Page 124 of New Beginnings at the Cosy Cat Cafe
‘Great,’ replied Leo. ‘Jake, have you got an outside water tap and hose? Let’s try and get this thing under control if we can, shall we?’
‘On it,’ said Jake, running across the yard.
‘I’ll help,’ said Maggie.
‘There are buckets in the cow shed, we can fill them with water from the animal troughs,’ yelled Rose. The music from the barn dance stopped as word of the fire spread, the yard was suddenly filled with people.
‘Lara?’ cried Nina. ‘Has anyone seen Lara?’ she screamed. ‘Leo? Was she with you?’
‘No!’ Leo shouted and Tori could see the look of panic etched onto his face. ‘Lara!’ he yelled. ‘Lara, where are you? You’re not in trouble, we just need you to come out now, okay?’
‘Lara? Lara?’ an echo of voices called from around the yardas more partygoers became aware of the emergency and left the dance to help. There was no response.
Rose, Jess, Pete and Beth began throwing buckets of water on the flames that were now threatening to engulf the whole building.
‘We need more!’ yelled Jess, running back to the troughs to refill the buckets.
‘Lara’s not in the farmhouse,’ shouted Mrs Connolly from across the yard.
‘She’s definitely not still in the party,’ said Cora, ‘I’ve completely scoured the barn.’
‘There’s no sign of her in the lambing barn,’ shouted Grace.
‘I’ve checked the hayloft too, just in case she’d decided to climb the ladder,’ said Izzy, jogging back to the yard to find a desperate Nina with tears running down her face. ‘She’s not there, Nina.’
‘You don’t think she could be…’ said Nina, nodding towards the flames. ‘Oh God, Leo,’ she said, as the blood drained from her face.
‘Lara!’ Leo yelled again, ripping a sleeve from his shirt and tying it around his face.
‘Leo? What are you doing?’ yelled Tori. ‘You’re not going in there, are you? It’s too dangerous—’
‘This is what I do, Tori – it’s what I’m trained for.’
‘Leo, no! You need to wait for back-up. You don’t have the right equipment.’ Tori tried to pull him back.
‘I have to,’ he said. ‘It’s Lara.’
Tori nodded; she knew she couldn’t stop him. If there wasany chance Lara was in that building filling with flames, then Tori knew he had to go. She held her breath as she saw him disappear into the smoke.
‘Where’s Leo?’ said Jake, as he returned with a hose. Tori lifted her arm slowly and pointed towards the burning barn. ‘What? He’s gone in? Is he mad?’
‘It’s Lara,’ Nina said weakly. ‘She might be inside.’
‘Jesus!’ said Jake, grabbing Nina around the waist as her knees buckled. ‘Let’s give him a hand then, shall we?’
Tori took Nina’s weight from Jake, and he aimed the hose at the fire raging in front of them. The stream of water seemed weak and ineffective against the wall of flames. Rose and her team of volunteers continued to hurl water from their buckets at the fire, but the flames just seemed to get fiercer, hotter and bigger.
Tears were streaming down Tori’s smoke-streaked face now, and despite the heat from the fire, terror had frozen her insides. Why hadn’t she tried harder to stop him? She should have forced him to stay, to wait for the fire service to arrive.If he didn’t… if he couldn’t find Lara… if they didn’t make it out… She thought she might vomit. She was clutching her hands together so tightly that her fingers were numb.Come on, Leo… where are you?She stared at the entrance to the barn, looking for any sign of movement among the thick, black smoke. A flicker, a sign…anything. She stared hard, her eyes watering, burning as she gazed through the smoke.Come on. Please.She could hear voices around her, sirens in the distance, someone saying her name, but she couldn’t lookaway. Suddenly men in uniform were all around her, trying to move her aside, barking orders at each other. She wouldn’t, she couldn’t, move.
And then, there he was. The sight she had been waiting to see for what felt like an eternity. A silhouette framed in the doorway, carrying a small, limp figure in his arms. It was Leo. LeoandLara. Firefighters rushed forwards and took Lara from him, as Leo fell to his knees, coughing, gasping for air. He was barely recognizable beneath all the soot. A paramedic rushed to his side placing an oxygen mask over his face and patting him on the back. Lara was wrapped in a silver blanket, a tiny oxygen mask placed over her nose and mouth. Her eyes were open, and she was nodding. Nina was at her side, crying, hugging her daughter close to her. Tori couldn’t wait any longer; she rushed towards Leo and threw her arms around him. He hugged her hard and wouldn’t let go, and Tori knew it was now or never – she had to tell him how she felt. Leo pulled his oxygen mask away from his face.
‘Sir, I really must insist you keep—’ said a paramedic, trying to reattach the mask.
‘I’m fine now, seriously,’ Leo said, taking a deep breath and coughing violently.
‘Leo,’ cried Tori, ‘I thought I’d lost you… I don’t know what I’d have done… I haven’t told you—’
‘Ssssh,’ he said, placing a finger to her lips. He pushed a strand of smoke-streaked hair behind her ear as she leant in towards him.
