Page 58 of Ashes of the Past
“When? I haven’t seen him come out,” I say in a high-pitched voice.
“Dad!” I grab his arm as he moves to head back toward the barn. “Don’t! The fire trucks are almost here!”
He hesitates, torn between the instinct to protect his ranch and the fear of leaving me. The sound of sirens in the distance grows louder, a faint but welcome promise of help.
“Stay here,” he says, his voice firm, but I grip his arm tighter. “I’m going to go look for Jack.”
“No! Let them handle it!” I plead, my voice breaking. He looks at me, and for a moment, I see the same fear I feel mirrored in his eyes.
“Where’s Jack?” I hear Nick call out. “I’ve accounted for everyone but him!”
My stomach drops. I wrap my arms around myself as I pray and look for any sign of him running out of the barn. There’s nothing. Every ranch hand is accounted for and the barn keeps falling more in with every passing second.
My heart is in my throat. My eyes are stinging with tears from the smoke and from the fear of something happening to Jack.
I look around, and then I take off running toward the barn. I can hear Barney growling and barking and Olivia’s screams.
“Barney, no!”
Barney grabs my pant leg with his teeth. He’s growling and barking and pulling me away from the fire with all the might his little body carries. I try shooing him away, but nothing is working. I fall backward onto the ground and Barney gives a bark at me as if he’s telling me to stay put and then he rushes inside the burning barn.
I scream. Olivia screams. My dad is yelling after him.
The fire trucks barrel down the driveway, their lights flashing red and blue against the smoke-filled sky. Relief mingles withdread as the firefighters leap into action, unrolling hoses and barking orders.
I’m covering my face with my hands, tears rolling down my face.
Why did he just run inside the barn like that?
Barney is barking up a storm. Another section of the barn collapses, narrowly missing Nick as he races out.
The ranch hands continue to ask each other where Jack is and who saw him last, their voices tinged with worry.
“Has anyone seen him?” Nick calls out, his usual calm replaced by urgency.
“No one’s seen him!” another hand shouts back, his words slicing through the night like a knife.
My stomach churns, a cold, sinking feeling spreading through me. The flames roar louder, and the barn creaks ominously, a sound that makes my blood run cold. The thought I’ve been trying to suppress forces its way to the surface, sharp and unrelenting.
“Rick!” I scream as I see Joanne’s husband shouting directions.
“Brynn, don’t worry, we’re going to do what we can!”
“I think Jack’s inside! The dog ran in after him, but…no one can find Jack. I haven’t seen him since he ran toward the barn.”
“Shit,” he curses and growls at the same time.
He nods, shouting out orders to the rest of the department. “We’ve got one person inside. Thirty-eight-year-old male. Dog, too. Let’s get in there, boys!”
I watch as Rick leads some of the firefighters toward the barn, and they go inside. The barn is still creaking, the flames burning brighter despite the water that they’re spraying on it.
I want to puke.
What if…what if Jack is inside and…he dies? We had sex, and then he dies? That’s an omen if I ever heard of one!
I feel Dad put his arm around me. The gesture brings me back to reality, and I can stop the crazy train that was swinging into my brain.
“They’re both going to be okay.”
