Walking Disaster

My face compressed, and I clenched my eyes shut. I was going to have to call my father and tell him that Trenton was still inside a burning building, and that it was my fault. I didn’t know if my family could handle another loss. Trenton had lived with my dad while trying to get back on his feet, and they were a little closer than the rest of us.

My breath caught as I punched in the numbers, imagining my father’s reaction. The phone felt cold in my hand, and so I pulled Abby against me. Even if she didn’t know it yet, she had to be freezing.

The numbers turned into a name, and my eyes widened. I was getting another call.

“Trent?”

“Are you okay?” Trent yelled in my ear, his voice thick with panic.

A surprised laugh escaped my lips as I looked at Abby. “It’s Trent!”

Abby gasped and squeezed my arm.

“Where are you?” I asked, desperate to find him.

“I’m at Morgan Hall, you dumb f**k! Where you told me to meet you! Why aren’t you here?”

“What do you mean you’re at Morgan? I’ll be there in a second, don’t you f**king move!”

I took off in a sprint, dragging Abby behind me. When we reached Morgan, we were both coughing and gasping for breath. Trenton ran down the steps, crashing into both of us.

“Jesus H. Christ, brother! I thought you were toast!” Trenton said, squeezing us tight.

“You ass**le!” I screamed, shoving him away. “I thought you were f**king dead! I’ve been waiting for the firefighters to carry your charred body from Keaton!”

I frowned at Trenton for a moment, and then pulled him back into a hug. My arm shot out, fumbling around until I felt Abby’s sweater, and then pulled her back into a hug as well. After several moments, I let Trenton go.

Trenton looked at Abby with an apologetic frown. “I’m sorry, Abby. I panicked.”

She shook her head. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Me? I would have been better off dead if Travis had seen me come out of that building without you. I tried to find you after you ran off, but then I got lost and had to find another way. I walked along the outside wall looking for that window, but I ran into some cops and they made me leave. I’ve been flippin’ the f**k out over here!” he said, running his hand over his head.

I wiped Abby’s cheeks with my thumbs, and then pulled up my shirt, using it to wipe the soot from my face. “Let’s get out of here. The cops are going to be crawling all over the place soon.”

After hugging my brother again, he headed to his car, and we walked to America’s Honda. I watched Abby buckle her seat belt, and then frowned when she coughed.

“Maybe I should take you to the hospital. Get you checked out.”

“I’m fine,” she said, interlacing her fingers in mine. She looked down, seeing a deep cut across my knuckles. “Is that from the fight or the window?”

“The window,” I answered, frowning at her bloodied nails.

Her eyes turned soft. “You saved my life, you know.”

My eyebrows pushed together. “I wasn’t leaving without you.”

“I knew you’d come.”

I kept Abby’s hand in mine until we arrived at the apartment. Abby took a long shower, and with shaky hands, I poured us both a glass of bourbon.

She padded down the hallway, and then collapsed onto the bed in a daze.

“Here,” I said, handing her a full glass of amber liquid. “It’ll help you relax.”

“I’m not tired.”

I held out the glass again. She might have grown up around mobsters in Vegas, but we’d just seen death—a lot of it—and barely escaped it ourselves. “Just try to get some rest, Pidge.”

“I’m almost afraid to close my eyes,” she said, taking the glass and gulping the liquid down.

I took the empty glass and sat it on the nightstand, then sat beside her on the bed. We sat in silence, reflecting on the last few hours. It didn’t seem real.

“A lot of people died tonight,” I said.

“I know.”

“We won’t find out until tomorrow just how many.”

“Trent and I passed a group of kids on the way out. I wonder if they made it. They looked so scared . . .”

Abby’s hands began to tremble, so I comforted her the only way I knew how. I held her.

She relaxed against my chest and sighed. Her breathing evened out, and she nuzzled her cheek deeper into my skin. For the first time since we’d gotten back together, I felt completely at ease with her, as if we’d returned to the way things were before Vegas.

“Travis?”

I lowered my chin and whispered into her hair. “What, baby?”

Our phones rang in unison, and she simultaneously answered hers while she handed me mine.

“Hello?”

“Travis? You all right, man?”

“Yeah, buddy. We’re okay.”

“I’m okay, Mare. We’re all okay,” Abby said, reassuring America on the other line.

“Mom and Dad are freaking out. We’re watching it on the news right now. I didn’t tell them you would be there. What?” Shepley pulled his face away from the phone to answer his parents. “No, Mom. Yeah, I’m talking to him! He’s fine! They’re at the apartment! So,” he continued, “what the hell happened?”

“Fucking lanterns. Adam didn’t want any bright lights drawing attention and getting us busted. One caught the whole f**king place on fire . . . it’s bad, Shep. A lot of people died.”

Shepley breathed deep. “Anyone we know?”

“I don’t know, yet.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, brother. I’m . . . Jesus, I’m glad you’re ok ay.”

Abby described the horrific moments when she was stumbling through the dark, trying to find her way out.

I winced when she recounted how she dug her fingers into the window when she tried to get it open.

“Mare, don’t leave early. We’re fine,” Abby said. “We’re fine,” she said again, this time with emphasis. “You can hug me on Friday. I love you, too. Have a good time.”

I pressed my cell phone tight against my ear. “Better hug your girl, Shep. She sounds upset.”

Shepley sighed. “I just . . .” He sighed again.

“I know, man.”

“I love you. You’re as much a brother as I could ever have.”

“Me, too. See you soon.”

After Abby and I hung up our phones, we sat in silence, still processing what had happened. I leaned back against the pillow, and then pulled Abby against my chest.

“America all right?”

“She’s upset. She’ll be okay.”

“I’m glad they weren’t there.”

I could feel Abby’s jaw working against my skin, and I inwardly cursed myself for giving her more gruesome thoughts.

“Me, too,” she said with a shiver.

“I’m sorry. You’ve been through a lot tonight. I don’t need to add anything else to your plate.”

“You were there, too, Trav.”

I thought about what it was like, searching for Abby in the dark, not knowing if I would find her, and then finally kicking through that door and seeing her face.

“I don’t get scared very often,” I said. “I was scared the first morning I woke up and you weren’t here. I was scared when you left me after Vegas. I was scared when I thought I was going to have to tell my dad that Trent had died in that building. But when I saw you across the flames in that basement . . . I was terrified. I made it to the door, was a few feet from the exit, and I couldn’t leave.”