He climbed into bed, thinking he really needed to discuss this with his wife. But not tonight, Deborah was gently snoring, and he'd never wake her just to talk over something he'd seen in the paper, even if he did know the boys involved. Even though he was tired and had a long day, he found he still needed about forty-five minutes before he could settle off to sleep.

Sometime later, exactly how long he couldn't be sure, there was a noise which sounded like a heavy object falling, and it woke Rupert.

He peered around in the semi-darkness and immediately knew something was wrong.

He couldn't see, his breathing was painful, and his eyes were burning. He began to cough. In seconds, his head had cleared enough to allow him to understand what was going on. The whole room was filled with thick smoke.

He jumped out of bed and started shouting Deborah's name, but there was no response. His panic rose; Deborah was a severe asthmatic, and smoke caused terrible attacks.

Turning back to the bed he felt across the mattress for her, frightened to discover she wasn't there. He ran to the doorway, his breathing extremely labored and he coughed continuously in the acrid air.

Rupert tripped over something near the door and he fell, striking his head hard on the door frame. The pain in his head and neck was severe, and he was aware of blood running down his face. Blindly, he felt around for what he'd tripped over. His hands found hair first, and then skin, a nose and lips. Deborah! He continued to feel around until he located her arms and struggled to lift his wife from the floor. He could hear her wheezing as she fought to breathe, and when he got her up onto her feet, he wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders as he half dragged, half carried her from the bedroom.

As quickly as Rupert could manage, he headed for the door leading to the garage, since it was the quickest way out of the house. He opened the door; the smoke seemed even thicker in here. He felt the wall, groping across until he found the button for the garage door. He pushed the button repeatedly before he remembered that it wasn't working.

He made a swift decision. It would probably take longer to get into the SUV and find the remote. They would have a better chance of surviving if they went back inside and went for the front door. He grabbed Deborah again and dragged back into the house.

His breathing was worsening, and his strength was almost gone. His head was pounding and the sensation was getting more intense by the second.

The crackling sound of fire and the glow of flames was getting closer.