Smoke stung his eyes and filled his lungs as he entered the building, but he scarcely noticed it. He was determined to get to her. He raised the wet cloth he'd brought, and almost forgotten about, to his face. Where was she?
He could see almost nothing through the smoke, not even flames, but he pushed his way through the entryway looking for a flight of stairs. He thought he could make one out on the far side through the smoke.
"Up the stairs, third door on the left," he whispered remembering her instructions. His eyes rose to the staircase. It was not burning, or at least not that he could tell, but the smoke was so thick he was almost sure it recently had been. The structure was surely compromised. There had to be another way up. But he knew there was not.
He'd exhausted all other options before coming in through the front door. The only second story window not engulfed in flames was facing the sea.
Her whispered words of the night before kept coming to him, "I'm with child…"
A child, his not yet born child, and its mother were at the top of the stairs. Flames stood between him and what had just a few hours ago been his future.
And then he heard her. She was calling his name. Her voice was faint as if she were losing strength. He found himself heading for the stairs, daring the smoke and flames.
"No!" her scream was the last thing he heard as the stairs collapsed beneath him and he was buried in the debris.