Page 32 of Rescued Dreams
Amelia smiled and headed for her bed, on top over the other side. “It’s weird for me too.”
She dug in her backpack and pulled out a paperback she’d been reading lately. Fantasy, because it was way better than real life. The cover had a moon and stars, and a guy in furs with a sword.Lord of Winter.Amelia intended to get lost in that world later if the shift was quiet. She tossed the book on her bed. “Everything okay?”
Della shifted quickly, moving a paper beneath her own book. On the cover of the book was a hand-drawn image of an orange sky, green grass, and a pink-and-white lighthouse.Where I Found You.“Everything’s fine.”
There was definitely something off with her teammate.
Amelia might never have noticed if she’d been a lieutenant, still in her office. She wouldn’t see Della in the women’s bunkroom, because she had a cot in the office. Only by being here did she get a good impression of how things were with her colleagues. Which made her wonder what else she had missed while she’d been lieutenant.
Amelia leaned her shoulders back against the bar under her mattress. “Will you let me know if there’s anything I can do? If there is something that will help you.”
Della looked a bit nonplussed. Finally, she said, “Sure. I can do that.”
“Great.” Amelia didn’t exactly make friends at work. She kept things professional because it was always better that way. But she didn’t want Della to suffer with no one to talk to.
Amelia said, “I should go see if there’s an update on how things are going with rescue squad’s callout.”
She was almost to the door when the chimes went off.
From the speaker high in the corner of the wall, she heard, “Truck 14, Belleview Junior High. Person trapped.”
Amelia grabbed the handle and flung the door open. They shucked on their gear. Della ran for the driver’s door, and Amelia climbed in the back.
Della pulled the truck out of the engine bay onto the street and flipped on the lights and sirens.
Ridge hit the keys on the dash laptop and said, “Dispatch reports a kid is missing. They were told by friends that he climbed up into the ceiling to hide from a teacher.”
“So one of us is gonna climb up between the ceiling panels and order him to get out?” Izan said, “If it was my brothers, they’d get down quick. It ain’t as good as Zoe’s mom voice, but it works for me.”
Amelia glanced at him and grinned. “I’ve heard that voice. Got the sudden urge to clean my room.”
Izan laughed.
Della pulled into the school parking lot. Several teachers and other staff members stood outside the front doors wearing office attire of slacks and shirts or blouses. Name badges on lanyards around their necks.
Della parked, and both Amelia and Ridge jumped out. Amelia hung back a second as he approached the staff and said, “You have a child trapped?”
“I’m the principal, Stacey Wallace.” The closest teacher shielded her eyes from the sun, up at a forty-five-degree angle as it made its way to being overhead. She had curly hair in tight red spirals around her head. “He was hiding from a math test. Apparently the kids go up there when they want to skip class.”
“And he won’t come down?” Ridge asked.
Principal Wallace nodded. “He has some allergies, and it’s dusty up there. Maybe he can’t breathe.” She worried her lip between her teeth. “He isn’t answering us, and we can’t get him down.”
“Show us the way.” Ridge turned back. “Nixon, Lewis, grab the med bag and tools.”
They had no idea what they needed until they got a look at the problem, but Amelia grabbed a fire axe because the kids would be impressed, and she’d get more cooperation than if she didn’t have it. She swung the axe onto her shoulder and steadied her helmet. “Lead the way.”
She caught the edge of Ridge’s smile, because he knew exactly what she was doing and why.
Amelia followed him and the teachers inside the building, and as soon as she did, it hit her. The smell. The feel of it. The sounds and sights of middle school.
One of the teachers glanced over at her. “Middle school. We never outgrow the trauma.”
Amelia’s eyes widened. She must’ve given away her reaction. “Is it me, or did I go here?” She’d actually attended a junior high across town, she was pretty sure.
“All the junior highs in the school district were constructed from the same basic floor plan,” the teacher said. “Been in one, been in them all.”
Amelia shook her head. “I guess I know how to find my way around, then. Though it’s been a while.” She spotted a couple of kids in the hall and called out, “Get back to class, guys.”
