Girl Missing by unknow

Author:unknow
Format: epub
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

9

Kat was too stunned to make sense of what had happened; she could only lie on her back in the grass and stare dazedly at the sky. Then, gradually, she became aware that someone was calling her name, that someone was brushing the hair from her eyes, stroking her face.

‘Kat. Look at me. I’m right here. Look at me.’

Slowly, she focused on Adam. He was gazing down at her, undisguised panic in his eyes. He was afraid, she thought in wonder. Why?

‘Kat!’ he yelled. ‘Come on, say something.’

She tried to speak and found all she could manage was a whisper. ‘Adam?’

Through her confusion, she heard the sounds of running footsteps, shouting voices, calls of ‘Is she okay?’

‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘Don’t move. There’s an ambulance coming—’

‘What happened?’ She struggled to sit up. The sudden movement made the world lurch around her. She caught a spinning view of bystanders’ faces, of debris littering the lawn. Then she saw what was left of her house. With that glimpse, everything froze into terrible focus.

The front wall had been ripped away entirely, and the inner walls stood exposed, like an open dollhouse. Shreds of fabric, couch batting, splintered furniture had been tossed as far as the driveway. Just overhead, an empty picture frame swung forlornly from a tree branch.

‘Jesus, lady,’ murmured someone in the crowd. ‘Did you leave your gas on or something?’

‘My house,’ whispered Kat. In rising fury she staggered to her feet. ‘What did they do to my house?’

Then, as if there hadn’t been enough destruction, the first flicker of fire appeared. Flames were spreading from what used to be the kitchen.

‘Back!’ shouted Adam. ‘Everyone back!’

‘No!’ Kat struggled forward. If she could turn on the garden hose, if the pipes were still intact, she could save what little she had left. ‘Let me go!’ she yelled, shoving at Adam. ‘It’s going to burn!’

She managed only two steps before he grabbed her and hauled her back. Enraged, she struggled against him, but he trapped her arms and swung her up and away from the house.

‘It’s going to burn!’ she cried.

‘You can’t save it, Kat! There’s a gas leak!’

The flames suddenly shot higher, licking at the collapsing roof. Already the fire had spread to the living room, had ignited the remains of her furniture. Smoke swirled, thick and black, driving the crowd back across the street.

‘My house,’ Kat sobbed, swaying against Adam.

He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms tightly around her as though to shield her from the sight and sounds of destruction. As the first fire trucks pulled up with sirens screaming, she was still clinging to him, her face pressed against his shirt. The roar of the flames, the shouts of firemen, seemed to recede into some other, distant dimension. Her reality, the only one that mattered, was the steady thump of Adam’s heart.

Only when he gently released her and murmured something in her ear was she wrenched unwillingly back into the real world. She found two uniformed men gazing at her.

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