Sadness

"I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; a stage where every man must play a part, and mine is a sad one" ~William Shakespeare

Brittany Miller

I hear Miss Miller shouting downstairs. Someone's calling 911… I think I can hear Jeanette's voice. Eleanor is crying somewhere in the house, but right now, I'm too disoriented to care right now. Someone's pacing downstairs. I can only think of someone who would be pacing that loud and that fast. Simon. I curl up into a tighter ball. Pounding footsteps are coming upstairs. I can hear Dave's voice yelling outside. What's happening? The door to my bedroom swings open, but I don't turn away from the wall. "Brittany?" a shaken voice calls out. I turn a little to see Miss Miller standing there looking disoriented and scared. "Brittany, I'm running to the hospital. Dave's car is in the shop and your sisters are coming with me and I need you to watch the cake I'm baking downstairs? Do you understand?"

Hospital? What happened? Who's hurt enough to go to the hospital? I nod my head solemnly at my guardian. I'd figure it out soon enough. Miss Miller runs back out of the room to cater to a now, or least it sounds like, a freaking out Dave.

I curl back into a little ball, trying not to think about what could be happening. What did I care? My heart is broken, and not the normal 'boy doesn't love me' heartbreak, but betrayal from my little sister. We were supposed to be in this together! We were sisters, band mates, and best friends! We were supposed to live life together. Dot over our children in our twenties, spoiling all of them. Go late night shopping when the kids got too out of control. We were… we were… and how was that supposed to work now? Would I even be able to look at her children let alone her if she married Alvin? And poor Theodore… him and me were in the same boat of utter heartbreak.

"Maybe Theodore can help you…"

With what? Feeling completely useless and heartbroken and-"

"Forget it. I was only trying to help."

Well stop! You got me into this mess!

"ME?"

God, arguing with myself is going to get me nowhere. I sit up, something feeling completely off about the environment around me. Then I smell it. The horrid smell of smoke. Had I been deep in thought long enough to forget about Miss Miller's cake? The fire alarms aren't going off… maybe the old woman forgot to change the batteries. I get up slowly, stretching as I do so. I open the door, only to be confronted with a wall of smoke and ash. "Holy shit!" I yell in surprise. I fling myself under the smoke in order to make it downstairs. I make it down the stairs in one piece, but the kitchen is completely gone. The fire is licking at the carpet. A small explosion makes the fire burst out of the kitchen, sending glass across the room. I can feel blood dripping down my face as I continue to army crawl to the back door. Everything around me is on fire. "This must be what Hell looks like."

I reach for the front door, my body feeling weak due to the smoke and ash covering me, weighing down my body. I'm going to die. Right here in my mad dash to save myself, I'm going to die. I can feel the door knob under my fingertips. I'm too weak… I can't do this.

"You're so close! Push Brittany! Go!"

I-I-I can't!

With one last heave, I make my body reach for the door. I miss the doorknob. I start to feel hopeless as my body lands back on the ash ridden carpet. I can feel fire licking at my heels as I try pounding on the door. The buckles under pressure. Even with the roar of the fire behind me, I can hear the old wooden door creak. I pound again, chips of wood breaking off door as I do so.

I'm going to make it!

Eventually, a hole big enough for me to squeeze through opens up in the bottom half of the door. I lunge through it, feeling wood and splinters digging into my hips. I crash onto the lawn, breathing lungful's of fresh night air.

I made it… I'm alive… but what now?

Sadness

"There is only one rain cloud in the sky...and it's raining on me. Somehow I'm not surprised" ~Eeyore

Alvin Seville

"We might want to keep him overnight Mr. Seville," I hear a strange woman saying. I try to open my eyes, but they feel like they have ten pound weights attracted to them. I groan, a sharp headache coming on. I reach up to feel a bandage bound tightly around my head.

"I don't think that's necessary," another unfamiliar voice states. "He merely got a good bonk on the head. Nothing too serious. The cat scan came up with nothing but positive results. You can take your son home if you'd like."

"I-I don't know," Dave's conflicted voice answers the man. I slowly open my eyes to see that I'm in a hospital. I try to call out to Dave, but my voice doesn't seem to be working. Thankfully, Simon and Theodore are next to me. Simon sees me first, smiling as he watches me squint back at him.

"Dave!" he calls. The two doctors and Dave turn sharply to me, a smile breaking out across all three of their faces. The doctor nudges the woman in the side, whispering an 'I told ya so' in her ear. She hits him with her clip board before coming over to me and asking some routine questions. I try to answer them confidently but my voice is hoarse and barely audible.

Eventually, I'm released from the hospital. I have my clothes back on, but I lean on my brothers for support. Miss Miller, Jeanette, and Eleanor are standing outside. Jeanette has a warm smile as she hugs me. I hug her back as she whispers an apology in my ear. I nod, letting her go back to her family. I don't even acknowledge Eleanor. Miss Miller comes running up to me, I cringe expecting the worse. She picks me up off of the ground in a hug, squeezing my body against hers. Damn she's strong! "Nice to see you too Miss Miller!" I get out.

"Oh Alvin!" she says. "I can't believe that this happened to you!"

"I'm fine," I say once she puts me down. With that, we start making our way towards Miss Miller's car… seeing that I thought it'd be fun to take Dave's car for a spin last week. Long story short, we weren't getting our car back from the shop in about two weeks. That's what insurance is for, right?

"Maybe you should let Dave drive," Theodore pipes up as we walk to the car.

"I wouldn't think of it!" Miss Miller cries, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "Besides, driving relaxes me." We all shrug, climbing into the car. I make sure to sit on the opposite side of Eleanor. We make our way home through the city. As we turn onto our block, we get stopped by a police officer.

"Great," Simon groans from next to me. "I knew this day would come."

"Ma'am?" the officer asks, shining a flashlight into the car. "I'm afraid you can't go any further. A house has been burned down and we're on clean up. If you'd like, we'll have another deputy escort you to an alternate route."

"Which house?" Dave presses from shotgun.

"Its four doors down, 17493-"

"That's my house!" Miss Miller cries, stepping on the gas. My heart leaps into my throat. If Jeanette and Eleanor are here that must mean that Brittany is there which means- I shrink next to my brother. Simon puts a comforting arm around both me and Jeanette.

We pull up to the black remains of the Miller house. Only the frame is still standing. It takes about two seconds for the whole thing to collapse right in front of us. We all pile out of the car, Miss Miller taking the lead as she runs to her heap of a house. "No!" she cries. "Brittany!"

"Ma'am?" this time it's a fire fighter who confronts Miss Miller. "I'm going to have to ask you to remove yourself and your children from the premises our return yourself to your own residence."

"That is my residence!" Miss Miller cries, pointing to the pile of rubble.

"Oh," the firefighter smiles. "That's good! Me and the boys were beginning to think that there were no survivors!"

"No survivors?" Miss Miller screams, taking hold of his shirt front. "My daughter… my daughter was in that house! Please… tell me she's okay!"

"I-I'm sorry ma'am… we didn't find anything with the house being in its current state and-"

"Nothing was found?" Dave separates the two, taking the conversation into his own hands. But I can't think let alone listen to anymore of the conversation. My knees feel like jelly as I fall to the pavement, tears freely coming down my cheeks. What have I done? I only got her back, broke her heart, and now she's dead! Brittany Miller being dead just doesn't make sense… but that huge feeling of loss comes flooding into my heart.

"Why?" I cry, staring at the ruble.

"I don't know," Jeanette kneels down next to me, tears wetting her cheeks. I hug her close, not thinking about anything but the need for someone to be there for me. She wraps her arms around me, letting me cry all over her. Simon sits on the ground, rubbing her back.

"Brittany!" we all look up. Eleanor is running to the sight, crashing through every authority figure. "Brittany! Answer me!" she cries digging through the hot ashes of her house. "Please!" she screams into the night air before falling to her knees.

"I guess you don't know what you had until it's gone," Simon mutters.

~UH-OH! What happened to Brittany?

Two short chapters in one, cuz I love you :) Now please, review! :]