Scar by Kelly Favor Page A

the cops?” he asked.
    “No one’s come yet. People are saying they don’t have an available crew in town at this time of night, so it’s going to take longer for help to arrive.”
    “I’ve got to go back inside,” Elijah told her.
    The burly man came over again. “Listen kid, you’re a goddamn hero, seriously. But I can’t let you go back in that fucking house. It’s a deathtrap.”
    Elijah looked at him. “I’m going back in,” he said. “I have to. There’s more people. I heard them screaming for help.”
    Caelyn bit back tears and protests, knowing it wouldn’t do any good. Elijah was determined.
    “I love you so much,” she told him. “No matter what happens, remember that, okay?”
    Elijah looked at her and smiled, and somehow he seemed more carefree, more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. “Hey, I’m going to be fine. I’m goddamn invincible, kid.”
    And then he was running into the house again.
    The little girl was crying. Caelyn went over and saw that she had vomited up some black looking chunks on the grass and some of the older women were trying to soothe her.
    “I want my mommy,” she screeched. “I want mommy.”
    “Mommy’s coming,” someone told her. “A nice man is going to get her.”
    Caelyn hugged herself, looking at the house. Every minute that went by, the flames grew. Pieces of the house were starting to fall off in large, frightening chunks. The roof was beginning to cave in.
    Occasionally, there were loud, explosive sounds that came from inside.
    He can’t survive another minute in there , Caelyn thought. She was squeezing the scanner so hard that she thought it might shatter in her hands.
    At this point, she didn’t even mind if Elijah was caught and went to jail. Jail would be something—she could visit him.
    I’ll visit him forever, and I’ll be grateful to do it. I’ll be happy just to see Elijah’s face, hear his voice, see him smile. Please God, let him live. Just let him live.
    Like an answer to her prayer, Elijah came out of the house again, this time he was helping two people hobble out of the front door. They were so burnt and blackened that it was hard to tell who was who.
    “It’s Tom and Linda,” someone cried, and then the expanded group of neighbors rushed over and swarmed around them, trying to help.
    Caelyn could hardly get to Elijah. People were touching him, thanking him, crying, babbling .
    It was as if he’d transformed into something otherworldly, and people had gone from thinking he was insane, to believing he was a comic book hero.
    They gave him some water, which he drank down as Caelyn grabbed his arm. “Promise me it’s over,” she said. “You’re not going back inside.”
    “The older daughter’s still inside,” Elijah said.
    “Elijah, the roof is caving in. You saved three people’s lives. Don’t kill yourself, please.” Caelyn realized she would beg him if that’s what it took. “Please, please. Don’t go back in. I have the most terrible feeling that you’re going to die.”
    Elijah took the bottle of water, lifted it up and poured water over his face.
    She could see he was horribly burned on his forehead and cheek and neck. “Elijah, you’re hurt.”
    Others were clawing at him, too, telling him to stop.
    But all he did was lean in and kiss Caelyn’s cheek. “I love you and only you. Remember that.”
    Then he was pushing past everyone and running inside. There was no way he could make it back out again, Caelyn thought. She could feel the heat from the house all the way back at the top of the driveway. Getting close was painful, and she could see the flames licking the doorway. The front door was charred and blackened and beginning to fall off its hinges.
    At that moment, the first police cars and fire trucks arrived, along with an ambulance.
    When they pulled up, the cops immediately forced all of the neighbors back to the other side of the street, including Caelyn.
    She tried to tell one of the policeman