Chapter 3
Lyra
College was supposed to be my time to shine. To break through the chrysalis I’d built around me and show everyone back home I wasn’t some ineffectual caterpillar. So, tell me why I stood in front of my dormitory apartment, flames shooting from the eves, while fire trucks zoom down the road, lights swirling and sirens blaring?
This can’t be happening.
Thick black smoke billowed from the nine-story building, turning the night sky into a hazy shade of Silent Hill , blotting out streetlights and student vehicles. The odor of burned... everything clogged my nose and singed my lungs, making it hard to breathe. The acrid scent coated my pajamas along with my hair and skin. My eyes burned, causing tears to slip free from the corners. Or maybe I was crying. I couldn’t tell.
It would take days to stop smelling like blackened wood and melted wires. Not to mention the physical loss all of us experienced. Why me? Why us?
Everything I owned was in my dorm room. All my childhood memories. From my favorite plushies to my soft blankets, gone in an instant. All because some idiot put a cup of noodles in the microwave without water and set the timer for ten minutes instead of three. Had the third floor RA not been alert or smelled the distinct odor of scorched noodles and Styrofoam coming from the common area of the dorms, none of us would have made it out alive.
Although, that explanation was a little sketch to me. Because a cup of noodles wasn’t flammable.
While others stood huddled together in small groups, crying their eyes out, freaking because of some test they had in the morning on top of losing their shit, all I could do was stare. Flames danced across the roof, licking at the plastic siding, melting the facade into a gross, macabre Rorschach test filled with screaming faces. Glass from the dorm room windows shattered one by one, echoed around us, or maybe they broke all at once falling to the asphalt below.
I didn’t know.
Suppose I should’ve counted myself as one of the lucky ones, though. I, at least, got out with my wallet, backpack, and phone. The others only escaped with the clothes on their backs. Separating myself from them, I glanced around the ever increasingly crowded area and frowned. The fire department would be here when the sun came up, if the heat and destructive power of the inferno was any indication.
Days—weeks more than likely before we had an inkling of where our new residence would be.
Going home didn’t seem like such a bad idea, given the circumstances. However, the stubborn streak within me slapped me upside the back of my head, reminding me why I was there. To prove to everyone back home, I had potential. I didn’t have to be the farm girl from the midwest all my life. I could be Lyra Jenkins—Financial Advisor. Or Lyra Jenkins—Marine Biologist. Dr. Lyra Jenkins—Psychologist.
Hadn’t quite settled on a degree yet. I was only in my first year, plodding my way through prerequisite courses. Which reminded me, like the others, I did have a test in less than five hours. Yet there I stood, watching firefighters hook up hoses to hydrants and prime their lines to put the fire out. The longer I stood there, the worse my lungs burned and my eyes ached while a headache formed in the middle of my forehead.
That should’ve been the moment I walked away.
But no. I was too stubborn.
Already half the building was involved and if they didn’t get water on the inferno soon, it would spread through the complex, causing others who had nothing to do with the “microwave” fiasco to lose their housing too. Bad enough there were at least a hundred students on each floor, give or take a few. Add in the other buildings, and, well, the situation became dire.
Which led me back to the incident itself.
I couldn’t wrap my head around how fast the flames spread. Seemed like once the fire got between the floors it was only a matter of seconds before the whole place went up. At least everyone made it out in one piece. Come to think of it, on the way out, none of the sprinklers came on to at least slow the pace of the blaze. I touched my shirt and frowned. Sure, I’d been too focused on getting out of the building fast, not the fact I hadn’t been soaked to the bone by the sprinkler system.
Weird, who doesn’t do routine maintenance on those kinds of systems?
“You look like you’re in shock,” a woman said, guiding me toward an ambulance. “My name is Moira. I’m part of the Student Housing committee. Let’s get you a blanket.”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled, wincing at the far-away quality of my voice along with the jaggedness caused by the smoke. “The others have less.”
“We’re already helping them,” she replied, lifting her chin in the direction of the other members of the committee along with other staff and firefighters. “What’s your name?”
“Lyra,” I answered. Speaking made everything feel worse. “Lyra Jenkins.”
“Well, I’m sorry we have to meet this way, Lyra.” She sat me on the bumper of an open ambulance. The piercing white light illuminating the interior of the emergency vehicle hurt my eyes. Tears gathered at the corners. I took a moment to assess if it was from the ambulance or because I stood within the cloud of smoke enveloping the school. Both was the correct answer. As I glanced out toward the building I’d been inside less than an hour ago, everything was gone.
My heart ached. My mind raced even as the miasma of despair tugged me down into the sludge of depression. I liked to think I was a happy-go-lucky person. Right now, not so much. “I have a test in the morning—er this morning...” I coughed, wincing with the pain in my chest.
“Campus is going to be closed for a couple of days,” Lyra said, wrapping the warm blanket over my shoulders. “There you go. That should warm you up.”
When had my teeth started chattering? I wasn’t cold.
“Thanks.” I smiled, though worried it was more of a grimace than anything else.
“The paramedics are going to check you out. Would you like me to stay with you?” I finally glanced up at Moira. She was older. Her black hair shot through with aged silver sat at the nape of her neck in a tight bun. She wore no makeup, but her clothes screamed money. Her whole outfit was Vicara , which, low end, started at three hundred dollars. The crinkle lines around her eyes and mouth spoke of years of smiling and laughing. Overall, she seemed like someone I could trust.
“I’d like that. I really don’t have anyone here.” I don’t know why I said that. Probably had to do with the shock of losing the only place I could call home for now. “Moira... What happens next?” I held out my arm while the paramedic wrapped the BP cuff around my bicep.
“Well, we’re going to make sure you have a clean bill of health first, then figure out your housing situation.”
The ground rumbled under my feet while beeping filled the air. The ear-splitting sound of chirping blanketed the area. A plume of smoke billowed from the spot where the building stood only a short while ago. Followed by an incredible blast of heat engulfing us seconds before a dark rolling fire cloud along with embers filled the night sky. The chatter on the radio clipped to the paramedic with me and the EMT beside him began to call out names. I glanced over at where the building stood and gasped at what I saw. Then promptly doubled over in a coughing fit from hell.
Half the building was gone, and I couldn’t catch my breath for the life of me.
The fire couldn’t have been started by a lazy student and a dry cup of noodles.
Could it?
“Easy,” the paramedic said. “You got the machines going haywire. Breathe with me so we can get you stabilized.”
Again, I muttered, “Sorry,” and took a ragged breath. “Shouldn’t you be over there helping the other guys out?” I flicked my gaze back to the angry, broken dorm. Fire writhed and crawled out from the collapsed portion and slithered across the fresh material available to feed the obnoxious beast.
“Too many firefighters on the pile and no one will make it out. It’s better I do my job with you first, then hit the stack. Besides, the crews are already on it,” he said, lifting his chin for me to look.
Sure enough, the firefighters had fanned out. Those not actively dousing the place with water pulled burned debris from the pile, searching for anyone who hadn’t made it out before the collapse. Two more ambulances pulled up on the scene, parking near where I sat. Moments later, the doors opened and the EMTs inside jumped out, ready to help. “This isn’t how I saw my first year of college going.”
The paramedic chuckled. “I felt that statement to my soul. My first week at the Fire Academy, we had to run the outdoor stairs of the library. Talk about embarrassing. I puked on the way up and the way down.”
I glimpsed a scene like he described, minus the vomit, a few days ago. Students, mostly female, gathered around the ellipse near the library, with their phones out, videoing the recruits making the brutal climb. Eight stories up and eight stories down. Twice. There were relay races too, so each cadet had moments to catch their breath before they started again. “Vicious.”
He nodded. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“How long have you been a paramedic?” I asked, trying to take my mind off what was happening in the distance.
“Four years,” he replied. “Best years of my life, too. What about you? What are you studying?”
The longer we talked, the more my heart settled into a normal rate and my breath came a little easier, even if it stung a little. “Not sure. Depending on what happens next, I might have to go home.” As much as I loathed to contemplate the reality of my situation, I couldn’t escape the direction I was being pointed toward.
“Here’s a little secret for you. The easiest way to look for housing, if you decide to stay,” he stated, putting his things back into his bag, “is to check out the school housing chat. It was how we knew when spaces became available, when we needed out of our assigned dorms. I have no doubt you’ll have a place to lay your head before the sun comes up.”
Hope bloomed in my chest, but I kept my expectation tempered. Just because he said he knew people didn’t mean he did. Or that they’d take someone like me.
Let’s face it. I wasn’t sorority material. I didn’t wear triple negative zero clothes, either. I was curvy. Had thick thighs and ass for days. My mom said it was due to all the work I did out in the barn during the day and sometimes at night. I was sure I’d gotten her genes. No matter what I did, I’d never be skinny or below a size twelve. So, I accepted my body the way it was.
Most of the time.
“Oh, yeah? Do you have a link?” I hated how eager I sounded, though considering the alternative...
“There’s a Facebook private group. Bet the place is thriving right now. Join the group then add the chat.” He held his hand out. I stared at him for a moment then realized what he wanted. I grabbed my phone and unlocked it before handing it to him. Within a few seconds he had me all signed up for the group and placed in the chat.
He wasn’t kidding. My phone dinged every three seconds with new messages, mostly other dorms trying to find out what happened. Some of the students out in the parking lot like me begged for rooms to stay in.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll keep looking through the group.”
“You’re welcome, Lyra. I guess we’ll see each other around.” With a wave the paramedic disappeared into the cloud of acrid smoke and the throng of people.
“Your vitals are still a little wonky,” the EMT said. “I recommend going to the hospital to get checked out. We can take you.”
I shook my head. “No thanks. I’m fine. A little dazed by everything, but I’ll be okay. I’d rather you take someone who really needs the ride. Like one of those firefighters or a student who inhaled too much smoke.”
The EMT stared at me. “I don’t think you’ve seen how bad you look yourself.”
I frowned. Maybe not, but I didn’t need a hospital. I needed somewhere to take a shower and get some sleep even though I knew I probably wouldn’t get any tonight. “My throat is a little sore, and my eyes burn along with my lungs, but I have a smoke allergy. So my symptoms are to be expected. It’s no biggie, honestly.”
“Promise you’ll come find us if your status changes?” the EMT said, handing me a clipboard.
“What’s this?” I asked, deflecting her question with a question.
“An AMA form. Just says that you’re refusing transport to the hospital against recommendation, and you understand should something happen later, we’re not responsible for your refusal.”
Well, when she put it like that... “Who picks me up once a doctor sees me? Will the school cover the cost of the visit?”
Moira approached as the last question hung between the EMT and me. “We’ll be covering all medical expenses for this incident. If the Paramedics and EMT believe you should go, go. Don’t risk your health, Lyra. Besides, not much you’ll be able to do here.”
She had me there.
“Fine,” I replied. “I’ll go. I just want to be back by morning.”
“Hate to break it to you,” the EMT said. “The sun will be coming up in two hours.”
Damn... Where’d the time go?