Sixteen and Twenty-one

Chapter three

I looked out at the old crumbled, burnt tree house and felt the tears start to sting at my eyes. I inwardly cursed at myself because I don’t cry. Fang looked at the three of us expectantly awaiting his answer. I was going to have to answer him. This is just what I wanted, not. I took in a deep breath preparing my answer for Fang while I was also saying the lord’s name in vain inside my head. 

“About two years ago there was a bad accident here, and it resulted in a death.” I started off going back in time as I continued to tell fang about what happened that day.

...

It was a windy day and I was out here playing with Maya. We were fourteen and claimed this as our clubhouse. Star was up at the house getting us something to drink and eat. It was taking her awhile to get back. I was pacing the ground waiting because by know I was starving. Maya was watching me while playing with her long blonde-brown hair. It was a bad habit of hers that she was trying to break. The clubhouse was old and not all that well put together. It was swaying in the wind slightly. I could tell it was going to storm, you could smell the rain in the air. 

“Maya we should go. It’s going to storm.” I told her trying to get her to leave before it was too late.

“But Max we just got here twenty minutes ago and I don’t want to leave. Plus I’m in charge since I’m older.” Maya replied throwing the ‘I’m older then you’ card in my face for the hundredth time that day. 

“Maya we are leaving now, so help me god if I have to come in there and drag you out I will!” I yelled since I had absentmindedly made my way over to the edge of the clearing. I noticed that the clubhouse was beginning to sway even more as the wind aggressively picked up speed.

“Fine worry pants let me just grab my stuff!” Maya yelled before heading further into the clubhouse.

“Worry pants?” I asked myself confused on how she came up with that one. After that moment everything happened in a matter of seconds it seemed like. The wrath of the storm was unleashed on us and the wind kicked up even more notches making the clubhouse sway unsteady looking like it could fall at any second, which it did with Maya still inside. Not that that was enough lightning had to strike the old wood starting a quickly- regardless the newly down poor- spreading fire.

“Maya!” I screamed in terrier. There was no reply. I ran to the clubhouse trying to fight my way around the fire and crumbled wood to look for Maya. She had to be ok. I could not live if she was not ok. Star came running out screaming for Maya and me to get the hell in the house because a tornado was coming and fast. When she made it out into the clearing she skidded to a halt and her eyeballs bulged out seeing the clubhouse in a fiery heap on the grown. Her eyes quickly scanned the clearing then landed on me- making my way through the mess- with complete terror in her eyes.

“Where’s Maya?” She yelled sounding like she was close to hysterics.

“She was still in there when it crashed down!” I yelled back letting the scared tears run down my face. I couldn’t hear the response that Star gave to that but by reading her lips it looked like her response was ‘oh god.’ That was pretty close to my response.

I continued to look through the burning heap of wood not caring that I was getting burned along with it. Somewhere in the back of my mind- the same part that recognized the tornado siren that was going off- knew that I was too late and that Maya was going to be gone. You can’t have a burning building fall on you and come out undamaged. She was too far into the building to get to a safe place before it fell.

Star being in a slightly more sensible stage started to yell for me to come and get in the house so I could save my own hide. That it was too late to save Maya, but that didn’t get me to stop looking for her. I had to find her. I couldn’t just leave her there.