Chapter 4
Sirens were screaming. Police cars and ambulances rushed in to parking lot. Fire trucks were already trying to hose down the apartment. Charlotte and I quickly got out of the car. We rushed to find a police and ask what was happening.
“Excuse me, sir, what is going on?”
“Well, there was a fire started, but don’t worry. We saved your cat.”
“How did it start?!”
“We believe it was started because someone left the stove on. We found a whole bunch of burnt pancakes.”
I stood there in disbelief. I set my apartment on fire with the jewelry box inside, with my groceries, with all of Charlotte’s money, with all of my only belongings. Charlotte was paying for this place to stand up. She did that for me, and now I ruined it all. I started to cry. I couldn’t tell Charlotte how sorry I was. This is just like setting her house on fire. This house meant a lot to her, not only me. She turned around to see me crying.
“Don’t cry honey. It wasn’t your fault. I rushed you out of the house. It’s my fault, not yours. Please don’t cry.”
As she said every word, more and more tears came up in her eyes. Why was she blaming herself for all of this? This I was the one to set the apartment on fire! I just wanted to yell out Charlotte’s name and tell her it wasn’t her fault, but I can’t. I can’t talk. I can’t yell. I can’t tell Charlotte how sorry I was. She can’t hear my thoughts. Thinking this was all I can do. She will never be able to hear what I’m thinking. Nobody will be able to hear what I’m thinking.
“Well ladies, I have to be going I’m sorry about your apartment. The insurance will take care of the rest.”
“Thank you, officers.”
Charlotte turned back to me. Tears were filling her eyes. I could still see that she was really hurt. She started to cry on my shoulder. A fire fighter started walking up to us.
“Hello, were you the owners of this here apartment?”
Charlotte and I nodded.
“Well, we found this and a few other things in there that aren’t too damaged.”
He passed us the jewelry box. Charlotte and I started crying again.
It was a dramatic day, and it still wasn’t over. We still had to figure out where I’d be sleeping for the night. It was obvious for Charlotte.
“The rest of the stuff is things from your room. You could stay in my guest room until we have you up and running again.”
I smiled, showing that I was grateful for the offer. I gave Charlotte a big hug, trying to show how grateful I was. We stood there hugging for a long moment until we got a hold of realty.
“Well, let’s go ahead and head to my house so we can sort it all out there.”
I nodded.
We got into the car and drove off. I tried not to think about it. I didn’t want to think about. I didn’t want my apartment to set on fire. I didn’t want all of Charlotte’s money to go to waste.
Charlotte didn’t like the silence so she turned up the radio. Then she wasn’t satisfied with any of the music, so she turned it back down and started talking.
“We just have to stay positive about the subject.”
I didn’t want to give her attitude like ‘what’s positive about burning all you have left of the world down’. Instead I gave her a look like ‘like…’
“For example, your jewelry box was saved along with some other stuff from your bed room. Like, you get to stay with your best friend in the whole wide universe…”
I grinned, trying to show her I was trying to lighten up too. It’s just very hard for me. I bet it would be hard for almost anyone. Charlotte wasn’t that upset. Did I happen to mention how rich Charlotte is? Her dad had put her and her brother in his will. When he died, he had been rich, and her brother didn’t want anything to do with her dad. Her brother was a complete rebel. Charlotte didn’t like to think about her family much because it was a sensitive subject. It was a sensitive subject when it came to my parents, too. My life would be a better example of “sensitive subject”.
