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Her smile was sympathetic. “I get what you mean, since I feel the same about my grandmother. Your grandmother is a nice lady, and I’m sure she’ll be fine. Anyway, I hope you agree to this and to be put up in hotel with the other younger people and families. You’ll have your own room of course, and we’ll make sure you have access to your grandmother in the morning.”
A hotel. If I’d thought Granny and I had been struggling before, I’d been wrong. Tonight we hit rock bottom. We had lost everything. I fisted my hands and refused to let my emotions get the best of me. I couldn’t fall apart here—in front of everyone. There were enough tears. Little kids clutching their parents. An older man who lived downstairs was mumbling incoherently. Granny and I would survive this. We had to.
I should at least be thankful that I would be provided with a roof over my head, no matter how inconvenient it was.
“I agree,” I finally accepted and signed the form she’d handed to me.
“Thank you. Don’t worry, this is just a temporary solution.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t so sure. Our insurance wasn’t much, and I was still unemployed, so I couldn’t even imagine what the way out of this was.
“Thank you.”
She mentioned a few more details that I barely registered before she left me. I approached my grandmother and took her by hand. “How are you feeling?”
She looked too pale, but she was essentially okay. I wouldn’t know what I would have done without her.
“I’m fine, honey.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look good.”
“Stop worrying about me, Bree. I’m just a bit tired, but one night of good sleep will solve it. I’m more worried about you.”
“Me? Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” I smiled and smoothed her hair. I didn’t want her to feel more stressed than she already was.
Her face showed that she didn’t believe me at all. “Are you? I know you, Bree, and I know that you’re trying to make it all easy for me, but I wish you wouldn’t do that. Why don’t you let me take care of you for a change?”
“I’m a big girl now, and I can take care of myself,” I said, my voice laced with humor.
“Even big girls need help from time to time.”
“True, but this is not one of those times. Seriously, Granny, you shouldn’t be concerned about me at all. You just take some time to rest. I’m sure everything is going to be alright.”
She was about to reply something to that, but the EMT came and told us they were about to transfer her to the rehab facility and I would be able to visit her tomorrow.
“Thank you,” I told him and faced my grandmother. I hugged her, trying not to think about the feeling of loneliness that had crept inside of me. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Sleep tight, okay?”
“You too, honey. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
I watched them put her in the back of the ambulance and waved at her before they closed the door and drove away. I turned around, hoping to find those two firefighters again, but they were already gone.
That was too bad. Now that I thought about it more, I hadn’t even thanked them for what they had done, and I shook my head annoyed with myself. Granny would be so upset I hadn’t thanked them, she would say, “I raised you better than that.” And she’d be right, just like always.
I wished I could see them again, but I didn’t know anything besides their names.
This night had been a complete disaster.
5
Bree
The next morning, I woke up with a terrible headache, which reminded me of a hangover, but even that would be better than this. I’d barely slept a few hours, tossing around all the time as the nightmares of being left with nothing and lost in the middle of nowhere kept haunting me. The hotel room had been too quiet, and I felt weird being here all by myself.
A gasp of shock left my lips when I looked myself in the mirror. I was a horrible mess. I showered and luckily the hotel shampoo did wonders to my hair and took out some of the smell. Maybe I could grab some make-up today at a drug store. Since I had nothing left.
God. Nothing left. That stung.
The Red Cross had left a bag of clothes for me, donated stuff I assumed, at my door. I chose a flowery dress that smelled nice and put some effort into making my hair look more presentable. I braided it and made it fall over my shoulder. Granny had always braided my hair during my middle school years, so braids always reminded me of her. I was so lucky to have her on my side all this time.
