Page 50 of Splintered Memories
When she inhaled, she sounded congested, like she was fighting tears. “I wasn’t looking hard enough.” Guilt tinted her voice.
I put a hand over hers on my arm. I didn’t blame her. “It’s not your responsibility to see other people’s pain, Emy. Especially not when it’s being purposefully hidden.”
“Or I’m too busy drowning in my own to care,” she said, her tone sharp and resentful.
I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “That’s not true.”
“No?”
“No.” I started to stroke slow circles on the back of her hand with a thumb. “If anything, you care too much. For complete strangers, and close friends. It doesn’t matter to you. Lark has been your friend for less than a year, and I know you would die for her. You’ve helped her through these last months. You stood by her when she needed you, and even when she didn’t.”
There was a beat of quiet, and then she shifted. I turned my head and I could just make out the outline of her body. She had rolled onto her side, facing me; her hand remained under mine.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
She didn’t have to thank me, but I squeezed her hand. She let out a long, heavy breath, one laced with exhaustion and relief.
Then her body relaxed. Her breathing was slow and even as she drifted to sleep. With her warmth close to mine, I closely followed her in a deep, dreamless slumber.
20
August
Iwoketoanearsplitting,siren-like wail.
My body bolted out of bed without thought, my brain tangled in heavy sleep. I blinked around the room, my vision refusing to clear, until I realized that it wasn’t my eyes that were the problem; it was the room.
Hazy, dark smoke filled the room, filling my nostrils and my lungs until I coughed violently.
Fire. That was the only thing I focused on. There was fire.
I didn’t have time to second-guess myself. I reached for Emersyn, who yelped as I yanked her to the floor and crouched beside her. The smoke was thinner near the floor.
I grabbed my phone from the nightstand for the flashlight. Emersyn watched with wide, terrified eyes.
“What’s going on?” Her voice was on the verge of a shriek, a noise I had never heard her make.
I didn’t answer yet. I turned toward the door of the bedroom. It was closed, but tendrils of smoke poured through the cracks around the edges. Too much smoke. We were not getting out that way.
My gaze snapped to Emersyn. “Do you have a fire escape ladder?”
Her eyes widened in horror as she shook her head. “A what?”
I cursed through my teeth. She didn’t have one then.
I crawled toward the nearest window. She screeched my name, but I had to focus. I wrenched the window open, letting cool night air pour in. I turned back to Emersyn, but she was already at my side, coughing hard.
“Here.” I held out my hand and she took it, as I pulled her toward the window. “Stick your head out and take some big breaths.”
She did as I told her. When she looked back at me, tears and utter fear swam in her eyes. “What should we do?”
I glanced out the window and down at the ground, assessing. We didn’t have many options. The glow of the flames radiated outside into the night around us so that I didn’t even need my phone anymore; the fire department had to be on their way. But I knew how fast fire could devour when it was this intense.
We had to move.Now.
I held onto her elbow, my eyes boring into hers. “I’m going to jump. Then, you’ll follow and I’m going to catch you.”
Her eyes flared wide. She glanced down at the ground, but I grabbed her chin.
