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Jesus, this weighs a ton.

I stood and brought the light above my head with shaky hands and slammed it down onto the doorknob, making two of the screws fall to the floor.

Okay. I can do this.

I grunted and lifted the warm metal above my head before yelling, bringing it down with twice as much force on the spot where the doorknob met the frame.

The knob clattered to the ground.

Yes!

I dropped the light and flung open the door. Reed stood there with a metal stanchion from the lobby held above his head, his mouth opened in shock.

“You’re here,” I said before I had a coughing fit.

He dropped the stanchion and stepped forward, wrapping his arms tightly around me and resting his chin on the top of my head. “Thank God you’re okay.”

Something crashed from below in the auditorium, and Reed pulled away.

“We gotta get out of here.” He tugged my arm and pulled me down the hallway and then the stairs as they filled with smoke mixed with the warm sprays of the sprinkler water.

What felt like only seconds later, I collapsed onto the grass near the sidewalk outside of the Lyric, coughing so hard I wasn’t sure I could stop.

Reed ran his hands over my arms and legs before lightly touching my cheek. I winced at the sharp sting.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, panting, his eyes frantic.

I shook my head and pressed my hand against my chest. God, my lungs felt thinner than tissue paper. “Ben…Ben’s in there,” I gasped.

“Ben?” Reed coughed into his elbow. “Are you sure?”

I nodded.

Reed stared at the burning building for a moment and then pressed his forehead against mine. “Stay safe,” he whispered.

And before I could stop him, he sprinted back into the building just as the fire trucks and a police car pulled up.

“Reed, no!” I crawled toward the building as he disappeared into the smoke-filled doorway, the windows of the main floor now glowing with fire.

Come back, come back, come back.

A fireman hurried over to me, but I pointed toward the theater. “There are two boys in there. Hurry!”

The fireman spoke into a radio clipped to his chest and then hurried inside the building with another. I slowly got to my feet, but then my knees shook and everything started spinning.

Someone gripped my elbow and guided me back to the ground. My eyes stayed glued on the theater as the flames continued to spread.

Please, please. Where are you?

The theater wasn’t that big. What was taking him so long?

Whoever crouched next to me spoke, but all I heard were the sirens coupled with my pounding heart.

A window popped, and glass rained down to the flowerbeds below. More smoke poured out of the building before billowing higher and higher into the sky as two ambulances drove up.

Come on. Come on.

Why couldn’t they find him? Where—