Page 62 of Love, Untangled

“Go!” Marvin yelled.

Carlo rushed forward with his friend, the two of them aware of the groaning and hissing of the small structure. He veered right as Marvin went left. Carlo grabbed the limp female, young, maybe mid-twenties with a short blonde bob, and lifted her in a hold, turning to scramble back through the opening.

He ran a few feet through the sand, his boots heavy from the muddy mix caked to the bottoms, his legs and lungs aching. Lowering to his knees, he arranged the woman with care, unsure what injuries she might have sustained.

He ripped off his helmet and tugged off his glove with his teeth.

Young, so young.

She…she looked like Penelope.

He felt for a pulse, his fingers shaking. Nothing.

No. He couldn’t lose Penelope too. He’d lost Cora.

Not Penelope.

He tilted her head back and started CPR.

He got lost in the monotony of the motions, refused to hear the roar of the greedy fire gaining control over the water and the best of the volunteers’ efforts.

Focus on the girl. Save her.

He knew before the paramedics took his place. She was gone.

He sat there in the sand, inhaling the wafts of smoke and ash that drifted to him on the breeze.

The girl, a young, pretty blonde, was dead.

He hadn’t saved her. Just like he hadn’t saved Cora.

Marvin came to his side, face covered in soot, eyes red-rimmed. Carlo wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, but his feet were totally numb and his legs prickled.

“Neither made it,” Marvin said, his tone monotonous due to the weight of loss. “Too much smoke.”

Carlo didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. The night he lost Cora imposed over this one. Dark, the sky too big and the stars bright where they peeked through the smoke. The acrid scent clogged his sinuses. And grief.

So much grief weighing him down.

Eventually the rest of the team came over, somber.

“I’m glad their friends went to the hospital,” Marvin said.

“Why?” Carlo mumbled.

“I don’t want to be the one to tell them.”

Carlo raised his eyes to meet Marvin’s. They were gritty, dry, and angry from the smoke. “That we failed?”

Marvin’s face paled further, and he swallowed loud as though the truth stuck there. “Yeah.”

Carlo rose to his feet and grabbed the gloves from the sand. He dusted them on his thigh.

“But we did. We failed.”

I failed. Again.

Chapter 32

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