The pain in my stomach hit so hard that it felt like I almost bit my tongue off. I fought to push through the burning heat.
Just then, Phyllis stirred on my back, coughing from the smoke.
She clung to me and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Caleb! Your wife and kid are stuck in here! Who the hell do you think you’re sending to the hospital?”
I paused, straining to hear anything from outside. But all I heard was silence. Caleb was long gone.
The fire had warped the wardrobe. It crashed down, blocking our only way out. My hands were shaking as I poured the last of the water onto the towel and handed it to Phyllis.
She looked at me, tears streaming down her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but then, we heard the sirens again from downstairs, just like when the rescue team showed up earlier.
Caleb must’ve taken off with Brianna.
The fire was getting worse by the second, and all I could think was that we were probably done for.
Phyllis coughed a few more times, then went silent on my back. The fire was creeping closer and starting to singe my clothes.
Then, I heard someone shout from outside, “Jeanette! The security guard says he didn’t see you leave the building! Are you still in there?”
I couldn’t hold the tears back anymore and shouted as loud as I could.
A moment later, someone charged through the flames with a fire extinguisher. I couldn’t hang on any longer and passed out right there.
When I came to, Phyllis and I were safe outside the building. Our rescuer was Caleb’s coworker, Samuel Jacobs. His face was covered in soot, and when he saw I was awake, he gave me a weak smile.
“I knew I heard voices in there, Jeanette, but Brianna kept saying no one was left…” He barely managed to say those words before he collapsed.
Panicked bystanders quickly called an ambulance for the three of us.
Thankfully, none of us were seriously hurt. But Phyllis had some ongoing health problems, and Samuel had inhaled a dangerous amount of smoke, so they were both out cold.
When Caleb heard what happened, he rushed to the hospital. The second he saw me, he brushed past the nurses and stormed over to me, slapping me hard across the face.
“You shameless woman! How could you be so heartless? Why did you try to kill Bri? You weren’t even home! Why go back into that fire? Do you realize you almost killed Sam, too? I can’t believe I married someone so cold! You’d be a murderer if anything had happened to them!”
I was still shaking from the terror of almost dying when he hit me, knocking me to the ground. And that was when Brianna poked her head out from behind him.
“I know you hate me, Jean,” she said, weakly leaning on Caleb’s shoulder and coughing hard. “But did you ever think about how many lives you put in danger?”
When Caleb saw her spit up blood, he turned around and kicked me hard as I tried to get up.
“You monster! Why didn’t you just die in that fire? I should’ve dragged Sam out and left you to burn!” He loomed over me, his eyes full of pure hatred.
Brianna curled up in his arms and gave me a smug look.
I was too exhausted to argue. Blood was pooling beneath me, and the pain was so intense that I could barely manage to whisper, “Doctor… Call a doctor…”
Caleb sneered at my suffering. “A doctor? Did you ever think that if you’d killed them, they wouldn’t have had a chance to call one for themselves?”
