A ringing sat in her ears. She could smell smoke. She felt something heavy on top of her. Skin, touching hers. She didn't have the strength to open her eyes.

Her head was pounding. She didn't know what was going on.

All she was aware of was the continuous ringing, the pounding in her skull, and the scent of smoke and something else that lay on her like a blanket.

She was trapped.

She let out a moan. The ringing was fading, and she was starting to feel. She didn't want to feel.

Her leg hurt. No, it didn't hurt.

It burned. It felt as though her leg was on fire, like her muscles were alight, and all of it's bones had broken at once.

Her chest was sore too. Whatever it was that was on top of her, it was digging into her ribs.

She tried to pull her strength together, and push it off her. Her hands met something soft. A materiel, and something else.

Fear began to slip back into her mind. The shock was ebbing away. She didn't want it to go.

A tear slipped down her cheek. She could feel a panic rising within her. Dread clawing at her. Her eyes drifted open briefly and she could see red and grey.

Fire.

In a wave of desperation, she pushed the thing from her chest again and it rolled from her across her. Suddenly, she knew what it was, and the fear grew. She tried to open her eyes again, but it was as though her eyelids were laden with lead.

She let out another moan, involuntarily. The pain seemed to be getting worse, the hammering in her skull growing.

She forced her eyes open, even for another few seconds, and moved her head. From her blurred vision she caught sight of someone's bleached blond hair, and a fair amount of blood. A lump rose in her throat.

It was Luke.

The lump continued rising, and all of a sudden, it became a scream. A sob was wrenched from her chest. Her eyes shut again, heavy, and brimming with tears.

She tried to comprehend what had just happened. She could hear the countdown booming around her, voices cheering as they reached the new year. She could feel Luke's lips on hers. Then, she felt heat, and a force, pushing her back.

There had been an explosion. Inside. Where her parents were. Where her friends had been. Where all of her closest friends and family had been celebrating the new year.

She screamed again. Sobbed. Gasped for air. Then, all of a sudden, she was unusually calm.

She opened her eyes, properly this time. She could see the dark sky high above her, clouded by brown smoke. She looked down at herself, and saw Luke beside her. Her eyes were still clouded with tears, and she could only see blurred forms. Yet, even though she couldn't see clearly, she could still make out the blood. Dark, and thick, staining the yellow dress she wore. It wasn't her blood, though. She somehow knew that.

It was Luke's.

Pulling together her strength, she weakly pulled herself up to a sitting position. Sitting up, she could see over to where the function room used to be.

All she could see was fire, and smoke. Ruins of what had been there moments before.

She turned to Luke next, to his still form, lying beside her. His back was covered in blood, and jagged pieces of glass. She spun him over, so he was lying on his back, facing her. He almost seemed be smiling softly. It was unsettling.

He was completely covered head to toe in blood. His eyes were shut. She stared at his chest, looking for the rise and fall that would mean he was okay.

It was still.

She reached her fingers to his neck and searched for a pulse. Her hand was shaking. She had only ever once been taught how to find someone's pulse, years and years ago, and wasn't even sure if she was doing it right.

There was nothing.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and the panic began to rise through her chest again.

"No." She whispered, in a soft voice. Then, louder, almost angry, she spoke again. "No! You aren't allowed to be dead. You can't be."

He didn't reply. She wanted him to open his eyes, she wanted him to rise up and kiss her, tell her it would be all be okay. So what if they were lies. She wanted ever so badly to hear it anyway.

He didn't move. Another sob left her throat, a mutant scream of pure agony.

In panic, tears streaming down her face, she hits him. On the shoulder, hard. Then the face, a slap. She was trying to wake him. End this miserable game.

Yet he didn't even stir.

Ignoring her aching limbs, and pounding head, she rose, looking around at the fire, and the destroyed building surrounding her. Then, with a voice of hysteria she screamed.

"Help!"

The sound seemed to die the moment it passed her lips, overtaken by the sound of fire crackling and debris falling around her.

She looked around frantically, weak, her vision swimming. She felt dizzy. She opened her mouth again, and collecting all the strength she could muster she screamed again.

"HELP!"

Her voice seemed to echo this time, but just fell back onto her own ears. Tears were streaming steadily down her cheeks, and she didn't know what to do. She didn't have a phone with her to call emergency, it had been in her bag, which was in the cloak room on the other side of the building.

Desperation was clawing at her chest. She couldn't do anything. She was helpless to save Luke, and all of the rest of the people who had been in that room.

No one could save her.

She was alone, trapped, and vulnerable.

She turned, wretchedly searching for a way out. She couldn't see anything but fire. The only thing that she could see, as her head vision swam and she began to fall, was a glimpse of a boat, sitting on the ocean, lit up. A party boat, out on the water, celebrating for the new year.

The fire overtook her.