AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tim, Brandon, and Jimmy from Knoxville. Casey, Billy, and Jude from Asheville,” another voice replies.
Nine in total are still unaccounted for.
Four more come in, and their family members race to embrace them.
I look over to see Susanna, Anna, and Jay’s wife holding each other, crying hysterically.
Come on, door. Open again.
Fifteen minutes go by, and then Corbin comes walking into the room.
Sara-Beth gasps, and Hilton leads her over to him.
He’s alive.
It takes every fiber of strength in me to hold my body in place.
I watch them and realize what I’ve missed. I’ve been so afraid of letting myself get trapped that I never saw how wonderful a large, loud, overbearing family could be. To have them at your back when you are falling apart.
Corbin takes his sobbing mother into his arms. He consoles her, whispering words of comfort into her hair, as his father keeps a steady hand on her back.
Once he has calmed her, he turns to the table where Susanna is standing, and he makes his way to her.
My heart sinks.
Corbin
The toughest part of my job is facing family members when tragedy strikes. Whether it be a parent whose child wrapped their car around a telephone pole or a hysterical owner whose pet was unable to be rescued from a burning home. But this is the worst scenario of them all.
I approach Jay’s and Mike’s wives.
Carla, Jay’s wife, starts shaking her head before I even make it to them. Anna is clinging to Susanna.
“Corbin, please,” Carla pleads.
I bring my eyes to hers. “Jay’s alive, but he’s critical. Lifestar flew him to UT Medical Center a few hours ago,” I tell her.
She collapses into a chair.
“Anna,” I begin, and I take a deep breath and hold it.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she asks.
I swallow hard. My throat is so painfully dry that I can barely get the words out.
“He died inside of his fire shelter,” I say.
The wail of agony that escapes her is so piercing that it echoes around the room.
Susanna tries to hold on to her, but she falls to her knees, clasping her swollen belly.
I move to her and pull her up into my arms.
She wraps her arms around my shoulders and buries her face into my neck. She sobs so violently that I can feel the vibration spreading through her body and into my bones.
I turn and make eye contact with my father.
He nods, hearing my unspoken request for him to call Anna’s parents.
