Laura raced through the field; her feet, bare and bleeding, marked a red path through the snow. The ripples of the earsplitting boom still echoed through the barley fields, causing an imbalance in her inner ear, and she stumbled through the stalks. Despite the freezing temperatures, sweat poured down her face and pooled under her arms. She blocked the blinding light with her hand and blinked her bright blue eyes quickly, trying to clear the smoke.

A blast of heat jerked her to a stop, singeing the edges of her hair as she stared out across the field. Bright orange, red, yellow and black blended in an amalgamation of colors across the horizon. It mixed with the foggy sky, a combination of melted snow and smoke, and created a surreal atmosphere. The smell of sulfur crawled through her senses; it was a scene from hell.

“What the hell happened?” Her words were lost in the emptiness as she stood, alone, staring at the fire. She heard her younger brother rush through the stalks, close now, and a rage of sirens, further away, in the background. She was the fastest runner in her family, only seconds faster than her younger brother.

“Laura! Reece! Get back in the house! You’re too close!” Laura’s mother’s voice carried across the field but Laura didn’t move. She was too mesmerized.

“Was that a bomb? I think it was a bomb.”

Laura turned to watch her brother take in the scene. His eyes widened in shock. His black hair reflected the red from the fire and his cheeks pinked with the heat.

“Why would someone blow up an empty field?”

The sirens drew closer and the heat forced Laura to take a step back. Reece’s hand gripped her arm, squeezing it tight and Laura stared at him, “What?”

“Look.” Her brother pointed towards the middle of the fire.

Laura squinted through the flames. A blurry, black blob rushed towards them, flames splitting in arcs behind it.

“What the…” Laura couldn’t tell what it was. This time her step backwards was deliberate, and she pulled Reece with her. It — no, he — was slowing down. The arcs of fire behind him turned into black waves that gently floated to the ground, or were lost in the flames. It was raining ash.

Laura sprinted back towards her house and waved her arms at the fire truck that was now four-wheeling through the field. “There’s a man in the fire,” she cried out. Her lungs burned and she finally felt prickles on her bare feet, but she pushed herself harder.

The bright red firetruck slowed as she approached it. The extra-long hose, procured specifically for this purpose, was streaming behind it and Carl stuck his head out the window.

“There’s someone in the fire!” Laura vaguely gestured behind her. “You have to help him.” Her chest burned and she doubled over.

Carl grabbed his radio, garbled some words, and Matt gunned the ambulance engine. Taking care not to run over the hose, he flew past her, followed by the firemen.

“Laura, get some shoes on. You’re going to get hypothermia.” Her mom was closing in on her, walking with her father, who was staring at the fire. His blue eyes were glazed over and his hands were shoved in his pockets.

“There’s a guy in the fire.” The burning in her chest was already beginning to subside and Laura headed back towards the fire.

“Laura, you’re bleeding. Go get some shoes.”

She brushed off her mom’s words; she had to know if he was okay. The man, clearly exhausted, was reaching out towards Reece now, but Reece just stared at him in awe. He fell to his knees, his hand still extended as he crawled awkwardly towards Reece until he finally collapsed.

Laura stared at him curiously as Matt approached him. His whole body was covered in dirt and ash but, amazingly, seemed unaffected by the flames except for severe burns on his back. He was almost naked, wearing only a pair of dirty jeans, and his feet were covered in soot. He wasn’t much older than her.

“Who is he?” Reece still stared at him, not moving an inch, and Laura huddled next to him for comfort.

Laura shrugged. “I’ve never seen him before.”

“How is that?” They lived in a very small town in Idaho.

“Good question.”

Matt, after checking the man’s pulse, made quick work of inserting an IV, probably with some kind of morphine for the burns, and then pulled some gauze out of his bag. While he worked, Laura looked out over the field. Funny, she couldn’t see any sign of what started the fire except for a large hole where the fire started. What happened?

When Matt was done, the other medics wheeled the guy to the ambulance and Matt looked at Laura’s feet. He bent over, grazing the top of her foot with his fingertips. “Oh wow, I should stay to look at those.”

Laura looked down; the red snow gave her away. She put one foot on top of the other and, when Matt looked back up at her, she blushed. “No, you should take care of him. I’ll just put some Band-Aids on the scratches.”

“I really think someone should check—”

“She said she’s okay,” her father said, barking gruffly. Her parents had joined them and her father glared at the medic.

Matt stood up, ignoring her father’s interruption and stepped in front of Laura so she couldn’t see them. “Are you sure?” His hazel eyes studied hers and worry creased his forehead.

“It’s just from the barley. I’m fine.” Laura’s face grew hot with all the attention focused on her.

Matt gently reached towards the blue and purple bruise by Laura’s eye, without touching it. “I can check this out too.” His voice was a pleading whisper.

Laura blinked at him and shook her head, imperceptibly.

Her father walked around Matt and put his arm around her. Laura stiffened at the touch. “I said she’s fine, now get the hell out of here.”

Matt hesitated, then looked at her dad boldly, staring him down.

Her dad forced a smile. “Look, I’m sure it’s just a scratch, we’ll take her in if she needs any help.”

Laura could smell the alcohol on his breath.

Matt looked at Laura, who nodded, and walked to the ambulance. Her dad, satisfied, walked towards the firetruck to watch the water pounding down the fire. For a moment, Laura watched her dad, taking note of the way her hair and eyes matched his exactly; his gift to her.

Suddenly, she called to Matt, hoping he wasn’t mad at her. “Got any marshmallows?”

Matt hesitated and nodded towards the fire. “You’d better be careful.” He slammed the door but then grinned easily at Laura.

She relaxed, knowing he wasn’t mad at her.

He gunned the engine and, right before he turned around, flipped her dad the bird.

Laura grinned.

Her father turned to her. “Go get on some damn shoes, Laura.”

* * *

The next morning, Laura stared out her window at the steaming mess behind her. The smell leaked through their double-paned windows and she inhaled deeply. Then she pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, checked the Band-Aids on her feet, and walked downstairs. The smell of bacon and pancakes called to her.

Her mom looked at her eagerly. “Where are you going so early?” She was at the stove while Reece stared at his phone where he sat at the kitchen table.

“To the hospital, to see what happened to that guy.” She grabbed a piece of toast just as her mom was about to butter it and swallowed it down before putting on her coat. Then she yanked her boots out of the closet and shoved her dad’s work coat back in, slamming the door before it tumbled back out.

“You should eat some food first. I’m almost done with the pancakes.” Her mom gripped the spatula harshly.

Laura walked towards the door, trying to avoid having a long conversation. She threw her crust at Reece, just as her mom was putting the bacon on the table, and nearly missed hitting her mom. “Laura, don’t throw your food.”

Reece looked up.

“Bye, nerd,” she told Reece as she grabbed her purse and keys, ready to walk out the door.

“Where are you going?” He shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth.

Laura rolled her eyes. “Bye.” She opened the door and a rush of cold air greeted her.

“Toast isn’t breakfast. At least take something to—” Laura shut the door before her mom could finish.

* * *

“How is he?” Laura was standing at the nurse’s station where her best friend, Kayla, had worked all night.

“Well, good morning to you, too. I’m fine, and you?”

Laura handed her a cup of coffee and grinned. “I’m perfect.”

Kayla took a sip of the creamy coffee and closed her dark brown eyes. “Hmmm, caffeine and sugar. I forgive you.” She blew a kiss at Laura.

“I thought so.” Laura signed, staring at Kayla. “All that caffeine and sugar, and you still don’t get pimples.” Laura, who was thin as a rail and had acne when she was a teenager, had always been jealous of Kayla’s perfect chocolate skin and curves.

“Girl, we graduated high school seven years ago. No one gets zits at our age.”

“Yeah, but your addiction was even worse back then.”

“I remember wanting to be tall and willowy like you in high school.” Kayla winked at Laura who stuck her tongue out at Kayla. Kayla smirked and took a big gulp of the coffee. “Your mystery man is fine. After we cleaned him up—”

“You bathed him?” Laura blushed.

Kayla rolled her eyes. “Of course we bathed him. Did you even see him yesterday?”

Laura’s blush was deeper now; she’d never thought about all the duties Kayla’s job would entail.

“Girl, bathing that sexy man is the least disgusting part of my job. Anyway, we pulled off the gauze this morning and it looks a lot better than we thought.”

“Really? It looked pretty bad yesterday. I thought maybe third degree burns.”

“That’s what Matt said; we razzed him pretty good about it. Well, your little friend must be magic then, because it’s barely burned. Maybe you couldn’t tell with all that dirt on him. He won’t be held long. The police still need to talk to him about what happened, although he won’t be much help unless he regains his memory. He can’t even remember his name.”

Laura inhaled her gum and began coughing. Kayla slapped Laura’s back, but Laura managed to get out, “He can’t remember his name?”

Giving up on helping Laura, Kayla chugged down her coffee and nodded. “Yep.” She sighed. “Man, this coffee is good. Although I shouldn’t be drinking it, I’m almost off duty.”

“How long did you talk to him?”

“Not long. He was awake only for a few minutes before he passed back out.”

“Wow, I can’t believe that. I’ve never seen him before. Have you?”

Kayla shrugged. “Nope.”

Laura grew lost in her own thoughts, and they tumbled around her brain. Where did he come from? And what started that fire? How did he end up in her backyard?

“Laura?” Kayla waved her hands in Laura’s face.

“What?”

“I was talking to you, did you hear me?”

“Oh, huh? Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said that Matt told me you refused his help yesterday.” She looked at Laura’s feet pointedly.

“Oh.” Laura waved casually. “They’re fine. Nothing a little bit of Neosporin and some Band-Aids can’t fix.”

“Do they hurt?”

Laura shrugged. “They’re fine.”

“And what about this?” Kayla gestured to the bruise on her face and Laura jerked back.

“Is that fine too? A Band-Aid gonna fix that?” Kayla said.

Laura couldn’t quite cover the bruise with foundation even though she’d tried to find the right balance between covering it and caking on too much. She didn’t usually wear foundation at all.

Laura fixed a deadly gaze on her. “You know I don’t want to talk about that.”

Kayla smiled a sad smile and sighed. “I know, I know. Whatever.” She picked up a clipboard and walked around the nurse’s station. “If you ever do, you know I’m all ears. Want to see him?”

“Who?”

“Our John Doe.”

“Of course.”

Laura walked beside Kayla, their shoes squeaking on the newly waxed floor, and Laura bumped Kayla with her hip. Kayla grinned and bumped her back.

* * *

They reached his room and, suddenly shy, Laura held back in the doorway while Kayla checked… well, whatever it was that Kayla did, when she checked in on a patient. She puttered around the room, checking the machines and looking over him. Laura was surprised that he didn’t wake up with all the noise that Kayla was making. “He’s on his back?”

Kayla nodded. “He was on his stomach until we pulled off the gauze this morning. But believe me, he’s got enough pain killers in here,” she indicated the IV. “We’re trying to water it down since it wasn’t too bad.” She typed her notes in the computer. “I gotta run by my other patients, you gonna stay here?”

Laura nodded. She was strangely drawn to the guy. Who was he? How did he just show up in her backyard?

“Alright, I’ll check in on you before I leave.” With that, Kayla was gone and Laura felt a sudden and intense intimacy, being alone with him in the room.

She studied him from just inside the door. His jeans were gone, replaced by a blue hospital gown, and his feet were a slight shade of grey where they couldn’t wash all the ash off. His face was slack and a little bit of drool ran out of the corner of his mouth.

Laura snickered and grabbed a tissue. She wiped at the drool softly, making sure not to wake him, and studied him up close. His hair was soft and dark. And his face was smooth, even smoother than Kayla’s. How could anyone have skin that smooth? She couldn’t resist tracing her finger down his cheek. His skin was soft. He had the longest eyelashes she’d ever seen. She leaned over to inspect them and noticed that he had dark blue eyes.

Laura jumped back, falling into the chair behind her. He wiped at his mouth and Laura bounced back up.

“I… Uh… I…” Laura’s face was blazing now.

He looked around and sat up, pulling on his hospital gown.

“Hey, I’m sorry, I…” Should she explain why she was so close? He didn’t seem to notice.

He reached for his back and Laura grabbed his hand. “Don’t do that. You’re hurt.” His head jerked to her and it seemed like he was noticing her for the first time.

“Where am I?” His eyes were unfocused and shifted as he looked at her.

Laura was still holding onto his hand and her heart hammered in her chest. He stared at her like he could see right into her soul.