I almost sighed with relief when I realised that it wasn't my and my brothers' house on fire- but I was immediately stricken with guilt for being happy. A fire engine had already pulled up outside, and was spraying the building down, while more firemen rushed inside to find whoever had screamed. As I crossed the street I had to leap out of the way of a frantic ambulance as it swerved across the road to park as close as it safely could to the building.
As I stared, transfixed, at the scene before me I remembered about Soda and Darry, and was torn- if I didn't hurry up then they would get worried about me, but if they knew about the fire they wouldn't be at home anyway, and would probably arrive where I was within a couple of minutes anyway.
Opting for the former, I managed to drag myself away from the hypnotic fire and jog home. The front door stood open, with Soda peering outside, as I jogged up.
"Sorry I'm late- I got sidetracked- someone's house's on fire down the road." Pony explained, wondering at the frozen look on Soda's face.
"Which house was it Pony? Which one?" Soda demanded frantically as he strained to see the burning building which eluded his sight somewhat, due to being around a corner and about 5 minutes jog away.
"Uh, number seventy four I think- it was a bit hard to re-"
"Seventy four? Are you sure!"
"Like I said, it was a little hard to read with all the flames but I think so…"
Sodapop's face had gone pale, and he leant against the doorframe as if exhausted.
"That's Two Bit's place. He moved there last summer, remember?"
I gasped, and looked back over my shoulder in the direction of the smoke,
"I heard a scream though! Someone was in there- oh god I hope it wasn't Two Bit!"
My eyes flicked from the smoke to Soda and back again. Deciding, I swiftly turned and ran back along the street, hearing Soda call out to Darry to follow.
The three of us ran as fast as we could, arriving in time to see an old-looking woman carried out by the firemen and put in the empty ambulance. I deduced that either she was the one who screamed, or someone hadn't been found- and wasn't going to be, since the ambulance was driving away, and the fire had mainly died down.
We sat, leaning against the opposite wall, watching the flames flicker out, observing the patterns of soot on the remaining glass, relief on all our faces- at least it hadn't been someone we knew. Probably just the old lady in the flat below that Two Bit had told them about- the one who liked to play classical music at 6o'clock every day.
Darry recalled something about their meal- it seemed he hadn't remembered to switch the oven off before running out to see the fire, since he looked startled for a moment, then ran back to their house shouting,
"We left the oven on! It's going to bloody burn!"
Once Soda and I arrived back home Soda phoned Two Bit to tell him, sitting in the living room looking tired and sad- after all, he had to explain to his friend that all of said friend's stuff had just been burnt to the ground, along with one of his neighbours being injured.