Turning, she started back down the dirt road, feeling lighter than she had in a long time. It was time for the next chapter.
It wasn’t until she was halfway back home that she smelled it. Smoke? Holy shit. Where was that coming from? She started moving faster. It was now growing dark. She’d forgotten her cell phone, not that she’d get much reception up here.
There was a gap in the trees, and she let out a loud cry as she saw the flames ahead of her.
Her cabin? Oh God. She raced forward, barely noticing the branches slapping at her, scratching her face. She tripped over a root of a tree, wrenching her ankle. But her fear and the adrenaline meant she didn’t even feel the pain. She stumbled on.
Bumbly! Her laptop! Her train set!
She reached for the front door, screaming in pain as the heat seared her skin. She got the door open, though, coughing as smoke assailed her. The back of the house was engulfed in flames.
Oh God. Oh God.
She attempted to make her way to her office, but the smoke was just too thick. The heat was so intense. She changed direction, moving to her bedroom. She screamed as the cabin creaked then the roof at the back collapsed.
Moving on instinct, she stumbled into her bedroom. She quickly grabbed Bumbly and her snuggly, disorientated, the smoke thick and insidious, she moved to the window, opening it, crying out as her hands protested.
She practically dived out the window then rolled away, right as the roof completely caved in. Taking just about everything she owned and cherished with it.
23
Caley coughed. Her lungs burned. There was a beeping noise that appeared to be in time with the throbbing in her head.
Something was over her mouth. She reached up, trying to bat it away, shocked to realize her hands wouldn’t work.
What was going on?
“Easy, Miss Ryan, you’re in the hospital. You have an oxygen mask over your face since you inhaled quite a bit of smoke. Your hands are bandaged up as well. Just relax. That’s it.”
She blinked, looking up into an older woman’s lined face. She appeared brisk, slightly tense but her eyes were kind.
“Hello, Miss Ryan. I’m Jenny, your nurse for this shift. You’re in the hospital in Bozeman.”
Bozeman? She was in Bozeman?
What had happened? She’d inhaled smoke?
Her cabin. Her cabin had caught on fire. Everything was gone. She whimpered, trying to speak.
“It might be hard to speak for a bit. You should just relax and concentrate on breathing. You’re safe in the hospital. You were airlifted here after someone called about the fire and the authorities arrived and found you. We’re trying to find a next of kin for you.”
She shook her head, worried they might call her parents.
“Easy. You can’t dislodge the oxygen mask. Everything is fine. Why don’t you go back to sleep?”
She got the feeling the nurse gave her something to help her sleep, because all at once a wave of drowsiness overcame her and she was out.
* * *
The next time she woke up, the throbbing in her head was slightly less. And she no longer seemed to have an oxygen mask on. Instead she could feel prongs in her nose belonging to oxygen tubes. She guessed that was progress.
She glanced around. She needed a drink of water desperately. She saw one sitting on the bedside table and reached for it, shocked to see the white bandages on her hands.
What had the nurse said? Had she burned her hands? She recalled opening the front door to her cabin and the heat searing her hands. Tears dripped down her cheeks.
Everything was gone.
At least you’re alive. No one was hurt.