MAG 169: Fire Escape

Audio
Transcript
Warnings

Considerations on the sanctity of home. Recorded by the Archivist in Situ.

## Pre-Statement

John and Martin have reached a domain of The Desolation in the form of an endlessly burning building, both Jude Perry and Arthur Nolan are somewhere inside. Martin is distraught at the notion of walking through it but John assures him that while the flames can cause them pain, they can do them no actual lasting harm. Martin is not particularly reassured.

They could take a different route but John wants to take revenge on Jude Perry. He ultimately leaves the decision to Martin as he is not willing to make him suffer for his revenge. Martin does not think it is fair to make him choose as this is John's revenge and it should be his choice. John decides to find Jude and leads them into the building.

## Statement

John ruminates on the meaning of a home and how it is where that heart can be hurt most severely. How a place of intended safety can be corrupted by invasion, infection, exploitation, or simply an inescapable toxic presence.

Sabina cannot say how long she has lived in this rundown home but she cherishes every inch of it. She senses a hungry and eager fire drawing near as her parents are asleep in another room. She is frozen in place, watching the flames creep in through the crack under her front door. It is not until her welcome mat ignites into a gout of flame that she is able to snap into action and she leaps to her feet, calling for help.

She rushes to her parents and hears them cry out in agony but the door to their room will not budge. The door latch never really aligned properly, and the landlord always said he was going to get it fixed. Sabina can only pound helplessly on the smoking wood as the voices of her parents go quiet.

She rushes to the window, trying to reach the old fire escape, but the window frame never really opened properly, and the landlord always said he was going to get it fixed. It judders as she tries to force it open, freezing a few inches from the bottom. The glass shatters as she tries to force it, cutting her face to ribbons.

She tries to climb through the window and her hand touches the iron of the fire escape, but the fire escape was always really rusty, and the landlord always said he was going to replace it. At the first bit of weight she puts upon it, the fastenings come loose and it crumples to the ground far below.

Neither the sink nor the small fire extinguisher the landlord begrudgingly provided offer any help against the flames as they devour her home.

## Post-Statement

Martin shouts for John and snaps him out of the statement by slapping him. They have found Jude Perry. She sarcastically greets them and Martin is continually coughing as John speaks to her. He demands to know if she knew what would happen when she marked him. She admits that she had no idea, she just wanted to hurt him because she found him annoying.

John can feel the pain and fear of every person trapped in Jude’s domain and she makes him admit that he likes it. Jude is disgusted with his and The Eye’s voyeurism, calling them parasites.

John gets back to the matter at hand and reveals that he has come to smite her. Jude’s tone changes once he makes her feel all the terror and pain she has inflicted. She apologises for burning him and tries to bargain, offering to help him get revenge on everyone who has wronged him. She is destroyed in a crescendo of distorted audio and with her final words, she accuses John of being no better than her.

Martin notes that the fires are still burning, it does not look like her death changed much.