<div class="floatright">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/74/Siren2.jpg)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong>Aline Myobi -</strong> <em>Watching her dreams go up in smoke...literally...</em></span></div><br/><sup>Continued from Aline's studio (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=84437.0)...</sup><br/><br/>The harsh light from the emergency exit signs were merely red blurs to Aline's stinging eyes. Her breath rasped down her throat in ragged gasps, the cloth had long since dried. Streaks of soot showed where she'd roughly brushed away tears on her way down.<br/><br/>Mind blank by the time she reached ground floor, she wasn't quite sure what kept her moving towards the draft of cool air. It was a few more steps - or was it a few hundred? - before she was clear of the building. The early morning cold caressed her body and she realized with a shiver that she was sweating but didn't feel hot in the least.<br/><br/>Her eyes began to register the crowd, the shouting, the movement of firefighters and paramedics hurrying about. Someone steered her by the shoulders and led her to the side. Blinking from her stupor, ears still ringing, she realized she was no longer in the fiery maze.<br/><br/>But where was everyone else?<br/><br/>That icy panic seized her again and she scanned the crowd for familiar faces, a desperate feeling threatening to overwhelm her if she didn't spot someone soon.<em>Please...please let them be alright...</em>