The smoke was visible even in broad daylight. It drifted up in thick plumes, somehow turning blacker as it touched the clouds. Mason wasn’t even on the right street yet, but already the sky began to resemble his heart; it was black, toxic, and an unsafe place to be.
As he came onto his home street, the firefighters came into view. There were two trucks and a number of police cars. Somewhere on the end was Evie’s silver Explorer, its door left wide open as if it had been abandoned or something else had taken her attention.
Mouth dry, head aching, Mason feared the worst. He slammed on the brakes and brought the Mustang to a screeching halt. Just like his sister had done, he leapt out of the car, leaving it unattended, then ran toward the burning square of bricks that used to be his home. The cops and firefighters were little more than a blur to him now. He barely noticed them at all, until the army of firm arms restrained him.
“Get the hell off me!” he screamed. “My wife and kid are in there!”
He wrestled, but it amounted to nothing. He fought for freedom and found no purchase. It wasn’t until Evie appeared at his side, MJ scooped up in her strong grip, that he finally let the authorities win. By now, his legs were turning to jelly. His stomach felt empty and hollow. The look of terror and confusion on his son’s face was all it had taken to stop and to divert his attention toward his family.
“Leave him alone,” Evie said to the men. “Go. I’ve got it from here.”
“Where’s Diane?” Mason asked.
“Stay calm and come with me.”
“Where’s Diane?” he tried again, this time more urgent.
Her absence of an answer only drove him crazier. MJ continued to cry in her arms until Mason lifted the weight into his own chest. He held his son close, his heart hammering like a dance track as he awaited the answer he knew was coming. Even as the fire raged on, huffing and puffing as it licked its toxic fumes up into the sky, all Mason could hear was his heartbeat.
“We can’t find her,” Evie said. “MJ was sitting on the lawn all alone when I got here.”
Mason felt ready to collapse.
“But we found this. He had it in his hand when we got to him.”
“Give it to me.”
“Just… let me take MJ. You might want to sit down after this.”
Mason barely noticed the weight disappear from his shoulders. It felt like a new weight took its place. Something less like a blessing and more like a burden. He took the folded piece of paper, reading and re-reading it, hoping the words on it would somehow change. It didn’t. Each hopeless, tear-blurred glance offered the same life-altering words:
This girl is mine now.