23. Nia
23
NIA
As soon as the tones start blaring, I know there is something wrong. It’s a cold shiver that races down my spine, the kind that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
I feel it in my bones, deep in my gut. A gnawing sense of dread that I can’t shake off. My heart skips a beat when the dispatcher reads out the address, and my worst fear is confirmed. Ella’s house. The fire is at Ella’s house.
Panic grips me like a vise, but there’s no time to process it. I’m moving before they even call for EMS, adrenaline surging through me like a tidal wave. My hands are shaking as I grab the radio, my voice frantic as I shout for Gem.
“Get in the fucking ambulance!” I scream, my voice cracking under the pressure.
I barely register the sound of the second set of tones dropping as I start pulling the ambulance out of the bay as soon as Gem is in the rig.
My foot slams on the accelerator, the engine roaring to life as I navigate the tight turns with a speed that would have been reckless under any other circumstances. But this isn’t just any call.
This is my sister’s house.
This is Lyla’s home.
Gem is barely in her seat, fumbling with her seat belt as she stares at me with wide eyes, concern etched across her face. “What’s wrong?” she asks, her voice trembling slightly. “They haven’t even toned us all the way yet.”
“That’s my sister’s house,” I gasp, my breaths coming in short, ragged bursts as I fight to keep the rising panic at bay. “The fire’s at my sister’s house.”
I don’t need to say anything else. The color drains from Gem’s face as the gravity of the situation sinks in. Every single call gets our undivided attention, our full effort. But this? This is different. When our family is in danger, when there is something that may hurt the people we love, there is nothing that will ever stand in the way. Nothing will stop us from getting to them, from saving them.
Nothing is going to get in my way.
I’m not going to lose my family.
To quote my little heathen of a niece, I’ll go scorched earth if anything happens to her. The thought of Lyla, so young and full of life, trapped in that house, fills me with a white-hot fury that I channel into driving faster, my eyes locked on the road ahead. I weave through traffic, horns blaring around us, but I don’t care. The only thing that matters is getting to Ella’s house. Getting to Lyla.
The conversation I had with Josh last night keeps replaying in my mind, adding another layer of fear. After everything he told me about the arsons that have been plaguing Birch County over the last two years, I can’t help but worry that this fire isn’t an accident. That someone deliberately set it, knowing full well what they were doing. That someone could be targeting my family.
Not that I can tell Gem any of that. Josh wasn’t even supposed to tell me, I’m sure. But he did, and now that knowledge feels like a heavy weight pressing down on my chest. He rushed off first thing in the morning to meet with all of the bosses and head officers in the county, trying to come up with a game plan. Trying to convince them that there is even an issue. And now, this happens. The timing couldn’t be worse.
My mind races as I navigate the familiar streets. I could take them blindfolded, but today they seem unfamiliar, distorted by the haze of panic clouding my thoughts. Every second feels like an hour, every turn bringing me closer to what I’m terrified of finding.
As soon as I see the fire truck parking out front, I know it is about to be a shit show.
Rich and Ella are already standing there, and the scene that greets me makes my heart drop into my stomach. Time stands still, and every moment drags out for an impossible eternity.
Rich is in a frenzy, his face twisted in desperation as he tries to break free from Ryder’s grasp. He’s screaming something, his voice raw with panic, but the roar of the fire drowns out most of his words. It’s a terrifying sight. One that sends a surge of fear straight through me.
“Where’s Lyla?” I ask Gem, even though there’s no way she has the answer. My voice is barely more than a whisper, choked with the terror that I’m trying so hard to keep under control. But Gem doesn’t respond. She’s just as focused on the chaos unfolding in front of us.
My eyes dart around, searching frantically for any sign of my niece, but she’s nowhere to be seen. The crowd of neighbors has gathered, their faces pale and stricken with horror as they watch the flames devour the house. But it’s like I’m looking through a tunnel, my vision narrowing until all I can see is the burning house and the people in front of it.
And then I see Ella collapse to the ground.
Where the hell is Lyla?
It’s like everything slows down in that moment, the sound of the fire fading into the background as I watch her crumple. Rich is still struggling against Ryder, but his eyes are locked on his wife, a look of pure agony on his face. He’s screaming her name, but she’s unresponsive, her body limp and lifeless on the ground.
A scream builds in my throat, but I can’t let it out. I can’t move. I’m rooted to the spot, my mind struggling to process what I’m seeing. It’s like a nightmare. One that I can’t wake up from, no matter how hard I try.
“…her friend are in the backyard,” Rich is shouting to no one in particular.
Josh is there, at his side immediately, his last name emblazoned on the back of his turnout coat. “I’m going.” He grabs Rich by the shoulders. “But you and Ella have to stay here.”
When it is clear Rich isn’t paying attention to what he is saying, Josh shakes him. “Rich. It’s me. It’s Josh. I’m here. I’m going to go get Lyla and her friend. Where were they in the backyard? Were they in the tree house?”
Rich nods, his eyes red. “They were planning their summer and some sort of sleepover.” He shakes his head and seems to come back to himself. “It’s Richard. The kid with her, Josh. It’s that little boy. He might not be able to move. You gotta get to him. The fire. You need to save them. She won’t leave him.”
I grab Ella by the shoulders. “Look at me,” I order my big sister.
Her eyes, wild with disbelief, find mine. “Lyla,” she whispers brokenly. “She knows to come to the front yard if there’s a fire. We’ve talked about it. A lot. After the fire that…” She trails off. “She knows to come to the front yard. They won’t let us get her. But if Richard won’t leave, she won’t leave him.”
“Josh is going to get them,” I tell her with confidence. “He’s going to get them.” Because if he wasn’t, I would have run right through the firefighters into the backyard myself.
But Josh is moving around the lines that the other men are starting to lay, with the hoses directed at the house I helped Ella decorate before Lyla was born.
As flames lick through the windows and glass shatters when the high-pressured streams of water hit them, I watch the memories we built go up in smoke. Literally.
“Lyla wanted to show him her new phone.” Ella keeps crying, her body trembling in my arms as I hold her close. “They were just in the stupid tree house, having fun.”
“How did the fire start?” Rich questions his wife. “I don’t even remember us being in the kitchen. Did you have something lit?”
Ella shakes her head. “No. Not with Richard coming over. Trish told me he doesn’t like fire at all. I wasn’t even going to turn on the stove with him here because we have a gas stove.” The tears falling down her cheeks slow.
I watch as Josh makes it around the side of the house, taking his time to check for Lyla and Richard as he goes. And even though I know he is only following protocol, doing everything he can to make sure that he doesn’t miss them if they are heading out and away from the fire, I want him to hurry.
Need him to hurry.
Time drags while Captain Harvey and the firefighters shout to each other over the roaring of the flames they slowly beat back. Every second passing feels like a minute as we wait to see or hear Josh come around the side of the house with the kids. But the seconds turn to minutes and still nothing.
“What’s taking so long?” Rich stares at me and Gem like we have answers for him.
“It takes time,” Gem tells him after I don’t say anything. I can’t. My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth, unable to move or even twitch.
Instead, my eyes stay locked on the side of the house that isn’t up in flames. On the glass panel that looks like it is starting to melt, even if that seems like an impossibility.
“It doesn’t take this long, does it?” Ella’s eyes bore into mine, and the expression on my face gives away my feelings. The same ones I’m trying to keep repressed.
“Harmon,” Chief Hayes barks into his microphone. “Report.”
One second ticks by. Then another.
“Harmon,” he repeats.
When there isn’t an answer, he looks around. “Cook,” he yells at Ryder. “Is the fire out on that side?”
Ryder stands on the opposite side of the house, hosing down the adjacent house and the bushes that separate the two properties to keep them from igniting.
“Yes, Chief,” he calls back. “Just watering the grass.” The sarcasm isn’t lost on any of us.
“Harmon isn’t answering his mic check.”
Ryder immediately drops his hose and books it around the side of the house into the backyard without another word.
“Does Lyla have her inhaler?” I ask Ella. “With the smoke, maybe we need to have the oxygen ready. Just in case.”
Gem is already moving, though. She has the oxygen pack out of the back of the ambulance and ready on a gurney. Even though we don’t know what is happening yet, it won’t hurt to be prepared.
Not when it comes to Lyla, or any child for that matter.
When Ryder appears back around the side of the house a few seconds later, he is huffing and out of breath.
“They’re not there.” He doesn’t look at Rich or Ella when he says it; his eyes are locked on the chief.
Cap moves to stand in front of Rich as he surges forward, and I tighten my arms around Ella’s shoulders.
“They’re not in the house,” I yell at them. “Remember that. They weren’t in the house. The fire didn’t spread to the backyard. They’re safe.” When neither of them stop struggling, I scream.
“ Stop .” That gets their attention. “Lyla wasn’t in the house. They were in the backyard. Richard probably got scared. They’re in the woods, safe. The fire didn’t spread.”
That knocks the wind out of Ella’s sails, at least. Rich still has wild eyes, and they dart to the woods that line the back of their property.
“Let me go.” He pulls away from Cap. “I’m going around the back.” He tells no one in particular. “Is that where Josh is?”
Ryder nods. “He’s searching behind the house in the woods for the kids.”
“Lyla wouldn’t have gone into the house,” I say again, trying to force myself to believe the words I’ve insisted her parents believe.
Ella breathes deeply and then turns her tear-streaked face to me. “She’s a smart girl. If Richard got scared of the fire, she’d get him away. They might have taken the trail Rich built her through the woods for their hikes.”
“I’ll show you.” I push Ella into Rich’s arms and grab the oxygen pack from Gem. “Let me go,” I tell Rich when he steps away from his wife. “I’ve got medical training, just in case she has an asthma attack. Gem’s gonna stay here, in case they come here. We’ve got another oxygen tank in the back of the rig. You two stay here, for if they get back before I do. Lyla knows me and Josh. She trusts us, too.”
Rich nods, and I take off around the side of the house the same way that Ryder went. The heat from the fire is still enough to singe the hair on my arm, and the smell of Ella’s life burning almost makes me sick to my stomach.
“Where are they?” I mutter to myself.
Not that I don’t believe Ryder or Josh, but I find myself stopping at the bottom of the tree where Lyla’s tree house sits, and I put the straps of the oxygen tank on my back. Then I take the steps and climb up, checking everywhere. Just in case.
There is no sign of the kids.
“They’re in the woods,” I repeat. “Safe and away from the fire.”
“ Lyla .” I hear Josh call her name from the trail, so I hurriedly climb down to join him.
“I’ve got oxygen,” I tell him as I try, ironically, to catch my breath from running. “Any sign of them?”
“No.” Josh shakes his head. “But I did see the back door was closed. There was no way they got into the house once the fire started. It would have been too hot.”
His eyes have the same worry in them that I know is reflected in my own.
“Let’s go.” I lead the way down the trail, only stopping when the phone in my pocket starts blaring loudly. “Wait.” I freeze, dropping the tank off my back so I can dig in my pocket for the phone. “That’s the ringtone Lyla picked out for her special tone when her mom got her that damned thing for emergencies. She’s the only one that rings through my work settings.”
As I struggle with the straps on the oxygen pack tangling around my arms and making it impossible to move, Josh doesn’t have the same problem. He reaches right into my pocket and grabs the phone blaring Lyla’s voice saying, “Auntie. Auntie. Auntie.” Over and over again.
“Lyla?” I call her name as soon as he hits the green button connecting the call. “Lyla, where are you?”
“Auntie?” She sounds out of breath. “Auntie, I think I messed up. Tell Josh. We need Josh.”
She isn’t out of breath.
She’s whispering.
“Lyla,” Josh speaks up, pulling the phone close to his face. “Lyla, I’m here. Tell us where you and Richard are. Your mom said you were in the tree house.”
“We were ,” Lyla whispers, starting to sob. “Then we saw the mean lady. And Richard said we had to go scorched earth because she started the fire in our kitchen. So we followed her. But now she has him and I’m scared. And he’s yelling at her right now. But she’s got this jug that smells really bad, like it’s dying. We didn’t mean to go, Josh. I promise. But when you go scorched earth… you can’t go alone. I couldn’t let Richard go alone, but now she’s got him and she said she’s going to hurt him.”
“Lyla.” Josh keeps his voice calm, even though I’m holding a hand over my mouth to keep from screaming and crying out. “Lyla, I’m going to find you. Can you tell me where you are?”
“No.” Lyla starts crying. “I don’t know where I am.”
“That’s okay, Lyla.” He pulls out his phone silently and hands it to me. “Call dispatch,” he orders quietly.
Nodding, I take it and call in.
“Lyla. I’m going to hang up with you, but I want you to call 9-1-1 right now. They’re going to connect you right back to me, okay?”
I don’t hear Lyla’s answer because the dispatcher picks up and I start relaying instructions.
“It’s Nia,” I tell Kennedy’s familiar voice. “My niece is going to call 9-1-1 right now. Connect her back to me through the line while you track her location. She’s reporting a kidnapping at the location of the fire on Hill Crest.” I swallow deeply.
“Don’t worry, Lyla,” I tell her when I hear her voice on the other end of the line. “We’re going to find you and Richard.”
“Hurry, Auntie,” Lyla whispers… right before she starts screaming.