Susan just turned her back and walked away, her head held high.
A few days passed. Elena spent them handing over her patient files to the new paramedic the county had sent. She had finally been granted her transfer.
She decided to visit the cemetery one last time before dawn, wanting to say a private goodbye to Andrew without the town watching. She had a bus to catch at 8:00 AM.
The town was still tucked under a heavy morning fog. As she walked past Andrew’s old house, she noticed a thick, dark plume of smoke rising from the back window.
She didn’t think; she just ran. She pounded on the front door, but there was no answer.
She screamed for the neighbors, then grabbed a heavy porch chair and smashed the side window. She climbed into the choking heat.
The house was an inferno of old wood and dry drywall. Elena crawled through the hallway, calling out for Susan and the kids. She found the youngest, Andrew’s daughter, huddled in a corner of her bedroom, unconscious. She carried the girl out to the lawn and went straight back in for the boy.
By the time she dragged the son out, the neighbors were finally awake, running with garden hoses and calling 911. Two men tried to go in for Susan, but they couldn’t find her.
It turned out Susan wasn’t there. She had taken a double shift at the local bakery to cover the funeral expenses. She had tucked the kids in and left them alone for the night. A faulty wire in the kitchen had done the rest.
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