by Lauren Burd
“Find something to pry open the door,” Duncan ordered.
Samuel sat me down on a chair. “Keep an eye on her,” he told Mary.
Some of the staff began trying to pry open the door with their hands, while others broke chairs in an attempt to make pry bars. I slowly began to wake from my stupor.
“Are you all right, miss?” Mary asked.
I nodded. “We couldn’t get the code.”
The foyer was already unbearably hot, and smoke filled the space above our heads.
“Is there some other way out?” someone screamed in panic.
Mary shifted uncomfortably at the question.
“Where’s the other exit?” I asked her.
Several people nearby turned to stare at her.
I saw her indecision. “You’re not going to be punished. We just need to get out of here.”
“Sarah and I found an exit in the garden. We would use it sometimes to go outside.”
“Show us where it is,” Thanos said.
We all started toward the back of the house. It was rough going, and we had to take frequent detours to avoid flames or rooms choked with smoke. A loud groan echoed through the corridor leading to the garden. We cautiously made our way down the hall until we were at the garden doors. With a loud crack, the wall suddenly broke open, and a burning beam began to fall.
We all ran for the door to the garden, but a scream made me stop. I turned around and saw a scene straight out of a horror movie. Lucina was trapped underneath the beam, and several others were stuck on the other side. I ran back to the obstacle.
“We’ll try to find another way around,” Thomas said from the other side. He began to lead the eight or nine people with him back up the hall.
“Duncan! Samuel!” I yelled.
“Get out of here,” Lucina ordered.
Samuel and Duncan ran over to where I stood.
“I’ll lift the beam, and you pull her out,” Samuel instructed.
“No. I should lift it. You can’t heal as quickly.” Duncan argued.
“You’re not going to be strong enough.”
“I’m stronger than you think.”
“This isn’t the time for posturing. We need to get her out of here,” I interrupted.
Samuel reached into the flames and lifted the beam. Duncan leaned down and pulled Lucina out from under it. Samuel let the beam crash to the floor. I looked at his hands, but was surprised to find them relatively unharmed.
“You idiots. You should have left me,” Lucina choked out.
Ash began to rain down on us from above.
“Just be quiet, and we’ll get you out of here,” Duncan said. He cradled her in his arms, and we ran for to the garden.
We barely made it through the door when the ceiling fell, blocking the entrance behind us. I resisted the urge to lose control. Thomas and everyone else with him were lost. All we could do was get out ourselves.
“Get moving!” Thanos screamed from somewhere in the garden.
I followed the smell of adrenaline and sweat until we found the staircase.
“Where’s everyone else?”
I shook my head.
“Let’s go.”
We climbed a steep staircase until we reached the outside. Mary and the few others who had made it out stood some distance away, staring at the flames dancing in the night sky. We walked over and joined them.
“Where’s Thomas?” Mary asked.
“He didn’t make it,” Samuel answered.
Tears began to stream down her face.
“I’m cold,” Lucina whispered.
Duncan laid her on the ground. Her clothes were scorched, and there were burns on her hands and face. Both Samuel and Duncan took off their coats and placed them over her.
“Alina.”
I rubbed her upper arm gently. “I’m right here.”
“I told you it would work.”
“Yeah. You were right.”
“I can’t feel my legs.”
“They’re fine.”
The beam had fallen across her stomach. It had more than likely crushed her spinal column. Moving her, we’d probably severed her spinal cord.
“Did you know I was jealous of you?”
“What? Why would you be jealous of me?”
She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. She also had that exotic, mysterious thing that drove men crazy. I was nice-looking but nowhere near her league.
“I did everything I could to get Duncan to look at me the way he looks at you. No matter what I did, he just looked past me. Then, you showed up, and he was willing to give up everything just to be with you. It didn’t matter that you had Samuel or that you rejected him.”
“Lucina, I never looked past you,” Duncan said.
“But you never looked at me like that.” A shiver shook Lucina’s body. “It’s so cold.”
“I’m going to call for a pick up,” Thanos said.
“Can we get an ambulance?”
The look on his face told me it was impossible.
“Alina.”
“I’m here.”
“Take care of them for me.”
The tears in my eyes spilled over. “That’s your job.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She smiled up at me. Her body shook as she exhaled. I watched and waited for her to take another breath, but she never did. Duncan stared at me, but I couldn’t say anything. The flames from the fire cast shadows over her body, and I reached over and closed her eyes.
“A car will be here in a few hours,” Thanos informed us. “In the meantime, we should find a place to bury Lucina.”
“What?” I asked incredulously. “We can’t just leave her out here.”
“I don’t like it any more than you do, but we can’t carry a body with us. It would cause too many questions.”
“No. We have to have her cremated or buried properly some place. We can’t just leave her in an unmarked grave, and here of all places. She deserves better.” Thanos seemed unmoved by my plea. I looked to Samuel and Duncan for help, but they appeared resigned. “I won’t let you do this,” I said, but my words held little resistance,
Duncan moved off without saying a word. He walked over to a large cactus and knelt down. Using his hands, he began to dig. Thanos and Samuel soon joined him. I watched as the hole in the ground grew larger.
I slipped my arms under Lucina and carried her over to the makeshift grave. Duncan took her still form from my arms and lowered her into the ground. Tears glistened on his cheeks when he rose again. Thanos, Duncan, Samuel, and I all helped to fill in the grave.
The car arrived shortly after we were finished. We piled into the vehicle, all of us lost in our own grief. I watched as we passed the cactus that marked my friend’s final resting place and felt the tears warm on my cheek. Samuel slipped his arm around me, and I sobbed into his chest as we drove away from the flames and loss.
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