Maybe she could still jump out of the window?She crawled to the door on her knees and cracked it open.Black smoke poured in, and she shut the door in a fit of coughing.
Even if she could find the window, what if she couldn’t hold her breath long enough to get to it?When she’d looked down before, it was dizzying.It seemed so high.Could she survive a fall from that height?She’d certainly break her legs, but what was two broken legs if she still had her life?
Tears rushed into her eyes.She should’ve stayed downstairs.She shouldn’t have come to work at all.She should have set up a will – not that she had anything to leave to the kids, but maybe she could’ve written them letters.A final goodbye, so they could know she had loved them so, so dearly.
The tears spilled out with a sob.Annie put her face in her hands and let it out.
“Annie!”
She stopped, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to stop crying.
It was so faint she thought she was imagining it.
“Annie!”
She sat up.There it was again.A muffled voice, but it was there.
She stood from her crouched position and screamed, “Help!I’m in here!”
The smoke was so thick and dark she couldn’t see the door anymore, until a moment later when it burst open and a beam of light pierced the darkness.
“Annie.”
She still couldn’t see who was calling her name, but she could hear him now.She ran towards the light and slammed into a mass of yellow.
He wore a mask, and the light blinded her, but even through the smoke and chaos, she knew who it was.
Miles.
A sob caught in her throat, and coughing overtook her again.She collapsed into his arms, and with one motion, he swept her up, moving powerful legs swiftly through the hazy darkness.
A window burst open, the crisp outside air quickly polluted by smoke.
“Ladder!”he yelled, and within seconds, metal slammed against the building.
“Can you make it out?”
She nodded, coughing.
Miles leapt out first, and Annie second.He guided her down as she continued coughing and wheezing.
On the ground, he picked her up again, running to a waiting ambulance.
He set her down.“Is there anyone else inside?”he asked, staring at her through the mask.
She had the nonsensical thought that his eyes looked so pretty in this light.
Annie managed to shake her head, and the medics swarmed her, wrapping her in blankets, pressing oxygen to her face, asking her questions.
Miles stood behind them and removed his mask, his expression hard.He waited only a moment before disappearing.
There were two fire trucks there, hoses going, people yelling, and all at once the realization hit her – she wasn’t going to die.
Not today, at least.
Annie tilted her head back and looked at the sky, finally able to take a full breath.
After a trip to the hospital to be checked out and treated for smoke inhalation, Annie was sent home.
