Denise

It felt like the harbor kept getting further and further away. I’d been running for what felt like an hour, but it didn’t seem like I was that much closer. Time had a way of changing and not just standing still, but slowing down almost completely and I was left running in place.

There was a part of me that knew something had happened to Ethan. A fire truck and the only police car in the town were already on the way to the still burning flames that licked towards the cold sky. Everyone was coming out of their houses that felt the blast and finally an ambulance, the only ambulance was whizzing past on its way to help whoever they could. It was all just more than I could take in at one time and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it all. I knew that it was going to be bad, but I hadn’t thought it would be this bad.

The fact that there was a man I loved in the burning and smoking rubble in front of me, made it so much worse to take in. My eyes scanned all of the people that were walking around. I could tell who was in the explosion because they were covered in soot and they had a bewildered look in their eyes. They were confused at what all had happened and I can’t say that I wasn’t either. It was a lot to take in all at once and when I didn’t find Ethan walking around right away, I searched a little more as I went where others were telling me not to go. I didn’t care if it was stable or not. I was going to find Ethan single handedly if I had to.

The task was daunting before me and it seemed like as soon as I moved towards the pile of debris, there were more people around me to help and I didn’t feel so alone. It felt like there was hope and I was still clinging to the idea that everything was going to be okay. I knew that it just had to be.

When I still didn’t see Ethan as I was there longer, I tried so hard not to panic but it was creeping up into my stomach with a vengeance and I didn’t know how I was going to be able to keep it down. I didn’t want this to be the end, but the sinking feeling in my heart told me that something was very wrong.

“Are you looking for Ethan?”

I turned around to Charlie’s voice and I nodded that I was. “Have you seen him?”

He was dusty and had dried blood on him and his shirt. He was here for it, but he seemed to have his wits about him and not be too hurt. I hugged him as I walked up closer because I was glad that he was okay. I was friends with him and his wife so I was relieved more than anything to know that one more person I knew was okay.

“Yeah, I saw him. He is underneath that.”

He pointed towards the rubble pile that was bigger than all of the rest. I was about to step onto it, but instead I moved around it and we started to pull things off one piece at a time. It wasn’t long before more people were pitching in after they realized there was someone under there. It didn’t matter at the moment who was underneath it all. It didn’t matter if they were an outsider or not. Everyone was helping and this was the Nome that I remembered. If only I didn’t have someone I loved down there to make it all so damn terrifying.

The pile was sorted out quickly and I saw the jacket sleeve that Ethan had been wearing this morning. It felt like it was so long ago now when I was in his arms, but it was only a few hours ago. It was amazing how much everything changed so quickly.

I stopped when I saw it because I knew that the moment of truth was coming. He was either going to be alive or he wasn’t. I didn’t know if I could handle the latter and Charlie moved me to the side and told me to wait.

“I will tell you what is going on Denise.”

I wanted to tell him that I was fine and I was going to help, but I wasn’t fine. It was the last thing in the world that I was. I was devastated. I didn’t know how it was all going to turn out, but I knew deep down that there had to be something that I could do once he was freed. Then I could help him and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

The next few minutes were the longest of my life. Charlie turned back to me and I could tell from some of the shouts going up that he was alive. But I wasn’t prepared for what state he was going to be in. He was not awake or conscious at all and he had a large mark on his head where he had been hit with something as it fell. There was a pulse though and that meant that there was hope.

I was going from really low-lows, to really high-highs and it was wearing on me quickly. I moved to Ethan and touched his face, calling his name, desperately trying to get him to wake up and look at me. I wanted to see his eyes and hear his voice to know that he was okay. He had to be okay. I didn’t know what I would do if he wasn’t.

A few of the men picked him up and took him to the waiting ambulance. They’d already made a couple of trips and since Ethan was the worst off that was found so far, it was his turn to take the ride. There was another man that was going to ride in the back as well that had several injuries and I wasn’t allowed to ride with Ethan.

I made it back to the restaurant and back to my car to drive across town to the hospital. I wanted to be there when he got there, but he was already inside when I pulled up. It was chaos in the small hospital that had never seen so much action. All I had to do was find Ethan and make sure that he was okay. I just couldn’t think of any other alternative than that.