Chapter 70
VERONICA
The fire alarm is almost deafening.
I race back up the stairs, clicking on Jeremy’s number as I go. There’s no time to stop. This fire is about to become out of control. There is no time to waste.
“Teddy!” I bang on the door again as I listen to the phone ringing in my ear. “Please open up!”
The phone continues to ring. Jeremy isn’t picking up.
Shit.
I look at the door again, weighing my options. Maybe what I need is something to try to break the lock. Like an axe. Does Jeremy have an axe in the garage? He doesn’t seem like an axe sort of guy, but maybe he’s got one handy.
Except then I turn around and realize that it’s too late.
The fire has broken out of the cellar. The bottom of the stairs is now on fire.
I don’t know how long it takes for a fire to climb one flight of stairs, and I don’t want to know. I’ve got to get Teddy out of here—now. I’m not sure how, but I can’t do anything if he’s in his bedroom and not letting me in.
I try Jeremy’s phone one more time. It goes straight to voicemail.
I realize now that there is only one way I am getting into this room, and that’s if Teddy opens the door for me.
“Teddy!” I scream through the door. “Teddy, please! You have to open this door! I’m calling your dad, and I can’t reach him. But you are in danger! We are both in danger!”
He’s still crying on the other side of the door, but he’s not opening it. He doesn’t know what to do. But we don’t have much time to figure it out.
“I won’t leave you, Teddy.” I wipe away a tear forming in my left eye. This is not a time for me to be crying—he’s scared enough without seeing me in tears. “But I need you to open this door! Please! You have to trust me! Please! You have to… I’m your… Teddy, I’m your…”
Then I hear the sound of a lock turning.
I don’t even give Teddy a chance to open the door. I turn the knob, and there he is, his small body shaking with sobs. I run into the room, slamming the door behind me, and I wrap my arms around him.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell him. “I’m here.”
He clings to me, his body shaking with sobs. He is terrified. The only home he has ever known is on fire, and neither of the people he knows as his parents are present. All he’s got is me.
And I am going to make sure absolutely nothing happens to him.
Smoke has started to seep in under the door, filling the room quickly. I have to let go of Teddy so that I can wrench open the window. It helps with the smoke, but it’s not enough. In a few seconds, it’s going to start getting difficult to breathe in here.
In the distance, I can hear the sirens wailing. But they’re far away. Too far.
We have to leave this room right now.
I stick my head out the window to see what we’re dealing with.
The bottom part of the roof is visible, and even though it is slightly slanted, I think we will be able to sit on it while we’re waiting for the fire trucks to arrive.
But I have never climbed out on a roof in my whole life, and it’s not going to be an easy task to climb out the window with Teddy.
But I have to try. He’s counting on me to save him. I already failed him once, and I will not fail him again.
“Teddy,” I say to him in a serious voice. “We have to get out of this room. I’m going to climb out on the roof, and then when I’m out there, I need you to climb out after me.”
He just stares at me.
“Can you do that?” I ask him.
He nods like he’s not quite sure, which is fair, since I’m not quite sure I can do it either.
My hands are shaking as I climb out the window. First, I swing my right leg over the windowsill, then I grab onto the frame as I pull my left leg up behind me. I try not to look down. We’re not that high up, but it’s still dizzying to be up here. I hope this roof is well-made.
I peek back in through the window where Teddy is standing in the room, his eyes gigantic. “Teddy,” I say. “You need to climb out on the roof with me.”
Teddy turns around to look back at the door to his bedroom. Smoke is billowing from underneath, and much like with the cellar door, the bottom is scorched. Pretty soon, the flames are going to enter the room.
“I’m scared,” he whimpers.
“Teddy,” I plead with him. “I promise I am not going to let anything happen to you. But you need to trust me. You need to climb out the window, and I will keep you safe.”
Finally, he nods.
He walks over to the window, his whole body shaking. He lifts one leg over the windowsill, the same way I did, but he’s too small. I have to help him, lifting him over the side. For a moment, I feel my footing start to slip, but then I wedge my sneaker in the gutter, and that seems to do the trick.
I pull Teddy all the way out the window. He is covered in a little layer of soot, and I press his body against mine, keeping him safe as the sirens continue to grow louder.
The fire trucks and the police will be here soon. Somehow, I will have to explain the two dead bodies in the cellar. The truth is going to come out, whether I want it to or not. I only hope they don’t look at my past and blame me for those deaths. It’s enough to make me want to run away.
But I’m done with running. I keep my arms around Teddy to keep him safe. Nobody will be able to pry him away from me until the fire trucks arrive. Even then, I’m not sure I’ll let them.
“Ronnie?” he murmurs in my air.
“Yes?”
“How come your hair is all cut off?”
I almost forgot about my hair. For some reason, his question makes me laugh, and after a few moments, I’m not sure if I’m laughing or crying anymore.