Paint It All Red (Mindf*ck Series Book 5)
Paint It All Red: Chapter 16

They say miracles are past.

—William Shakespeare

All the screens go blank at once, and nothing but white noise fills the air around us. I shake a monitor as though it’ll force the screen to work again.

“He’s shut down the cameras,” Hadley says, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

“Get them back on!” I snap.

“I’m trying!”

My face is burning with the tears, and it’s all I can do not to collapse to the ground.

Leonard is sitting silently, wringing his hands as he stares at the ground and bounces his knee.

The news is reporting the interruption to the live feed, but I can barely hear the words they’re saying.

My heart is hammering against my chest.

“Got it!” Hadley shouts as the screens come back to life.

My eyes go to the fire that is now closing in on the town hall, and suddenly it explodes, a deafening sound roaring through the speakers around us. I stagger back as the building continues to erupt, pieces of it blowing up at different times.

Silence falls on the entire room, the newsfeed also coming back up with Hadley’s link reactivating it.

Everyone outside the room is staring at the news with the same shock we’re staring at our monitor. But I barely notice anything around me as I break, throwing anything I can get my hands on as I fall apart.

Glass shatters around us. Voices call my name. Everything and nothing happens all at once as I slam my fist into Leonard’s face, fighting against the hands grappling me to the ground.

Ice and fire wash over me with no mercy, and I shut down. Everything on me turns to stone as I’m restrained and forced to watch the fire join the building, blanketing the town.

There’s no way she got out in time.