Frozen Embers by D. S. Novis (room on the broom read aloud txt) 📖

Once her eyes had accustomed she checked her surroundings. She was in a huge room. Small metalic lockers covered every inch of the walls. Sarah’s heart dropped as she realised where she was. She was inside a bank vault.

Sarah was beyond bewildered now. Her mind ached as again she delved into her memories but found no sliver of plausibility as to why she was on the inside of a vault.

She looked around her and jumped with surprise. Next to her lay several other bodies, all beginning to stir. However, what took almost all of Sarah’s attention was not these semi-conscious bodies.

In the middle of the vault lay a giant mountain that reached high enough to touch the ceiling and wide enough that it took up most of the floor space. It seemed to be composed of millions of stacks of paper. Sarah walked forward to examine and her heart missed a beat. It wasn’t just paper, it was money. English sterling notes stacked together. There must be millions, no billions here she thought. An excitement spread through Sarah’s entire body.

Money was her life and had been ever since she was a child. Most kids would spend their pocket money on sweets or new toys but not Sarah. Sarah would collect her coins like a magpie. She’d steal from her sisters and smaller children in her neighbourhood simply just to possess their coins. It wasn’t what you could buy with money, it was the power and respect that comes with simply owning more than others.

The bodies around her were getting to their feet now and were inspecting the mound of money with the same glint of greed that was etched on Sarah’s face also. They were all dressed in fine business suits. All were of different nationalities.

“Ladies and Gentlemen”, came a voice from nowhere. “Apologies for the lack of information up until this point-”

It was a male voice with a strong Northern Irish accent. It seemed to be coming over a speaker system.

“What is this?” snapped a Chinese businessman next to Sarah. Everyone was turning on the spot trying to locate the source of the voice.

“Patience, Mr. Lin. All will be explained.” The Irish voice said calmly. The man named Mr. Lin looked taken aback that the bodiless voice knew his name. “Now, to business. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re all here.”

“Damn right we are!”  Said Mr. Lin.

The Irishman continued as if he hadn’t heard this interruption.

"My name is Alexander Doyle and I have a proposition for you."

"I damand you let us go immediately!" shouted a German businessman.

Again the Irishman ignored the protesting.

"Why are we here?" Yelled Mr. Lin.

“You are here because of your desire for material gain." The Irishman announced, matter-of-factly.

The group of business people fell silent.

"You are here because of your capitalist lifestyle. You are here because of your lust for riches. In short you are here, ladies and gentlemen, because of your greed."

Sarah looked around at the faces of the business men and women. Each looked at each other with incredulous eyes. What was this? Some kind of intervention for the successful?

"For those of you who are not aware, greed is an excessive desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. The punishment of a man found guilty of greed is as follows." The Irishman cleared his throat. Much like a waiter preparing to read today's specials. "That man will sent to Hell where he will be boiled alive in oil for all of eternity.”

The Irishman paused. "And believe me, ladies and gentlemen, Hell does exist."

The deadly silence pressed into the ears of every man and woman there.

Sarah felt her pulse rising. Her instincts screamed to her that danger was coming. She didn't know what she'd expected but it certainly was not this. She still hadn't taken her eyes off of the mountain of money.

“This, to me, seems a fitting punishment for such an unholy lifestyle. Unfortunately, humans seem to have become blissfully ignorant to these facts. That’s where I come in. I’m here to make you see the error of your ways. To guide you back onto the path you seem to have strayed away from, as it were.”

"Humans?" Sarah repeated in a whisper.

There was a strange detatchment when he'd said the word 'human'. He seemed to consider himself to be something other than a human. This man is mad, thought Sarah. They were all being held captive by a religious extremist.

Sarah thought hard again about the previous night. The champagne was the last thing she could remember. He must have spiked it. She began to walk cautiously around the Vault, seeing if there was any way out. She made it to the vault door. It was big, circular and solid. Sarah pushed as hard as she could but to no avail. They were trapped here.

“Each and every one of you is extremely wealthy and powerful. This comes at the expense of other men, women and children. I take, as an example, Miss Sarah Linkhart.”

Sarah froze where she stood. Somehow the madman knew her.

“Miss. Linkhart here, found her fame and fortune from her business, FairCo. ‘A company aimed at bringing about a truly fair trading relationship between our great country and those of the third world.’, or so that’s what the brochures say.  Miss. Linkhart’s company bunks up prices of their ‘fair trade’ products in the name of higher earnings for the African manufacturers. How much money of that do the families of the African manufacturers see? Most would have to save for a month to afford a pack of penny sweets. She puts forward a mask of generosity in order to exploit and wreak the benefits from the honest and needy.”

“Wha-... How did you?...“ Stuttered Sarah. "I am a business woman!" she yelled finally finding her tongue. "I brought business to areas of poverty!"

"You exploited the innocent and desperate to make a larger net profit! The rest of you share similar stories so I won’t bore you with individual details. As I’ve already said, the punishment for greed is to by be boiled alive in oil in hell for all eternity. I offer you, in comparison, a better deal. As you may have noticed, there is a giant hill of money sitting before you. I have drained dry each and every one of your financial accounts, on and off shore. This money is yours.”

Just as the last words had hit their ears, fire rained down from the ceiling, onto the middle of the mound. The money went up like dry wood and spread downwards like a red river. After another stunned silence there was an out raw. Everyone was yelling and scrambling for the money, all grabbing fistfuls, desperately trying to protect their flammable riches from the fire.

“Silence!” Boomed the Irishman, his voice more serious now.

Some stopped to listen but most continued to work frantically. “I put to you, a dilemma. Watch your wealth burn before your eyes and you will survive! Give up your sinful ways now and forever or else perish and burn in the very riches you’ve treasured so dearly. See once and for all that attachment to material possessions will ultimately end in your own damnation! The vault door will open the second the last note turns to ash. As you know this money has not gone through the legal channels, you all saw to that, so there is no insurance, there is no second chance. Once this money burns it is gone for good. To assist you with your decision I give you two objects each. The first is a fireproof blanket. Cover yourself, sit back and watch the fireworks. The second is a fire extinguisher. Make your choice.”

The speaker went silent. Sarah looked around frantically and then spotted the objects in the corner of the vault.

“They’re over there!” she shrieked, desperation inked into every syllable. Every one of the business men scrambled off of the mound and dashed to the corner of the vault. Sarah was shocked to see that half a dozen grabbed the blankets. Without hesitation she snatched a fire extinguisher and a blanket. She encased herself as best she could. She turned to see the top of the giant mound ablaze. Smoke filling the vault, and her lungs, and the light was blinding. She ducked low to avoid the fumes and ran towards the fiery notes. She began to climb the mountain, heading towards the flaming centre. It wasn't too late. They could still save more than half if they acted quickly. Others had beaten her to the summit and were beginning to make a circle around the site of the fire. The heat was strong but their determination was stronger.

“Okay let’s do it!" Someone yelled.

Then came the sound of an almighty explosion. The fire leaped upwards like a predatorial creature to attack one of the men. Flames swelled around him and crying yells subsided.

That was so strange. It was like he’d exploded, thought Sarah puzzled.

Nobody rushed to the man's aid but just stepped over the charcoaled remains to encase the circle again.

Another few explosions sounded from the other side of the mound causing the fire to spread even faster now.

What was exploding? Thought Sarah worriedly as she climbed higher and higher.

Then there was another boom closer, a man now stood on fire meters from Sarah. She’d seen what had happened this time. The fire extinguisher had exploded as he’d begun to squeeze its handle. Sarah ran her finger over a drop protruding from the mouth of her extinguisher. She lifted it to her nose and smelt it. Gasoline.

These fire extinguishers had been filled with high explosives. Sarah’s heart plummeted. The Irishman had no intention of letting their money survive. It was all about whether the business men would try to save the money or not. This must be a sick twist on being 'boiled alive' that the Irishman had talked about.

Sarah had to get off the hill, now. She turned and was confronted by a wall of burning money and business suits. The heat was so overwhelming that the sweat was evaporating straight from her head as soon as it was produced.

A frightened looking Mr. Lin stood a few feet away from her.

Sarah turned to run from him. Why waste time explaining this to him? Who was he to her? The money catching fire was inevitable now. She simply had to save herself. When she turned to run however she realized that she was now surrounded. From all sides the ocean of flames encased Mr. Lin and hers small island of as yet not ignited notes.

It was then that Sarah realized what Mr. Lin was about to do. He hadn’t worked out about the gasoline and seeing that the bottom of his Armani trouser leg had begun to catch fire he pointed his extinguisher at it.

"No!" Sarah screamed.

But it was far too late for Sarah to do anything and with the biggest explosion yet, Mr. Lin and Sarah both burst into flames.

 

 

                                                        *

 

 

Gabriel felt hands running all over his body. People were talking hurriedly all around him. Screams and shrieks pierced his eardrums.

He tried to open his eyes, to see who was yelling, to see the reason for all of the commotion, but he could not lift them. His eyes may as well have been iron girders.

His body felt numb and broken. A sickly smell of iron invaded his nostrils. Was that blood? His clothes were drenched in what felt revoltingly like blood.

Gabriel was lifted onto a stretcher and moved several meters before getting lifted again into the back of a vehicle. A loud siren sounded above him. This seemed to snap consciousness back into Gabriel but he was too weak to alert anyone else to this fact.

“Incredible!” said a woman’s voice. “Are we sure this one fell from the roof too? He has a few broken bones but doesn't have a scratch on him. His skin is perfectly intact.”

“What’s the situation?” The voice came from the radio that was pinned to the woman’s belt.