James
Michael, pallid and sweating, won’t meet my eye. I could punch him and smile about it, and he knows it, but this isn’t the time.
With Charlotte on the penthouse floor of the building, flames taking hold somewhere below, and Michael’s instruction to her to remain where she is, it is only a matter of time before she is trapped beyond rescue.
Fucking idiot….
And because in our headlong rush from the apartment we both left without our phones, we have no way to contact her.
As my imagination cries havoc, I battle the terror for her that rises in me, unbidden, unwelcome….
Flames…
Heat….
Burning….
…. Smoke, choking fumes….
Trapped….
Jade….
Don’t panic….
…. You’re no good to her if you panic….
We sprint up a flight of stairs, the sound of heated, rushing air growing louder around us, a hot wind rising….
But as we climb only the second flight, firefighters, masked and uniformed are descending. Arms outstretched, blocking our path, “Get moving downward. The floor above here’s on fire. The whole building’s coming apart. You can’t go that way.”
I grab him by the arm. “There’s a woman trapped in the Penthouse.” I have to shout over the wailing of the baking wind as it begins to chimney upwards, feeding on its own heat. “We’re not sure she even knows yet that she’s trapped…”
above are the sounds of crashing and collapse and the strained wheezing of metal and concrete under stress. “Talk while we move,” he yells, still descending
talking into it, pressing it against his ear to hear the reply over the chaos around us. His eyes flash to mine. “There’s helicopters coming in to help on the top floors. Can she
phone on
mobile, watching closely
It rings….
Come on…. Come on….
up your
speaking out loud, she answers.
trapped….
We?
there. Get out
I will. Beth’s with me. Richard sent
sent her
have time to think about that. “Beth’s with her….” I say to Michael. “Richard sent her up there for
areas only by glass screens. Beyond the glass a black fume swirls and rises, the acrid scent
in huge lungfuls of clean sweet air is to look up, where I see helicopters sweeping in from across the
*****
Seven Years Ago
on his pipe. “So, Jenny. Are you looking forward to your wedding? To being
at her lips. “Yes, I am. I wasn’t sure at first, but…. well, this will be the
eyes are misty and the old
blame her for putting that over anything
going to have our own place to live. I thought I was going to have to live with Chad’s parents until we could save up for a place of our own. But Mrs Collier’s having one of the old sheds converted to a holiday cottage and she
future with her husband-to-be. He wonders how to ask the question which haunts his
Like me? Don't
smoke-ring before replying. “In the old country, yes, I had family.” His words are slow. “But I have not
quieter, “Are they
at her. “I left my old home in bad times, bringing my Rachel with me. But there were those who chose to stay behind. Some of them, I found again in later years. Others….” He stares into space, sucking at the pipe…. “Others no, I never heard from again. Who can say