heard coming from the living room. I was in such a state of shock that I barely felt Nate carry me out.

"Mitchie!" Caitlyn yelled at me as she engulfed me in a hug. I snapped out of my daze and looked around to see that pretty much all of our neighbours were standing outside our house. Sirens could be heard in the distance coming towards us.

"Where's Shane?" I asked Nate. Nate and Caitlyn looked away and panic overtook me.

"Nate, where's Shane?" I asked again in a shaky voice.

"We.....we never saw him come out of the house" Nate said quietly. I just stood there staring at Nate while I heard the shout's from the firemen and the sound of the hose being turned on.

"I have to find Shane" I said as I started to move slowly towards the house. Nate quickly grabbed me and I started to fight against him. "No! Let me go! I have to find Shane!" I screamed while struggling against Nate. I saw some of the neighbours looking sympathetically at me. Right now, I couldn't care less about what they were thinking.

"Shane!" I screamed towards the house. "Shane! Shane!" my voice cracked at the end and I broke down in hysterics. I fell to the floor, pulling Nate with me. He stayed right beside me, holding me tight while Caitlyn rubbed my back. I could only watch in horror as our house was engulfed by the flames.

"Shane" I whispered out before collapsing into another set of tears. Caitlyn wrapped her arms around me and I started to cry harder. I could feel my own shirt getting damp and I knew that Caitlyn was crying as well. Nate continued to sit there, his arms around Caitlyn while his talking to me in hushed tones, trying to make me feel better.

"It's okay Mitch. The firemen got here on time and the house isn't completely destroyed..." his voice faded out while I broke away from Caitlyn and looked back towards the house. I looked down at the ground and saw some of the burnt remains from pictures. I wiped away the new set of tears as they came as I heard footsteps coming my way. I turned around to see one of the firemen coming towards me.

"Mrs Grey?" he asked me. I blinked back the tears as he said my last name and nodded. "We are very sorry about your house. I'm sorry to say that this house had been damaged beyond repair. You will need to find new accommodation until the house is deemed safe enough to collect any remains that were not damaged by the fire" he told me. I nodded but knew that I had to ask him.

"Did you find anyone?" I choked out. He looked at me with a sorry expression on his face.

"I'm sorry miss, but anyone inside the house would have had a slim chance of getting out" I nodded again and when he turned around did I allow the tears to flow.

"Mitchie?" I heard Caitlyn ask quietly. I turned around to see her standing behind me with Nate by her side. I managed a weak smile that she saw right through. Both her and Nate opened their arms and I rushed forward into the hug.

"You're coming to stay with us" she whispered in my hair. I barely nodded as I broke away from the hug. As we started to walk away, I turned around to look at the house once more. As I was looking, I noticed something or someone walking around the side of the house. I thought it was a fireman until I saw them more clearly. I gasped as I saw the long and now curly black hair on top of the head of a tall man dressed in his tracksuits and a wife-beater. His face was now dirty from the ash but I could still see the sparkling brown eyes as they searched the yard. My breath caught in my throat as his gaze landed on me. Behind me I could hear Caitlyn and Nate also gasp and I knew I was not seeing things.

"Shane" I breathed out. He smiled at me and gave him a watery smile back. The tears had now come back to my eyes but I didn't bother to wipe them away. Before I knew it, I was bolting across the yard towards his waiting arms. I could feel pretty much everyone watching us but I didn't care. All I cared about right now was that Shane was here and we were both safe. I pretty much leapt into his arms but he didn't mind. My legs wrapped around his waist while he tightened his hold on me, burying his face in my hair. I started to sob again. I knew that Shane hated it when I cried but I couldn't help it. I seriously thought I had lost him.

"It's okay baby" Shane soothed me. I only tightened my hold on him. After a few minutes I unwrapped my legs from his waist but my arms stayed wrapped around his neck while his stayed on my waist.

"It's okay. I'm right here"

"I thought I lost you" I whispered to him.

"I'm not going to leave you anytime soon" he reassured me. I wanted to stay in his arms forever but I knew that Caitlyn and Nate wanted to see him as well. I loosened my grip on him and looked over and Caitlyn and Nate who were watching us with smiles on their faces. Shane looked over at them as well I could see him grin and beckon them over. Both walked over quickly and I stepped back a little to let them hug Shane. Caitlyn's hand was covering her mouth as Shane walked over to her. I could her Shane laughed as he engulfed her in a hug. They let go and Caitlyn walked over to me, giving me a side hug. We both watched as the band mates and best friends hugged each other. They released each other and Shane walked back over to me, hugging me tightly.

"What are we going to do Shane?" I quietly asked him but I know that Caitlyn and Nate heard me.

"You can stay with us for as long as you need" Nate said to us. I smiled over at him. I let go of Shane and walked over to give Nate a hug.

"Thank you" I whispered to him as I pulled back. I felt Shane come up behind me, hugging me again.

"We'll make it though this Mitchie" Shane told me. Even though we had pretty much lost everyone and would have to start over again, I trusted Shane and I knew that we would work through this.

"I know" I said to him. Looking up at him and giving him a small smile. Shane smiled weakly at me in return. We both knew that we were happy that the other was safe but other than that, there was nothing to be happy about. We had lost almost everything. All our photos and memories had been lost in the fire. We would have to start our lives all over again, start again from scratch but for some odd reason, I felt a lot calmer about knowing that I had loved ones by my side. We started to walk out into the street, Nate and Caitlyn walking ahead of us. Nate had his arm wrapped around Caitlyn's shoulders while she leant into him. I smiled to myself.

"I love you" I whispered to Shane, looking up at him. Shane stopped walking and looked at me.

"I love you too Mitchie. So so much" he said it so passionately that made me grin widely. I leant up and kissed him softly. I felt Shane smile into the kiss. I went to pull away but Shane would have none of that. He placed one hand on my back and drew me closer to him while the other rested on my neck. I wrapped one of my hands around his neck while my other hand caresses his cheek. We both pulled back after a minute a little breathless. I hugged him again, resting my head on his chest. I felt Shane kiss the top of my head.

Someone how I knew things would be okay. We would be okay as long as we had each other.

So there you have it. I know its not exactly my normal kind of story but i only just found time to write this up with all the school work i have. I'm hoping to have my other stories updated soon. Please review this for me... i would really appreciate it.

xx