#Chapter 57- Flames

Cora I could not stop thinking about how quickly my life had turned to ash. The flames had caught faster than I expected. As Riley and I drove away, they licked up the walls of my old apartment with terrifying grace, devouring the memories etched into every floorboard and tile. Smoke coiled upward like a serpent, greedy and unrelenting. No matter how much distance I put between us and the place we had once called home, I could not shake the sound of crackling wood, the brightness of the inferno against the sky. It felt like a funeral. My own. The fire had been necessary. It was the only way to tie up the loose ends in my life. The person who had once been Cora was now dead, officially. Everything had been in place to make sure that the fire blazed on for a sufficient amount of time. I’d shattered my old phone and tossed the remains out the car window as we drove. I'd even disabled the fire alarm before striking the match so the blaze could spread unchecked for long