“I know. I wasn’t even dealing with her and she was enough for me to hear about it.”
Looking at her watch, she saw it was coming close to 5p.m.. “You can go, and I’ll close up here.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind hanging back to help.”
“It’s fine, really. Plus, I know you have a date with Jesse from the electronics shop down the road.”
Lisa blushed as she mentioned Jesse. He was a sweet, cute young guy and perfect for Lisa. She needed someone that would treat her the right way in her life, and he was the right guy for that.
“Thank you. I’ll make it up to you,” Lisa said as she gave her a hug.
She chuckled. “It’s fine. There is no point staying back when we are going to be closed in five minutes, is there. Go and have fun with Jesse, and I want to hear all about the date tomorrow, ok?”
“Of course, I need someone to talk to about whether it goes well or not.”
“It will go great, he’s a good guy. Enjoy it.”
“Thanks, Chan. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
Waving goodbye, she waited until the clock hit 5p.m., before she locked the front door and flicked the sign from open to closed. There were several things she had to do tonight, that was why she had changed shifts with Lisa in the first place.
She wanted to re-organize all the clothing on the racks, and then figure out where all the new clothing would go. Some new clothing stands had come in the day before, and they needed to be set up. Closing the blinds at the front windows, she walked back into the back room and decided to go over everything that came in, and price all the clothing.
She was sitting on the floor, all kinds of different clothing spread out around her as she priced the last piece. Stretching her arms above her head, she went to stand up when she heard a noise coming from the front of the shop.
Leaning on her arms and glancing around the corner of the door, she couldn’t see anything. All the lights were off; she had even turned everything off at the power switch. There wasn’t even a shadow of any kind out there. Shaking her head, she went back to what she was doing.
An hour later, she was walking out of her back office when she heard a different noise coming from the front of her shop. Now, she was scared. She was the only one there, out in back, alone. Checking to see how far the distance was from where she was standing to the back door, she reached for her phone ready to dial anyone. She stood there listening again, but heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was like there was a ghost or something out there trying to scare her, and they were doing just that.
She knew now that she shouldn’t have stayed this late. She should have taken Jason up on the offer for him to stay around until she had finished for the day, but she was to stubborn to let him to do exactly that, saying that she could look after herself. Now, she regretted telling him no.
Closing the door between the main shop and the back, just enough so that she could still hear or see anything out there, she moved back towards her desk. She needed to calm her nerves. There was no way anything could get into her shop from the front without her knowing. The security system that her father had organized to be installed was the best and wasn’t even on the market yet.
As she was plodding along through the rest of the night, finally happy that all the new stands were up with the new designs and sizes of lingerie, her phone binged with an incoming message. Walking back towards her bag, she reached in to see who sent a text. Before she could grab her phone, a loud crash came from the front. Screaming, she dropped to the floor and crawled behind the counter where the cash register was.
Pulling her bag quickly off the counter, she started ripping everything out of it to just find her damn phone. Where the hell was it? The last time she had used it she had thrown it into her bag, but now it wasn’t there. Franticly looking around the floor where she was sitting last, she didn’t see it. Maybe she had left it in the office.
Getting up on her hands and knees, she started crawling low, towards the back room door. There was a smell she couldn’t quite pick, but as she turned around slowly, she saw the front of her shop was on fire. The yellow and orange glow from the flames brightened up the shop.
“Oh, God,” she whispered.
Crawling quickly, she made it into the back room, pulling down the shop phone. The first number she dialed was Dominic’s, not actually realizing that she had until his voicemail came across the line. Hanging up, she tried Skylar and got the same result. Thinking whom else she could call, she called Joey’s number. His had gone straight to voicemail, too, but she left a message for him.
Hopefully, he would get the message and call. The smoke from the fire was getting heavy in the room, she started coughing, and her eyes were watering and stinging. Wiping her face, she crawled the best she could towards the back door, pushing at the bottom of it as she tried to open it, but no go. The deadbolt was at the top of the door. She had a hard time as it was just crawling, so lifting herself up to unlock the door would be too hard.
Turning around, she crawled back towards the storeroom, which was the safest place to be. It originally used to be a bank safe, no smoke or flames could ever get in there. Well, not right away, she had at least a longer time-frame in there than out in the main area, but the door to it was heavy to open. Kneeling up as she approached it, she pulled it with all her might to get it open enough that she could crawl in behind it.
When it was open, she pulled her bag behind her and sat against the door, closing it enough to block the majority of the smoke.
She tipped out the contents of her bag on the floor. Luckily, she had a water bottle, which she used to dampen a cloth she had in the storeroom before she covered her mouth with it. The smoke was starting to enter the room. Pulling the door the best she could completely closed, she stood up on wobbly legs and felt her way around the room until she came up to the bookcase.
There was a small window at the back. Standing on tiptoes, she could barely reach the lock, but managed to open it. After sucking in a deep breath of clean, fresh air, several times, she walked back over to the phone.
She lost count on how many times she had rung who she had. Dialing
000
, she told them that the front of her shop was on fire and that she was in back. It wasn’t smart that she had crawled into the back room, as the door needed to be opened from the outside to get in. But she let them know that was where she was now, safer than being out there with the actual fire.
They told her to stay where she was and help was on the way. Well, she wasn’t stupid enough to go back out there to face the fire. They were going to be there within minutes, she was told. It felt like longer than that when she heard a crash through the back door. Then, someone was banging on the door she was leaning on.
“Hello,” she said with a croaky voice. The smoke had gotten to her; she was a little lightheaded from breathing in the black smoke.
“Chantal?” Damn, she was glad to hear a familiar voice.
Standing the best she could, she replied, “Joey, the door needs to be opened from the outside.”
“Stand back from the door, I’m coming in!” he yelled through the door.
Doing as he said, she moved back against the bookcase and waited, patiently.
She stood there and listened as the door groaned by the weight of it as it was pulled open. Joey stood there in view and was happy to finally see someone. Moving towards him as he walked into the room, she wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could.
“Jesus, Chantal. You had me worried. Why didn’t you go out into the back alley when the fire started?” he said as his arms tightened around her.
“I couldn’t. By the time I crawled out of the main room, I couldn’t reach the deadlock, so thought it was best to come in here and wait. The fire brigade isn’t that far away,” she whispered to him.
He rubbed both of his hands up and down her back. “Let’s get out of here, then.”
Pulling her closer to him, he walked both of them together towards the back. She could hear the sirens coming closer and closer as they approached the door.
“Wait. I left my bag in the room,” she croaked.
“Ok. Let me get you outside first, and then I’ll come back in and grab your bag.”
She nodded, and he walked her out. As soon as the fresh air hit her face, she sucked in a big gulp, her lungs expanding and deflating with every clean breath she took. Joey opened his truck door and lifted her up.
He rubbed his hands over her, checking to make sure she was ok. “Are you alright?” he said as he pulled a bottle of water from the back, and a blanket which he wrapped around her body. The chill from the cool air gave her goose bumps.
“Yeah, I will be. Just breathed in a little smoke from the fire.”
“Ok. Sit here and I’ll grab your bag and be right back. Don’t move.”
“I won’t, I’m too comfortable where I am.”
Glancing over her a final time, he ran back into the burning building. Looking up into the dark gloomy night, she could see the flames coming from the front of the shop. The heat was worsening and he needed to move his truck away from the building.
Hopping out of the truck, she walked slowly around the back end of it, but still staying close, and stood there. Red and blue lights flashed as the fire truck pulled out front. Guys were yelling, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She took a step back, as water started coming over the top of the building. Joey was still in there. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea that he said that he would go back in there and retrieve her bag, that she had left behind.
Stepping towards the door, two shadows came around the side of the building. “Miss, are you alright?” As they came into view, she realized it was two firefighters walking up to her.
“I’m fine. Just a little shocked, that’s all. But my friend went back in there to grab my bag,” she whispered to them.
“Is his name Joey?” of them asked.
“Yeah.”
“A couple of the boys met him in there. Our captain is talking to him, out front. He’ll be back with you soon.”
Her heart couldn’t take anymore tonight. “Thank you.”
“The ambulance is on its way. It would be best if you let them check you over.”
“I will.”
One of the firefighters stayed with her as the other ran back around the front. She hated the fact that he was here to do a job, but was stuck, looking after her.
“You don’t have to stay with me, I’m fine,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She leant against Joey’s truck as the firefighter went through the back door. As the door was closing, she could see that the flames had moved to where she had been in the back. She was grateful that her father had agreed with her to keep the old safe and turn it into the back storeroom. It saved her life, in a way.
More commotion was happening out front as another fire truck pulled up; maybe it was worse than what she thought. Moving away from his truck, she inched towards the alleyway in between her shop and the next one. There were people shouting and running everywhere out front.
Joey still hadn’t come back. Taking one step at a time, she decided it was probably best that she move to the front of the shop. She was about halfway down when car lights came up from behind her. Spinning around, she held her hand up stopping the light from hitting her in the eyes.
The car pulled up beside where she stood. She could not quite make out the color or make of the car. As it stopped completely, the passenger door opened. She wasn’t stupid, so she stayed where she was, giving her enough space and time to run if need be.
“Chantal.”
Leaning down, she looked through the window to the driver. Smiling the best she could, she was happy to see another familiar face. “What are you doing here?”
“I was in the neighborhood, and seen flames coming from one of the shops, so decided to check it out and see if anyone needed any help. It looks like you kind of need it.”
She glanced down the alleyway, then back towards the driver. “Yeah, someone threw something in the front window and it started the fire, while I was in there.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“No, but I’m sure they will once the police get here and check it all out.” Her head started to spin. Leaning over just enough and taking in deep breaths, she really needed to sit down. Breathing in that black toxic smoke from all the burning clothes in her shop wouldn’t have been good for her lungs.
The door pushed more open. “Chan, you don’t look too good. Let me take you up to the hospital so they can check you over.”
“The ambulance will be here soon, plus I don’t want to inconvenience you in any way.”
“That’s crap, and you know it. You know I’ll get you up there before they even arrive here. Come on. No harm in it.”
“Ok, but we need to stop out front so I can at least tell Joey where we are going.”
“Sure, no problems.” Sliding into the car, she was handed a fresh bottle of water. Not thinking much of it, she gulped three quarters of it on one hit.
“Slow down, you don’t want to make yourself sick.”
“Sorry, just really thirsty.”
She held onto the bottle as the car slowly moved towards the front. Closing her eyes, she felt tired all of a sudden. Her eyelids were heavy. She turned her head to the side, opening her eyes again. She squinted out the window and noticed that they were heading the opposite direction of where the fire trucks were.
“We need to go back and tell them where I’m going,” she slurred.
“Everything is going to be fine, Chan. I’ll take good care of you.”
It felt like she was drunk. Her body became limp, she couldn’t move her legs or arms, and her eyes were closing more frequently.
Shit!
Now, she was in deep trouble. What had she gotten herself into? It wasn’t like she didn’t know the person driving. She wouldn’t have just got into a car with someone that she did not know, but now she was worried, since they didn’t listen to what she said. It was going to be fine like they had said.
Her head lopped to the side, banging against the window. She didn’t even feel it happen. The streetlights flashed quickly over her eyelids as the car sped down the street. Her pulse was skyrocketing and she had no clue as to why.