My mouth hung open and I drew the thin air in long gasps like a trapped miner. I unzipped the left pocket of the jacket and removed one of the baseball-sized stones I’d taken off the street. The volcano slowly shrank back from the ceiling taking the darker hues back down with it. Suspended in between the two layers of flame, a foot thick band of gray smoke undulated softly. I was becoming drowsy and had to fight to keep my eyes open. I bent over at the waist and breathed deeply from the heavier air at knee level before straightening and throwing the stone at the tall window pane next to me.

The stone struck the surface and continued through normally, but the splintering glass exploded inward, as the fresh oxygen was sucked inside. I turned away from the blast of air and flying glass. The monster roared angrily as we both breathed deeply and I looked up in time to see that the stone I'd thrown had sent a ripple across the flames on the ceiling. The flames were still blood red at the leading edge of the ripple, but were bright yellow and scrambling hungrily downward in its wake. The thick layer of grey smoke burst into turbulent swirls as it fed on the fresh air. In its changing shapes, I could see Bobby.

The boy stepped back toward the center of the room. The burning carpeting under the tower sent crackling flames racing through its fragile superstructure. The monster hissed as it ate at the thin veneer on the walls. Bobby watched his tower lean to the left and fall over after a few seconds.

"Mommy!" he shouted in response to the destruction of his work. "Mommy!" he cried out again as he ran toward the door only to find the top half of it already yellow and orange. He stopped in his tracks and looked at it as it crawled down the door and the wall surrounding it. His young emotions went from anger to fear when he realized what was happening.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" He screamed until he became winded in the thin air of the room. He stood there breathing heavily and watched it eat at the door, little yellow teeth took small bites in front while the orange back teeth chewed violently. The heat pushed him away from the door and he walked back to the footlocker at the end of the small bed.

It had spread across the ceiling and three walls but was only a quarter way across the floor. He sat down on the toy chest and fought to keep his eyes open against the smoke as his head began to swim.

"Mommy," he said softly. The word came out in a weak exhale barely audible over the crackling of the paneling.

"Bobby!" shouted a voice beyond the door down the hall. "Bobby!" shouted his mother louder and closer to the closed door.