It was built in a U shape and it was seven stories tall. The intentions had been better than the budget and the flats had ended up small and the building thrown up quickly with cheap materials. The cobbled courtyard was left bare of the once-planned furniture. The only stairs were in the center of the U so more space was saved to cram people in. The large storeroom had been placed on the ground floor on the left side of the courtyard inside the U.
The janitor’s tools took up the shelves around the door and most of the rest of the space was usually given over to the sacks of coal that were distributed round the building to those who could afford to pay. The coal delivery had been due the following morning so there were no more than a score of sacks stacked against the back wall at the time.
They were fighting the fire on the right side of the building with a chain of men passing wooden buckets back and forth in the early evening. More men were at the stairs trying to get people out, with a few venturing into the burning building to search for anyone who might be trapped. They were risking their own lives to do so. It was chaotic in the courtyard. There was water splashing onto the cobbles and making them slippery as men bellowed deafeningly along the line. Smoke poured out the upper-floor windows where flames had broken the thin glass on the fourth and fifth floors and drifted down in the still night to blanket the courtyard. It was unlikely that anyone still on the upper floors of the building would find an escape.
He was the only one who saw her. He was standing in the middle of the line passing a bucket forward, and as he let it go to the next man something made him turn his head. He saw just a glimpse of her. She wore gray clothes and had gray hair and was moving through the smoke of the courtyard before disappearing in through the door to the storeroom.
He broke from the line and started to walk across the courtyard. Someone called his name but he waved a hand behind him and kept walking. Nobody would follow him on this night when there was so much to fight for. Many had died in the other fires that struck buildings in this area so every man and woman knew the urgency of this one. The others went back to fighting the fire while he moved into the smoke and out of their view.
The door to the storeroom was ajar and he entered knowing what it should look like inside. It was always dark in there as the row of small windows at the top of the wall were filthy with coal dust. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust and when they did he saw her.
She was sitting on a wooden chair he didn’t remember being there before in the middle of the floor. She was watching him and waiting. Her mouth wasn’t smiling but her eyes were. She was trying to seem serious. The woman was trying to pretend that this wasn’t a game for her. He took two steps toward her and paused as he was reluctant to be further from the door. The air was already heavy in the storeroom and he knew it wouldn’t get better. He was breathing heavily with the mixture of nerves and smoke. He stood looking into her eyes for what seemed only a few seconds and then took a few more steps forward.
“She’s here!” he shouted.
He turned and looked at the high windows behind him as though expecting to see some reaction. It was dark still but there were dancing lines of light visible from the fire. As he looked at a window a flicker turned to a burst of flame as a fireball exploded from the other side of the building and into the courtyard. The roar of fire covered the shouts of men to begin with but when the flames settled the men didn’t. They were still shouting in the courtyard as they battled fire and fear with volume.
He turned sharply and looked at her. Now she was smiling. Not a joyous smile but a satisfied one. The smile of someone whose effort had just been well rewarded. He couldn’t keep the fear out of his face. He moved toward her and was now only three steps away. He opened his mouth to talk and coughed in surprise at the thick smoke that ran into the back of his mouth.
“Stop that,” he tried to shout, but he was coughing and croaking the last word as he felt the soot on his tongue.
He lunged the last couple of steps to her and reached down to try to grab her wrists. She hadn’t moved since he’d come in and was still sitting in gray with her hands on her lap almost lost in the folds of her long skirt. He grabbed them with no intention. They seemed at once light and impossible to move. They were frail but powerful. She looked at him in silence. There was no need to say anything.
He started to cough and gasp but the more he did the tighter he grabbed hold of her. If he could stop her the others might have a chance. If he could just hold her in place. He could feel the heat on his hands and could feel the smoke trickling down his throat. He realized as he dropped to his knees that he should have let go. He was still holding her. She watched him drop. She seemed curious but didn’t move. He coughed and gasped but only more smoke found its way in. He collapsed on the floor and let go of her wrists.
She sat and looked down at him for a full minute and continued to ignore the sounds of shouting from the courtyard. It took no more than a minute for her to grow bored with the sight of his dead body and to forget why he was lying at her feet. She stood and made her way to the side door beside the tool shelves that led further into the building. She wanted to find more people.