They both die at the end, Rufus, 8:47pm
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- I wake up choking on smoke. This deafening fire alarm makes it hard to think. I know this is the moment. I reach over to wake up Mateo, but my hand finds no one in all this darkness, Just my phone, which I pocket.
- The fire alarm is drowning out my cries, and I’m choking, But I still call for him. Moonlight beams through the window. I grab my fleece and wrap it around my face while crawling on the floor, reaching out for Mateo, who’s gotta be somewhere here on the floor and not anywhere near the source of the smoke. I shake off thoughts of Mateo burning because no, that’s not happening. Impossible.
- Mateo!
- Firefighters arrive. Neighbors try prying me away from Mateo and I swing at one, hoping that if I can deck one they’ll all fuck off or find themselves kicked into Mateo’s burning home. I wanna smack Mateo awake, but I shouldn’t hit this face that’s already been touched by flames. But this stupid Mateo kid isn’t waking up, dammit.
- We’ve already called the fire department
- Someone get him water!
- I get to the front door and open it, allowing some of the black smoke to spill out. I cough and cough, choke and choke, and the fresh air is what I need, but the panic is doing its damn best to keep me down and out for the final count. There are some neighbors out here, No one Mateo ever shared any stories about. There are so many things he hasn’t gotten around to telling me. It’s okay: we still have a few more hours together once I find him.
- I got a note from Mateo earlier, Said he was going to be passing and not to worry about the stove. . When did he come home ?I knocked earlier and he wasn’t there!
- I beat the cough out of my system, the best I can, at least, before pushing the man aside with more strength than I’d been capable of before. I run back inside the burning apartment and straight toward the orange glow of the kitchen. The apartment is blasting with a heat I’ve never known. I don’t know why Mateo didn’t stay in bed, we had a freaking deal. I don’t know what problem the stove was having, but if I know Mateo, and dammit I do, I bet he was doing something nice for us, something that absolutely isn’t worth his life. Into the flames I go.
- I’m about to run into the kitchen when my foot connects with something solid. I drop to my knees and grab whatever it is, and it’s the arm that was supposed to be around me when I woke up. I grab Mateo, my fingers sink deep into boiled skin, and I’m crying hard as I find Mateo’s other arm and drag him away from the fire, out of the smoke, and toward all the sons of bitches who are shouting at me from the doorway but weren’t brave enough to run in and save some kids. The hallway light hits Mateo. His back is badly burned. I turn him over, and half of his face is severely burned, the rest is deep red. I wrap my arm around his neck and cradle him, rocking back and forth
- Wake up, Mateo, wake up, wake up, Why’d you get out of bed we said we wouldn’t get out of
- He didn’t receive the alert today, Get him to a hospital fast, please.
- Let us get him in an ambulance.
- We have to get him to the hospital, you see that! Come on! Stop fucking around! Let’s go!
- I stay with Mateo as they cart him down the elevator, through the lobby, and outside toward the ambulance. A medic checks Mateo’s pulse and look sat me with sympathy and it’s fucking bullshit.
- I’m sorry. He’s gone
- DO YOUR JOB AND GET HIM TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL!
- Another medic opens the ambulance’s rear doors, but she doesn’t put Mateo in the back. She pulls out a body bag. Hell no
- Come on, Mateo, it’s me, Roof. You hear me, right? It’s Roof. Wake up now. Please wake up.
- I snatch the body bag from his hand and throw it into the bushes because body bags are for corpses and Mateo isn’t dead. I return to Mateo’s side, choking and crying and dying
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