“I took an arson class at the academy knowing I would work up here someday. I’m no expert, but it definitely looks like a second accelerant was used.”
“From what?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that I’m going to need your photos as evidence because they document the flames and the digital timestamp of the photos shows the progression go from zero to crazy in basically no time at all.”
“That would be the accelerant?” I didn’t understand what he was talking about but I would help in whatever way I could.
“Yes.”
“You can have the camera.” I told him.
“Just the memory card.” He popped it out of the camera. “Do you have another?” He asked. I nodded riffling through my bag letting him pocket the photos I took earlier.
“Yeah, right here.” I take it from my purse and put it in the camera.
Evan held out his hand to stop me in mid ramble while he looked at his phone. “The nurse is paging me. We’ll get these photos sorted later. We can go up and see him now.”
“Oh thank god.” My whole body relaxed in a slump. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but seeing him would make it just a fraction better.
The nurse waited for us to arrive at the entrance to the floor. He isn’t in the ICU which was a good thing, but the amount of tubing and wires connected to him the second I walked in make me think of some science fiction nightmare.
“Oh my god.” I tried to rush his bedside, but Evan grabbed me to stop.
“Hold up. Those are just the breathing tubes since he inhaled a lot of smoke. He’s okay. It looks worse than it is.” Evan gave me a little shake to calm me down. When I finally pulled it together and nod affirmatively, he lets me go. I sat down in the chair next to his side and take his hand, still dirty from the fire, his body a smelly mixture of smoke and hospital antiseptic stung my nose.
Evan’s hand rested on my shoulder, a calming force. “Scared the shit out of me dude.” His voice was gruff and my throat seized in a choke. We’re the only one’s here and even though I’m only a couple hours’ drive from my parents and my sister it felt like a thousand miles because of the distance I put between us. I can’t imagine how it’s been for Whit whose parents and his only living relative are gone.
“Maybe we should contact them. His friends. My phone, it’s not really working in here.”
“I’ll do that. They’ll probably need to come in and check on him so I’ll tell everyone to wait until tomorrow to come bombard the place. Okay?”
I managed to give Evan a watery smile. He left texting on his phone letting everyone know that Whit’s going to be fine. I won’t be, but that’s another story for another day.
I parked myself in a chair watching him sleep. Nurses checked on him, removed some of the tubes once he was breathing on his own. The handed me some washcloths when I asked to clean him up with warm water and soap. I can’t say I’ll ever make a good nurse, but I felt a measure of relief seeing his face clean from the dirt and his hands back to their normal tan hue. A sneaky peak under the blankets and I see he’s naked as a baby under the sad looking hospital gown. All those jokes about Whit wanting to role play doctor and nurse made my stomach churn because this was the real deal
28
Whit
I rolled over feeling every bit my age. Dry throat, smoke inhalation and burns on my legs and arms from fighting to get out of the fire that turned on us. Something happened during the control fire that I don’t have answers for. My stomach cramped wondering what the hell happened out there. Turning to my left, I glimpsed those purple strands I’ve come to love so damn much. Lia’s head rested on the edge of the bed and my hand tangled in her hair wrapping the strands around my fingers keeping her trapped there. She must have been so uncomfortable leaning over from the chair to the bed, her neck angled oddly. I mused how lucky I was that she was there and untangled my fingers slowly so I didn’t tug too hard and hurt her. My hand rested on her head and reached farther cupping the back of her neck. Her pulse was strong under my fingertips. Poor baby must have been exhausted.
“Good Morning, Mr. Jones.” I turned back to the right watching a nurse write her name, Nina, on the white board. She looked old enough to be my mother and she smiled at me nodding to the lump of Lia hunched protectively at my side.
I’m coughing and attempting to lean up when she pushes me back down on the bed easily. My voice was hoarse as I forced out the words, “Can I get some water, please.”
Lia stirred and I looked down swallowing what I could easing the slicing pain in my throat. My hand rubbed her neck and settled over her cool cheek soothing her.
The nurse whispered, “Sure. I don’t want to wake up your…”
Her voice trailed off and I gave her the title she searched for with a smile. “Girlfriend.”
Nurse Nina nodded, “She’s been here all night harassing the staff making sure you were okay. If I had to guess, I think that fire scared the shit out of her.” Nina handed me some ice water with a straw and I drank it down pacifying the scratchiness of my throat.
“I’m glad she’s here. I’ll wake her in a minute though; her neck has got to hurt like this.”
“I’ll go find her a pillow. Poor dear.” Nina left us. My hands shifted through her hair, soft and colorful. Being on the mountain in thick of the fire scared me. Scared me enough to know I didn’t want to lose her over some stupid argument with a guy who was some asshole on her college campus.
When did Amelia Rae Faust become my everything?