Charade

Vic

When I saw the building on fire, my heart jumped up to my throat.

"What the fuck?" Lily murmured, pressing her face against the back window.

Cop cars were scattered across the grounds, lights flashing, ambulances roaring, people crying and bleeding and screaming. It looked like the end of the world. The car rolled slowly into the parking lot. I was just about to pull in, and then I saw him. Benjamin. He was sprawled across a stretch-board being run across the car park, his body covered in soot and blood. His thin arm hung off the side of the board, dangling, exposing searing burns.

I slammed down on the breaks and Lily was thrown against her seatbelt.

"Dad – what the fuck?!"

With frantic hands, I unbuckled my seatbelt and fell out of the car.

"Benjamin!" I screamed after him, as they slid him into the back of an ambulance.

I sprinted up to the ambulance. A tall, broad-shouldered paramedic turned away from putting Benjamin in the ambulance and stepped in my path.

"Sir, sir, please stop."

"What happened to him? Is he okay?"

"Are you this boy's father?"

"Yes. What happened to him?"

"There was an explosion on the third floor. Your son ran into the building, presumably trying to save someone. He's suffered serious burns. Please, we need to get your son to the hospital."

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Dad, what's going on?"

I looked down at Lily standing beside me. She looked into the ambulance.

"Is that Benji?"

"Come on, get in."

I took her hand and dragged her into the ambulance, sitting at Benjamin's side. His blue-streaked hair was mattered and his skin was stained red and black. I wanted to take his hand, but it was so badly burned.

"Benji?" Lily whispered.

"How bad is it?" I asked the paramedic as he jumped in the back.

"Hard to tell," he said.

"But not good."

"No, not good."

© A.G. Travers 2015