Unforgettable Heroes Boxed Set

by James, Maddie

  Eli yelled in my ear. “Get everybody away from the door. I’m going to ram it.”

  “Okay.” I’d have to go back for the girls later.

  I pushed my way through the crowd shouting for everyone to get back. To Mr. Harvey I yelled that somebody was going to ram the door from outside. About that time, a car horn blared long and loud. Seconds later the entire building shook as a vehicle hit the doors. It dinted them inward and had people scrambling away from the entrance. Tires screeched as the car backed up, revved, then rammed the doors again. This time, the doors opened with the impact of what looked like the mayor’s SUV. The vehicle quickly reversed taking one of the doors with it. People exited the building in a hurried, but orderly manner. Like a mother hen, I counted my chicks. The girls I had seen weren’t accounted for. I ran toward the hall.

  “Hey, girls, we got the door open. Come on!” I choked on smoke and hacked my way into the hallway.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Eli came up beside me, grabbed my arm, and swung me around. “You’re going the wrong way.”

  I shook off his hand and squinted at him. A line of blood ran down from his shaggy hair onto his forehead.

  “We’re missing some of the girls. I have to check the building.”

  “You go. I’ll check the building.”

  I ignored Sir Galahad and ran down the hall trying to keep my head low and yelling that the rear door was open. Smoke lingered in the passage making everything hazy. I turned the knob and found Mr. Harvey’s office was locked. Good. One less place for kids to hide. I opened the door to classroom A.

  “Anybody in here? Come on. We gotta get out.”

  Eli and I ran in, did a quick sweep of the room, found it empty of people, and left. I moved toward the kitchen where smoke bellowed from the doorway and into the hall. Eli grasped my hand, linking his fingers with mine and began pulling me away. I pulled his hand back.

  “What about the kitchen?” I yelled to Eli over the wail of smoke detectors.

  “You can’t go in there.”

  “But the kids. Erica, Katrina, and Sonya are back here somewhere. Maybe they went out the side door instead?”

  “No. All the doors are chained from the outside. Check classrooms B and C.”

  “But what if they went in the kitchen?”

  “If they’re in the kitchen, I’ll get them out.”

  “But, Eli—”

  “Go, dammit! And get out of here.” He pushed me down the hall. As I ran toward classroom B, I looked back to see him strip his jacket off, tie it around his mouth and nose, drop on his hands and knees and crawl into the inflamed kitchen doorway.

  It would be the last time I saw the bearded hero.

  Chapter Six

  To my dismay I did not find the children in the classrooms. When I came back into the hall from the second room, the entire side of the building housing the kitchen was a wall of flame. I wanted to check and see if Eli and the girls had made it out, but I encountered an inferno. They got out. They had to have. By the time I entered the great room, I was on my hands and knees coughing and trying to peer through the smoke but my stinging eyes watered so badly, that I couldn’t see. But I had been in and out of this building enough to know where I was going. The smoke detectors still wailed and along with other eerie sounds—cracking and popping—the sound of fire eating up wood, furniture, curtains and plastic, but not people.

  Please don’t let anybody die.

  I kept crawling until heavy boots and legs blocked me. Gloved hands placed an air mask over my face. I gasped in the oxygen not realizing how starved I was for it. Strong arms picked me up and carried me outside. I didn’t know who saved me. My lids were shut against the acidic sensation scratching at my eyes. Voices surrounded me as I sucked in that clean air amidst my coughs.

  Finally, I understood what was being said. “Is there anybody else in there?”

  “Yes. Three girls and a man.” That’s what I meant to say. As soon as I tried to speak, my throat mutinied. I hacked so violently, I started retching. The big mask was taken off, and replaced with a lighter one. I attempted to breathe in the good air, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to die. But somehow I had to let them know more people were in the center. I did the only thing I knew to do. I held up four fingers.

  “Four people?” A male voice asked.

  I nodded for all I was worth.

  Footsteps pounded on the pavement. Someone rolled me on my side and pushed me back on something soft strapping a belt over my abdomen. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt as if someone had poured acid on me. Not just my eyes. My whole face. Eli! I really was dying. I needed to tell Eli I was sorry for making him come after me and the girls. I worked at getting the belt loose. Someone pinched my arm, and I started to float.

  I was an iridescent green dragon breathing fire on a knight with tarnished armor. He ran from me and as he looked back, he raised his face guard. Eli. His expression wasn’t fear—it was grim determination. I called out to him, but instead of his name, a line of fire shot out and engulfed the knight. I awoke gasping and clutching my throat.

  I was in the hospital. I turned my head and saw Erica. She lay in the other bed in the room. Sonya was curled up next to her on top of the sheet. A woman sat on the chair near the foot of the bed. Her resemblance to Erica was apparent. This had to be her mother. But what about Katrina?

  I must have croaked the question because the woman stood up and looked down at me. “She’s okay. They all got out.”

  “Eli?”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t try to talk.”

  I knew I sounded like someone who had had their throat severed, and actually I felt like that, too, but I had to know if he got out okay.

  “Is Eli okay?”

  “Who?”

  “The homeless man, mama,” Erica supplied as she raised up. “He was the one who threw us out that window.”

  “Did he get out?”

  “I don’t know. We were just trying to get away from the fire.”

  I closed my eyes. He did get out, didn’t he? He must have crawled through that window, too. Of course, he did.

  I sat up fighting the nausea and dizziness which stomped all over my head and stomach.

  “What are you doing?” Erica’s mom snapped. “You better stay in that bed.” She pressed the nurse button. Immediately, a voice responded. With an accurate picture of my immanent escape, two nurses charged in the room.

  “Ms. Benton…Abigail, you can’t get up yet.”

  “Right,” I growled. Just wait until they find out I’m uninsured. They’d be escorting me out of the bed post haste.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Eli. I have to see if he’s okay.”

  “Was he in the fire?”

  “Yes.” Geez, these ladies were strong. They put me back on the bed and pulled up the guard rails. “We will find out. But you can’t get out of this bed. Please.”

  The other nurse spoke. “What’s Eli’s last name?”

  “Don’t know. He’s Eli. Just Eli.”

  Two pairs of troubled eyes stared at me. “We’ll look for him. Will you stay in the bed?”

  “Okay.” I was exhausted anyway. And my throat felt like I had been eating razor blades. I tried to suppress a cough, but couldn’t. That just made it worse.

  When they left, Erica’s mom pressed a cool wash cloth to my cheeks and forehead. When she drew back, the cloth was black. I smelled like I had been sleeping in an ashtray. My stomach rolled. I lay on my side in a miserable, disgusting, painful, smelly ball.

  I wished somebody would just kill me and put me out of my misery.

  ****

  Eli had disappeared. The nurses checked all the patient records. There was no one named Eli. They even checked the morgue. What about John Smith? He easily could be a John Smith. No John Smiths had been brought in that night. Could he still be in the community center? The possibility another person was in the building made the nurses
move fast. But, no, the firemen had checked thoroughly, and no one was in the building. Had he gotten out and gone somewhere to die?

  The next morning Paula came to pick me up. I asked her to drive me to the police station. Maybe if Eli wasn’t in the hospital, he was in jail. Erica’s mother told me the cops had taken about forty people in for questioning.

  “Abigail, I think you better go home and go to bed.”

  I knew I looked as bad as I felt. But at least, they’d let me get a shower. I wasn’t feeling so homey in the borrowed scrubs though.

  The police station was as much fun as I remembered it being when they’d had brought me there for possession and embezzlement. Even though I knew I wasn’t in trouble this time, sweat poured off me.

  Paula placed her hand on my arm. “Let’s just go.”

  “I’m worried about Eli.”

  “He’s a grown man. He can take care of himself.”

  “If he’s here, I’ll be satisfied. But if he’s not, he may need help. I got out of that building before he did. I know he’s worse off than I am.”

  Paula’s brown eyes assessed me. “I ain’t so sure about that.”

  Snippy woman.

  We waited for close to an hour before we were escorted into an interview room. Sweat tricked between my boobs tickling me. I tried to discretely absorb it with my shirt and caught Paula rolling her eyes. A young guy in a uniform sat down at a table with us and poised a pen over a form. He asked my name, address, phone number, blood type, favorite color, and every other question known in the universe. Finally in exasperation, I slapped my hands on the table.

  “Look, Officer Woodchuck—”

  “That’s Weilchek.”

  “Weilchek. Sorry. I just want to know if you’re holding a homeless person named Eli here for questioning. He was in the building last night, and he didn’t make it to the hospital.”

  “What was he doing in the building?” He stared at me with unblinking eyes. Do they teach that at the police academy?

  “Saving lives, what do you think?” I groused. Why was I wasting my time with this guy? Paula made a tutting noise which I tried to ignore.

  “I think that someone set fire to the community center then chained all the doors closed with two hundred people inside. We are going to find out who it is.”

  “I hope you do. I want to be the first in line to kick his tail.”

  “You will let the authorities—”

  “Is Eli here or not? Can’t you just go see?”

  “I’d like to talk to this Eli. However, we haven’t had anyone brought in by that name.”

  “John Doe? John Smith?”

  “No. We have had several Kiss my Asses though. One F.U. Those are just initials, by the way. And a Jesus Christ. Could one of them be your guy?”

  I sighed. “I doubt it.”

  Officer Weilchek’s eyes glimmered, softened. “Tell you what. Give me a description of the guy, and I’ll keep my eyes open.”

  “He’s white with a long beard and bushy hair.”

  “Hair color?” He wrote down my description on his paper.

  “Dark. Brown.”

  “Eye color.”

  When I didn’t answer right away, he asked. “Do you know?”

  Yes. I knew. I decided not to wax poetically about them. “Blue.”

  “Do you remember what he was wearing last night?”

  “I think it was a blue windbreaker.”

  “He was wearing a windbreaker? In this heat?”

  “He always wears long sleeves. I did see him take it off when he went into the kitchen looking for three girls I had seen run into the back. He took the jacket off and tied it around his face.”

  “He was trying not to breathe in the smoke,” the policeman surmised.

  “Or keep his beard from catching on fire,” Paula supplied.

  “Can you remember the color of his shirt?”

  I searched my memory. I couldn’t say for sure. I shook my head.

  “Anything else?”

  “He,” I hesitated here not quite sure what to say. “He smells.”

  “Well,” the officer clicked the pen a few times. “If he is homeless, as you say, that’s no surprise.”

  “No. He doesn’t stink. He smells like…caramel.”

  “Huh.” He studied me for a few seconds then wrote on his pad.

  I looked to make sure he wasn’t writing, ‘Woman is nuts.’ Nope. He wrote what I said. “Smells like caramel.”

  “Okay. I’ll look for a guy with a lot of hair and smells like candy.” Officer Weilchek stood up. I took that as a sign we were done and stood up, too. “We’ll call you if he turns up.”

  ****

  I probably should tell you that I accepted my old job at Wainwright and Potter. In some glitch I have yet to figure out, the company insurance picked up my hospital bills and sent me a pay check. Was I torn. I knew the right thing to do was call them and tell them their mistake, but my stay at the hospital overnight was like a zillion dollars—only a slight exaggeration here. When I had to have some work done on my car, I went in to give the check back before I was tempted to cash it to pay the mechanic. When I entered the lobby, Hannah, the receptionist, ushered me to my old office asking me how my vacation was.

  “It didn’t feel much like a vacation,” I admitted as I surveyed my former desk. My name plate claimed the desk was still mine. The inbox was full.

  “Looks like you have a lot of work to catch up on.”

  I turned to her. “I don’t think I work here anymore. They fired me. You knew that, right?”

  Her eyes grew round matching her open mouth. “Well, yeah, but then they worked it out with you. Extended leave with full benefits until you came back and then a two percent raise and a reserved parking space.”

  They worked it out with me? When? And why don’t I remember working it out with them?

  “Is Dale available?”

  I didn’t bother to ask if he was here. He was always here. When you’re partner, you have to work ridiculous hours then go home and work some more. Hannah took me to Dale’s office, knocked then slipped inside at his answer. She closed the door behind her, and I shifted from one foot to the other as I waited in the hall. When the door opened again, Dale stood there grinning in delight.

  “Abigail, so good to see you. Come in. Come in.”

  I did, and Hannah left. The door stayed open. This was a good sign. When Dale had you in his office and he closed the door, it usually meant someone was in big trouble. I knew this from past experience. As a matter of fact, the last time I was in this office the door was closed, and I was being terminated.

  He gestured to his couch, and I sat on its edge while he took a seat on the matching chair. This was something new. I had never been invited into the conference area of his office.

  “So, how have you been?” Dale asked.

  I studied him for a bit. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.

  Anxiety. Interesting.

  “I’m wondering if I should ask to be made partner.”

  Dale narrowed his eyes. After a few seconds, he leaned forward resting his arms on his knees. “Abigail, I think we’ve been very generous in…this situation.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  I could tell he was choosing his words carefully so as not to convey in any way that they’d screwed up. “We reconsidered after reviewing your work record. We realized you were most likely an unfortunate player in the events which led to your arrest.”

  “Unfortunate player? Would you venture to say ‘Innocent unfortunate player’?

  “I will venture to say that we acted in accord with the judge dismissing the charges.”

  “It’s very generous of you to pay my salary even before I agreed to come back. What makes you so sure I even want to work here?”

  “Don’t tell me you’d rather keep waitressing at Waffle Mania. Let’s be realistic here, Abigail.”

  He had me there. Wainwright and
Potter had a much better benefit and retirement package than the WM which had benefits consisting of a free meal for every six hours on the clock. Woman can live on waffles alone, but a 401 K was hard to beat. And let’s not even talk about salary. Or aching feet. Or the aura of grease which surrounded me after every shift.

  “How long were you willing to pay my extended leave?”

  Dale smiled in response. “I knew you’d come back when you got that paycheck in the mail. You may make poor choices in your relationships, but you have some integrity.”

  I wrinkled my nose trying to decide how to respond. Though the urge was strong to mention his failed relationships, I resisted. Who was I to say who made poor choices? Dale or his two ex-wives?

  “As far as I’m concerned it’s water under the bridge. I’m glad you’re back.”

  “Glad enough to let me work flex time?”

  He raised his eyebrows as if he couldn’t quite believe my gall.

  “I’ve been working at an after school program, and I want to keep doing it if at all possible.”

  “Submit a proposal, and I’ll take a look at it.”

  I stood up and offered my hand in a handshake pose. Negotiations were over, and I had pushed it as far as I dared. Dale grasped my hand and releasing me, walked me to the door. Would I ever find out his motivation to hire me back? Or how little old me could engender anxiety in a man whose favorite part of his job was auditing multi-million dollar corporations?

  ****

  After my third trip to the police station to see if Eli had been found, Officer Weilchek introduced himself as Darvis. Darvis Weilchek. Can you believe it? I guess his parents wanted to make sure he got a good butt kicking every time he went out to the playground. Darvis, who preferred to be called Darvey suggested we go to some of Eli’s hangouts after my time at the center.

  Even though the community center building was not presently usable, a team of construction workers had already come in to renovate. A double-wide trailer housed us until such time as we could get back into the building. Having the mayor and city commissioners appreciate the awesome talents of urban Clavanian youth, not to mention being chained inside a burning building with those youth, had apparently made us high priority in getting our building back.