Unbroken

He shook my hand off him, but that just made me grip him harder. “YOU’RE NOT GOING IN THERE!”

The place was swamped with smoke. It burned my eyes and made me want to hack. As a crowd of residents formed, all of them hollering at us to step back, I heard the fire truck and ambulance draw near. Leo shook at my grip again, this time more forceful, knocking me back a step, and before I could grab at him again, he ran inside, disappearing into the smoke.

“LEO!” I screamed, panicked.

My heart lurched to my throat. I took a step forward, ready to follow after him when arms looped around me, lifting me up the air. “Don’t you fucking dare!” Kurt hissed at me as I kicked my legs out.

I tried to twist in his grip, but he held me to the point of pain, dragging me away. “Put me down!” I cried. “They’re inside, Kurt! Put me down! I need to go after them—”

“You’re not running in there!” he roared as I continued to twist and scream for him to let go. “They’re fine, Skye, they’re fine—”

“No, Kurt, please—”

“They’re out,” he rasped, voice softening. “Darling, they’re coming out.”

Hunter was the first to step out, carrying his mother’s black cat in his arms. His face was sweaty and black, his dark hair dishevelled. Leo followed right behind, looking equally filthy. I stilled at the dark expression on his face. Just as Hunter set the cat down on the ground, Leo came from behind him and shoved at him hard, knocking Hunter forward a step. Hunter turned around, expression shifting to rage.

“What the fuck!” Leo screamed, shoving at him again. “What the fuck were you thinking, you ASSHOLE!”

Hunter shoved him back. “I didn’t ask you to come chasing after me!”

“You ungrateful PRICK!” I’d never seen Leo lose it like this ever. He was heaving for breath, spitting saliva. “You don’t give a fuck, do you? You just do what you want! You don’t care who you’re leaving behind—”

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Hunter cut in as Leo continued to push at him. “I’m fucking serious, Leo—”

“Stop being a selfish dick!” Leo pointed a finger at his face, eyes raw from the smoke or from pain, or probably both. “You don’t risk yourself like that ever again, you fucking hearing me?”

“I had to get Onyx,” Hunter replied tightly.

“You didn’t have to!” Leo lost it fully, face red, eyes bulging. “You fucking matter, Hunt! You matter to your mother more than that cat! You matter to US! YOU FUCKING MATTER TOUS, HUNT!”

They glared at each other for several moments, speaking in that silent way they often did. Whatever was exchanged made Hunter’s face fall. He turned away and stomped off into the crowd, stopping in front of a smaller figure. His mom. She was safe but shaking like a leaf. He wrapped his arms around her as she bawled into his chest, gripping his filthy shirt tightly. “I found her, Ma,” he consoled. “I got Onyx. She’s okay.”

Leo, still shaking with adrenaline, stormed off in the other direction, leaving the trailer park behind without a single look back. I stared at them both, conflicted, trying to decide who I should follow after—

“Let them be,” Kurt murmured down at me, holding me gently now. “Sometimes it’s okay to just leave them be, Skye.”

*

I didn’t leave.

I sat on the ground, knees to my chest as the firefighters put out the fire. It was bad.Really bad.The crowd had thinned, residents returned to their homes, and then there were police cars and ambulances. They loaded Hunter and his mom into an ambulance and drove off. It freaked me out. I wound up bawling into my hands because their home was gone and why did the ambulance take them? Were they hurt? Was Hunter okay?

I sobbed hard, afraid of what might happen to them. Where would they go? Their home was gone, and they hadnothing.

Maybe I could get a job and help them.

I didn’t know, but I wanted to dosomething,anything.

Onyx had wound up right at my feet, butting her head against my shoulder. She crawled into my lap, and I cradled her to me, kissing the top of her head. She smelled like smoke, poor thing shook in my hold, and all I could think about was that Hunter had run back in there for her.

“You’re okay,” I told her, kissing the top of her head. “He was right to do that. You’re one of the Dawes, aren’t you?”

She slept in my lap. Bleary-eyed, I watched the sun push the darkness out. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and it had no right to show itself here today. Not after all this carnage.

A shadow fell over me.

“You know where the boy went?” asked a voice.