Chapter 17
Laida
Three Weeks Later
Jesse was at work, so it was just Rusty and me for the night and there was a storm brewing.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how perfect things were after Jesse and I got back together.
Blissful. I blushed thinking about him even when he wasn’t around.
I couldn’t remember the last time I felt that level of happiness in my life, and then I realized, never. Never had I experienced that much joy.
The wind had picked up and Rusty was pacing, sensing the storm coming. “Hey boy, should we go make sure everything is locked up tight?” He looked up at me and wagged his tail. “Alright, then, come on.”
The barn didn’t have interior lighting, but I wanted to bring things into it from the garden, so they didn’t get destroyed and close the shutters.
It was one of the many things on my list to upgrade.
I pulled open drawers in the kitchen looking for a flashlight.
“Come on, Gram. You had to have had flashlights around here, somewhere.”
Rusty was whining because the thunder and lightning had started.
“I know, boy. I’m hurrying.” Bolts of lightning crisscrossed the sky.
I got to the last cabinet and found nothing.
Rusty jumped when the thunder cracked. Then I turned around and leaned against the counter, trying to think, and noticed the cabinets above the stove.
Grabbing a stepstool, I climbed up and took a look inside.
There weren’t any flashlights, but there was a jar of candles.
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.
She loved the flicker of candles and their warm, calming glow.
I grabbed matches that were sitting next to them and shoved them in my pocket.
Just then, I heard something fall outside that made me flinch. Rusty started barking. “Let’s go. We should’ve tied everything down sooner. Procrastination will get us every time, Rusty!”
I shot a quick text off to Jesse:
Me: The storm is coming in hot. Rusty and I are heading outside to lock things down. It’s so windy. Please be careful tonight! I hope it’s a quiet night for you. Xoxo.
I shoved my phone into my back jeans pocket while Rusty followed me out the front door to light the barn.
Yard tools were leaning against the outside of the barn, so I brought them inside, leaned them up against the inside front wall, and lit a candle.
Rusty was my trembling shadow as I moved about.
Another lightning strike shook a yelp out of him, so I set the candle on a shelf near the door and gave him a hug.
He was ready to run up to our bedroom like always does during storms.
I lit the second candle and carried it with me to the back of the barn to lock the windows.
“Rusty, here boy…” He pulled himself away from sniffing the storm filled air to follow me.
The howling of the wind against the barn spooked me out, but I trudged along to lock everything up before the rain kicked in.
After setting the candle down on my garden work bench, I started locking up the windows when I heard what sounded like glass breaking and it made me jump.
Rusty started barking. I turned, horrified, to see the front of the barn in flames!
“Oh no! His paintings! No!” I had to get them out, fast. Running to the front, I could see the flames licking the corners of the canvases, so I hurriedly grabbed them, feeling a slight burn to my arm. “Ow! Shit.” I ran them to the porch.
“Rusty, come on, boy.” I heard barking, but he wasn’t coming out of the barn. “No! Rusty!!” Sprinting up to the barn, I noticed that there was still a path to get in. “Rusty!! Come boy!” He still wasn’t coming, but he was barking. I couldn’t lose him, and I was panicking.
My strides grew wider as I followed the sound of his barking. He was in the corner of one of the stalls. “Rusty!” He ran up to me, so I picked him up. He wasn’t a small dog, but my adrenaline must have spiked.
When I turned to leave, the path was covered in fire and smoke.
“The windows,” I blurted out and tried to move along the wall to find them, choking the entire way.
It was just too much smoke. “Here boy, sit.” Cough.
I crouched down, pulling him down with me and kept him close.
Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I quickly dialed 911.
The operator answered, “911, what’s your emergency?”
“Help! I’m stuck in a fire. Me and my dog. In my barn, please.”
“Alright, Ma’am, try to stay calm and tell me your address.”
“Um…51340-County Road 26.” I couldn’t stop coughing. Rusty was curled into my arm.
The operator reassured me, “Fire crews are on the way. Try to stay as far away from the fire as possible. I’m going to keep you on the line until help arrives.”
“Please … hurry. Tell Jesse.”
“Ma’am, who?”
I took a gasp of air and smoke. “Jesse Harrington. He’s a firefighter on duty. Cough, cough. He knows the place like the back of his hand.”
“Alright, we’ll make sure he’s dispatched. Do you see an air source?”
Rusty was whining and it was getting harder for me to breathe. I kept scooting us back as far as I could to avoid the lick of the flames.
“Ma’am. Keep talking to me…” I couldn’t, though. I was passing out.
“Tell…” The choking was too much to bear. “I Love him…” I couldn’t get the complete sentence out.
“Ma’am…ma’am…help should be pulling in any minute. Ma’am, stay with me…” It was the last thing I heard.