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“I’m not leaving any of the kids.” Her eyes flash, and then she’s turning and running toward the cafeteria. I can hear her calling out as she goes.
While she’s doing that, I’m checking the halls and making sure there aren’t any other students.
“We’re missing one, a little girl!” Avery’s shout reaches me, but through the smoke I can’t quite make her out.
“Get them and go. I’ll find her,” I call out as loud as I can.
Is it my heart racing, or is the fire I hear making it impossible to focus?
There’s no one on the bottom floor of the building by the time I make it to the stairs that will take me up to the younger classrooms.
“Fire!” my voice rings out. “There’s a fire. If you’re up here, call out so I can find you.” Over and over again, I open doors and call out for the missing girl.
Thankfully, the smoke is barely starting to fill the hall around me, but I don’t have much time until it’s here.
As the seconds drag on, smoke starts to filter into the air and thicken, making it harder to breathe.
Every door I open and call into adds to the terror growing in my gut.
I can’t leave her behind.
There are only two more doors to check, and I grab the doorknob on the left, swinging it open with the words already forming on my mouth.
“Hello? Is there anyone in here?” I cough around the smoke that’s impossibly filling the room, and it coats my throat like someone poured it down my mouth.
“You shouldn’t be here. Why are you here?” a man’s voice cries out in a panic through the silence left by my gasping breaths.
“We have to go. There’s a fire,” I call out to the man, but he doesn’t move. “We need go.” I try again. “There’s a little girl missing, and I need to find her.” I try to see through the dense smoke, but my eyes sting and tears start to fall. Every moment is bringing more pain and danger, and I can’t wait any longer. “We need to go.”
“Help!” a small voice erupts from behind me when the man on the other side of the smoke still doesn’t answer. “Help me, please!” I turn toward where I think I can hear the little voice coming from, back toward a room I thought I had checked before.
“Keep talking. I’ll find you.” I reach out, coughing through the smoke that’s now everywhere, and drop to the floor. “Get on your hands and knees,” I call.
“I’m over here,” the small voice calls back, and I could swear she’s right in front of me.
I reach out, using my hands to search, moving toward the voice, until my fingers hit something hard.
Now I know I’m not crazy when I feel the heat from the fire starting to lick at my skin, because the flames are here.
How did it get here so fast?
I have one hand wrapped around her leg and I’m pulling her toward me, trying to come up with a plan to get us out of here when I hear a loudcrackfrom above us.
Without thinking, I throw myself on top of the child right before the building crashes down onto my body.
We’re both screaming, and agony slices through my head and back. But it’s nothing compared to the crushing pain in my left arm.
I’m going to die, and I couldn’t save her.
My eyes fill with tears, making the entire world fuzzy around the edges.
The other person.
They might be able to help, if they haven’t already gotten to safety.
“Help!” I croak. “Help us!”
But no one comes.
