Inveigle

Chapter Thirteen: Voices

The wait was an eternal five minutes. Nathan came walking back coughing into his hands every few steps. He laid down next to Ava on the cement, and I quickly explained to him what Sam had stupidly done. Nathan said nothing, just reached up and began stroking his granddaughter's hair. Having held it in long enough, Ava finally began to cry with her head buried into her grandfather's chest. The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. The few neighbors The Palace had from surrounding apartments woke up from their sleep and crowded the street.

I stared into the blaze, every shadow in my mind was Sam and Pam. Finally, one shadow grew and took a human shape until it couldn't be my imagination. Sam was bent over and dragging a non moving Pam.

The sirens became deafening as the truck pulled up and blocked the view of The Palace. I ran around the side of the fire engine just in time to see Sam collapse on top of Pam's body as soon as he cleared the door. There was a mighty creak and the roof of The Palace became the floor. Fireflies of flame danced up into the night sky, mingling with the snow flurries that had begun to float down. I ran forward only to be held back by what felt like a brick wall and not the arms of a firefighter. The man walked me backwards away from the flames, and away from Pam and Sam.

Someone was screaming. It took my mind a moment to register the words, and it took a moment longer for me to realize it was my own voice scratchy from smoke inhalation.

"This is my fault!" I couldn't stop screeching. They could be dead and it was all because of me. The firefighter finally let me go when my muscles grew weak with the struggle. I staggered for a moment before vomiting onto the street.

The ambulance arrived soon after and loaded the unconscious bodies into the back. It rushed off with the sirens wailing into the night. Nathan looked at Ava for only a moment before deciding she needed medical care even if he couldn't afford it, and had her taken to the hospital, as well. I coughed out a decline to the EMS team. I had no insurance, all my papers were gone up in smoke, and it was better if I wasn't in a place where an agent could easily find me to finish the job. They insisted, and again I declined. The two EMS personnel looked at each other and shrugged with their eyes before turning away from me.

The crowd of neighbors grew as they watched the firefighters battle the blaze. I sat on the sidewalk alone, watching what had become my home over the past months turn to ash. The old floor boards eaten up by the greedy flames. Absent-mindedly, I wondered if the rats made it out. By the time the flames were out, The Palace was a blackened pile of shadow darker than the night sky. With the flames defeated, the crowd lost interest. One of the police officers came over to me and sat down next to me on the sidewalk.

"Did you live here?"

I nodded.

"Do you have a place to go?"

No. My parents live three states away, with no desire to see their failure come back to haunt them.

The officer became nervous at my silence. "The shelter might not be full. There's just one left on this side of town...I would offer you to stay at my place. But you know, we have to document anyone who lives under our roof. Ongoing census and all."

I perfectly well remembered the ongoing census. It was Persim's first act as President. "A way to not only keep our census the most up to date in the world, but to track terrorism and end it before more American soil becomes a battleground." It also became a method to keep track of any immigrants that had American family members helping them out. Deportation rates skyrocketed after implementation.

"I have family," I said. Which was not a lie, I had a family just not here.

The man smiled at me, and pushed himself up with his hands on his knees. He walked to his cruiser, spoke mumbled words to his partner, and came back to me with a pair of steel toed boots in his hands. "Extra work pair I keep in the cruiser. Wear them until your family comes to pick you up," he smiled sympathetically. I took the oversized boots and slid them over my now charcoal black socks. I pulled the strings tight. The shoes were loose, but with the laces taught they wouldn't fall off. The officer walked away to his cruiser, where his partner was already in the front seat, and they drove off. The firefighters loaded up, none even looked in my direction as I watched from the unlit sidewalk, wrapped in the small portion of my green blanket that wasn't burned, and soon they were gone, as well.