As I ran towards the burning house, I became acutely aware of the acrid smoke filling my lungs. The fire department was already on scene once I got there, and they were clearly struggling to contain the fire. I ran towards the nearest fireman, shouting and gesticulating wildly to get his attention. He turned to me, glaring impatiently.
"Is anyone inside?" His face turned grim at my question.
"The daughter is. We think there might be—" I didn't hear the rest of his statement because I had changed course. I shoved a couple of firemen out of the way, pushing through the doorway. I heard people shouting at me, probably telling me how crazy I was, but I didn't care. I pulled the collar of the shirt over my nose and mouth, but it didn't help much.
"Dear god, PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" I was both relieved and terrified to hear that voice. It was good that she was all right… for now, but something was making her scream like that. And it didn't sound good. I decided it best to alert her to the fact that I was there.
"MADELEINE! I'M HERE TO HELP YOU! CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE?" I heard her voice whispering what sounded like a prayer of thanks. Following it, I reached the doorway to a room that looked like it may have once been lavishly adorned, but was now completely engulfed in smoke and flame.
One corner of the room remained untouched by fire, and Madeleine sat in that corner, sobbing quietly. It broke my heart to see her like that. I started fighting my way towards her.
"Madeleine?" She looked up at me. I saw a spark of recognition in her eyes. She tried her best to smirk at me while crying.
"Just couldn't stay away, could ya?" The effect of her statement was somehow ruined by the fact that she swayed and collapsed immediately after.
I yanked a sheet off the bed, using it as a fan to clear my path towards Madeleine. I wrapped it around her, picking her up and running with her back to the door. I heard a crash behind me and felt a sudden and excruciatingly hot wind. I turned to see that a beam had collapsed, meaning it would be impossible to re-enter the building.
A couple of firemen ran over to me, taking Madeleine out of my arms and laying her on a waiting stretcher. I almost objected, but it really wasn't my place. I was just some random stranger to her.
"SKITTERY! WHAT THE HELL WAS YOU THINKIN'?" As soon as I got clear of the building, I was hit from behind, almost tackled into a fierce hug. I looked to see who was the perpetrator of said gesture, and was surprised to see a short, cigar-toting Italian looking up at me with tears in his eyes.
"Blink and Mush came and said you went runnin' into da fire. We thought you was a goner." I patted him awkwardly on the back. Truly, I didn't know what to say. Here was a guy who'd relentlessly teased me for the past 9 years, and he was hugging me and crying cause he thought I was gonna die. It really made me think.
"Never knew you liked me, Race." He let go of me, wiping his eyes and glaring.
"Wouldn't waste all that time teasin' ya if I didn't, ya idjit!" He punched me lightly on the shoulder. I saw that the other guys were making their way over, and found myself engulfed in a huge group hug.
"Jesus, Skitts, that was amazing!"
"You coulda died, ya bum!"
"Didja save the girl?" I found that I was being deafened by questions, praise, and the occasional insult. I sought Cowboy's eyes, silently pleading with him to just let me get away from the noise, and he nodded, turning to the guys and saying, "Okay fellas. Skittery just ran outta a burning building, how would you feel?"
I thought about walking over to check if Madeleine was okay, but decided against it. I was about to begin the long walk back to the Lodging House, but another surge of questions hit me.
"Sir, why did you save Ms. Carter?"
"Excuse me, young man, do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions for the newspaper?" I heard soft footsteps behind me, and whirled quickly, hoping to see someone that would save me from the tirade.
It was Madeleine. Singed sheet still wrapped around her shoulders, she smiled shyly at me.
"Could I talk to you?" I was about to respond, but the shouted questions seemed to increase tenfold.
"Ms. Carter, are you and this boy involved?"
"Ms. Carter, are you injured?"
"Ms. Carter, who is he?" Madeleine glowered at the men, and they seemed to shrink before her. It would have been amusing if it weren't so terrifying.
"Don't you people have any sense of common decency? I just lost my mother! GO AWAY!" They shied away as though afraid she might hit them. I was suddenly struck by something she'd said: I just lost my mother. My stomach dropped as I thought of the words of the fireman that I'd ignored: We think there might be—
I was a terrible person. I'd saved the girl, and let her mother burn to death. I felt a sudden stinging at the corner of each eye, and decided to ignore it. I deserved to cry. Madeleine reached up to touch my face, brushing away the first tear before it fell.
"Ms. Carter, I'm so sorry. I should've gone back in there—" She smacked me across the face, hard. Well, I hadn't been expecting that.
"No, you shouldn't have. You risked your life to save mine. My mother was already gone. If you had gone back in, you would've died too." I was stricken by her lack of strong emotion when speaking of her mother's passing. All the guys who'd lost their mothers had seemed a lot sadder about it, and Racetrack still cried if his mother was mentioned, even though she'd died five years ago.
"Maybe…" she smiled sadly at me.
"Wondering why I'm not sadder?" I nodded. She really was perceptive.
"I didn't know her. It's not really something I want to talk about." I nodded again. She looked at me quizzically.
"You don't really say much, do you?" I shrugged, hoping to maybe get the night back on a playful tone to distract her from everything. She smiled, genuinely this time.
"I bet I could make you talk." She then proceeded to try everything from incessant inane questions to tickling.
Tickling worked.
"No—okay—Maddie—you win!" She stepped back, laughing, then turned serious.
"I'm a terrible person."
"What? No!" She held up a hand to silence me.
"I buy a paper from you every day. You've saved my life. You've spent about two hours cheering me up. And I don't know your name." I held out my hand.
"Skittery. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She smiled, taking my outstretched hand. Talk about a firm handshake.
"Skittery. I like it. So… the newsies' lifestyle… do you like it?" It was a tricky question.
"Do you want the truth, or d'ya want me to improve it a little?" She smirked at me.
"I'm a big girl. I can handle it."
"Sometimes it's hell. Most of the time I'm hungry. But I got family now, so I don't care so much." She kept on asking me questions about being a newsie, and I thought it was just casual curiosity. That is, until she asked me if I could help her masquerade as a boy and become a newsie.
Shit.