𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐃𝐄 , 𝐣. 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 ⁽¹⁾

𝟏𝟐. 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄

JJ Maybank walked down the dark, empty, street with regret clouding his mind. Why would he say those things to Elle? Why would he treat her like that?

As much as the young boy tried, the thoughts didn't go away. They flooded his mind like the tears that flooded Elle's face.

Like the smoke that flooded Elle's room.

Part of JJ wanted to just walk home, figure it out in the morning. Unfortunately, that other part of him; the part that happened to be madly in love with his best friend, compelled him to walk down to her small shack by The Wreck.

As the stars in the sky glistened over Elle's humble abode, the boy squinted at something that also clouded above the home.

Smoke.

JJ ran towards the house in a flash, and stopped dead in his tracks as stepped in front.

Fire covered the house, as he heard sirens from farther away. He turned to look towards the sound, but realized that it would be too late by the time they got there. The house was already covered from the bottom-up in bright flames...

and Elle was in that house.

The boy ran inside, completely ignoring the dark feeling inside of his gut. He quickly glanced around the fire-ridden room, looking for the girl that occupied his entire brain.

He heard faint coughs coming from her room, and as soon as he did, his heart sunk. JJ ran towards the room, busting through the door using his shoulder. He covered his face with his arm and ran towards the coughing girl.

Elle stood hovered over, having a coughing fit. Sweat was beaded onto her freckled forehead, and she had a small burn on her arm.

"Elle!" JJ said quickly before grabbing her. "It's okay, i'm here." He said before pulling her out of the room. "Just breathe. I'm okay, you're okay, we're gonna' be okay.". Sirens blared from outside of the house, and they heard yelling from outside.

The girl quickly stopped while running through the burning house. She turned around anxiously, glancing around the room. "My—." She coughed again, before covering her face. "My mom—."

JJ pulled her tighter into him before pulling her. "It'll be fine, E. They'll get her. We need to worry about you right now." He said, yanking her out the door. The fire blazed as the two landed on the lawn. Firefighters rushed into the house behind them as EMT's came over to the two.

You see, Elle has asthma. She's had it since the age of 6, and the smoke clouded her lungs, making it harder and harder for her to breathe. The EMT's quickly picked her up and carried her over to an ambulance. She was almost completely passed out now, and her burn mark has already gotten worse.

JJ stood quickly and ran over to the ambulance. "Hey! Let me come." He yelled, climbing into the van.

A worker stared at him, looking down at a deep scrape on his knee. "You need a doctor." They said, motioning towards the boy's knee.

JJ shook his head stubbornly before grabbing Elle's limp hand. "I'm fine, alright? Just let me stay with her."

The worker hesitated before sighing and closing the ambulance door. JJ quickly looked out the back door as he watched Lorelai's body be carried out by the firefighters.

————-

Hours passed, and Elle laid in bed hospital bed, unconscious. JJ anxiously sat in a chair next to her, not taking his eyes off of the girl for a second.

Suddenly, John B walked in, followed by Pope and Kie.

"Oh my god!" Kie yelled, running over to Elle. "How long has she been out of it?" She asked, grabbing Elle's pale hand.