“Clear the area; clear the area,” shouted one of the firemen into a walkie talkie that was strapped to his shoulder. “Is everyone out?”
“Yes, sir,” all is clear.
“Wait,” Kace said, while looking around, “Where’s Jett?”
Where’s Jett?!
My heart bottomed out as my vision around me turned black and my eyes narrowed up to the third floor window, from where I’d seen Jett look down at me many times. In the midst of all of the smoke and flames, there was a body moving up on the third floor, clearly pacing back and forth.
A shrill cry escaped me as I charged toward the house, but was grabbed by the waist.
“Goldie, stop.”
“He’s up there!” I screamed and pointed. “He’s up there; we have to get him.”
Another explosion ricocheted through the thick smoky air, sending sparks around the area.
“Start covering the perimeters,” a fireman said, “Save the areas around it; the house is unsalvageable.”
I grabbed his walkie talkie and shouted into it, “There is a man in there still; stop everything you’re doing and…”
The walkie talkie was ripped away from me and the fireman spoke into it, redirecting them to their original duty.
“What are you doing? There’s someone still in there. Go save him.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, it’s too dangerous. I’m not going to send my men in there when the house is creaking and ready to fall.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of firemen are you?” I screamed, as I charged towards the house to go get him myself, but was grabbed once again. “Put me down! He’s in there; I need to save him. He’s in there!”
“Goldie, stop. We can’t go in there,” Kace’s voice spoke softly into my ear. “There is nothing we can do.”
“Fuck you, there is nothing we can do.” I screamed as loud as I could up to the third floor, hoping Jett could hear me. “Open the window and jump. Jett, jump!”
From the floor of the third level, a hand reached up and hit the window, then slowly slid down the glass, as if it was his last ditch effort to save himself.
“No!” I cried and fought Kace, who was now pulling me away. “Fight, Jett, fight!”
My last words died on my lips as the fire burned and the house collapsed in on itself, causing sparks and smoke to explode from underneath the house.
“Put me down,” I sobbed, as I watched the house repeatedly implode in on itself until there were only a few beams standing tall.
My heart sank to the ground while Kace carried me to where the other Jett Girls were standing, huddled together. When I reached them, I scampered off of Kace and looked around for Jett.
“Where is he?” I searched around them, hoping that maybe this was some kind of sick joke.
“Where is who?” Babs asked, growing more concerned at how frantic I was.
I looked in the boxes they had scattered around, then I checked their purses, thinking maybe he took a shrinking pill before he left the club. I was reaching, big time reaching, but I refused to think about him up in that room; I refused to acknowledge that was his hand hitting the glass, reaching for me.
“Where’s Jett?” I screamed, continuing to look around.
“Goldie,” Kace said softly, while his hand grabbed my shoulder.
“No, don’t touch me! Don’t fucking touch me,” I cried, tears streaming down my face.
“Goldie, come here,” Babs said, reaching her arms out for me, but I swatted them away. I didn’t want to be held, I didn’t want to be consoled, I wanted Jett. I wanted my man back, I wanted the Lafayette Club back, and I wanted my life, the life I knew as mine, to come back.
In one single moment, everything I’ve ever wanted, that I’ve ever cared about, was taken away from me.
I heard the girls talking around me and saw the look of total devastation on Kace’s face as my vision blurred. Before I ran off, I saw a small tear peek out of Kace’s eye, which he quickly wiped away, but that was it for me. I couldn’t stay; I had to bolt…I had to forget.
“Goldie, where are you going?” Babs called after me, as I sprinted through the crowd, pushing people to the side, trying to get as far away from the smoke and the creaks and cracks as I could.
As I ran, visions of Jett being suffocated by the black smoke ran through my mind, turning my stomach raw. I paused on a sidewalk, held onto a tree and threw up, multiple times, until I could only dry heave. Convulsions shook my small frame and a cold sweat ran over my skin. Once there was nothing left in me, I looked around to see where I was, and I ran to the last sanctuary I had. In front of me was Jett’s mom’s gravestone; the original location that brought me to Jett. In a sick way, my life was coming full circle.
My body felt lifeless, tired, exhausted, so I collapsed in front of the gravestone, pressing my body up against the cold marble stone.
Broken pieces of the grave dug into my skin, but I welcomed the pain, anything to dull the torment that was running rampant through my veins, the unyielding agony that wouldn’t ease in my slowly dying heart.
I rested my head on my hands and cried in front of the grave, while the black smoke from the house started to pool over the cemetery, making the atmosphere dim and bleak, like my future. To say there was a black cloud over my life was an understatement.
Tourists milled about me, spoke softly to each other about the crazy woman, crying in front of a gravestone at the ever-so-popular Lafayette Cemetery. Children cried when they saw me and two people took pictures of the crazy lady. If I had enough strength in my bones, I would have flipped them all off, but there was nothing left in me.
I wasn’t sure how long I laid there; time seemed to escape me as I tried to envision my life without Jett. It was impossible. How was I supposed to give up something that I just recently obtained? How was I supposed to let go of the fact that I fell in love with the most complicated, charming, and sexy man I’ve ever met? How was I supposed to move on from this?
Thoughts of pulling a Romeo and Juliet ran through my mind as a heard footsteps walk up to me. Expecting it to be a tourist wanting to poke me with a stick, I didn’t look up until they stopped right in front of me. My vision blurred from my tears, but I knew those shoes.
In a sheer panic, I wiped my eyes and looked up to see Kace looking down at me. Disappointment washed over my body, as I thought the man who was standing in front of me was going to be Jett. I was sadly defeated.
I rested my head back down on the ground as Kace squatted in front of me.
His hand ran across my face and tried to wipe away the continuously falling tears that would not stop. Carefully, he sat down next to me and pulled up my upper half so my head was resting on his knee. We sat silently as he stroked my back and I cried.
His warm embrace should have been comforting, it should have made me feel some kind of semblance of “home,” but I still felt empty inside.
“Please tell me it’s not true,” I squeaked out, my voice hoarse from crying. I gripped onto his hand and said, “Tell me it’s not true.”
Kace cleared his throat, but said nothing. Through blurry eyes, I looked up at him and saw that his eyes were just as red as mine, just as puffy, and his demeanor looked like he literally just lost his best friend.
“What are you not telling me, Kace?” I asked, trying to wait for the blow.
“Goldie…”
“Fucking tell me!” I shouted.
“They found a body…” Kace choked on a sob.
“Wh-what? No, no, this is not happening.”
I blocked out the hand on the window; I convinced myself this wasn’t true. It just couldn’t be true. There was no way that whoever was writing this fucking story of my life could take Jett away. I couldn’t believe it. We were supposed to spend our lives together, we were working things out, and we were going to finally live our lives the way we wanted to. We were finally given a chance.
“This can’t be happening…” I whispered softly, falling into Kace’s arms. “I love him, Kace. I fucking love him; he can’t be taken away from me.”