Chapter 57

"Sean, At…Athena…" TB couldn t finish his words as he looked at Sean with tear filled eyes. Sean was glaring at him and he expected him to punch him, if he did, he wouldn t blame him, Athena was his responsibility yet he left her alone and now she was stuck somewhere in the fire. Just how did things turn out like this?
Sean ignored him and walked past him to the firefighters, "are some of your men still in there?"
The firefighters looked at him and shook their heads, "no, Mr. Brand," one of them answered, "the fire has grown too big and the best thing now is to work on quenching it."
"Someone is still in there, are you going to let an innocent person die?" he had to work on himself not to shout at them.
"I m sorry, Mr. Brand, but no one can go into that fire now, it has grown too big and is eating everything in its part. There is no guarantee that the victim or the rescuer can make it out alive."
Sean looked at the studio that doesn t look much like the studio anymore, all he could think of was Athena somewhere in there, weak and alone and accepting her fate to die in the fire. He shook his head, no, he won t let that happen, he couldn t save them then; he is not going to be handicapped again. He has to try to save her. There is no way he is going to add another day in his sad days in a year, he doubts if he could live with another weight of guilt on him should he resign to fate like the fire fighters have. Turning to TB who was like a wet puppy beside him, he asked, "Where did you see her last?"
"Huh?" TB asked before assessing his words in his mind, "in the dressing room."
"Mr. Brand, you can t be thinking of going into the fire, are you?" the fire fighter asked.
Sean looked at him but without a word, he started walking to the studio. Smith blocked him then, "I m sorry sir but I can t let you do this, the men said it s no use…"
"Stand aside," Sean warned.
"Sir, you pay me to protect you, that is what I m doing, and I m going to stop you any way I can from going into that fire," Smith insisted.
Sean looked at the fire, he imagined Athena lying on the floor, waiting for the fire to consume her and the image burned his mind and heart that the next thing he did was throwing a punch on Smith, momentarily disorienting him as he pushed through the firefighters and ran into the studio before anyone could stop him. TB wanted to faint, he wanted to disappear, what was Sean thinking? He is still crying and worried over Athena and now he is going to cry and worry over him too?
Smith wanted to run in after him but the fire fighters as well as everyone else there stopped him and told him that the best thing is to stop the fire so that if they can make it, they would have a clean way running out of the studio. He calmed down and joined the fire fighters in stopping the fire from growing and escalating. TB who felt like if he doesn t do that, then Sean won t be the only one to have sad days in a year joined as well to quench the fire in the little way he could.
It was hard seeing in the fire and the scalding heat was too much, the studio looked destroyed but as the owner of the blueprint, Sean was able to make his way to the dressing room, dodging all falling planks and ceilings that tried to stop him. "Athena? Athena?" he yelled in the fire when he was in the dressing room. There was not much left in it and the fire seemed to be bigger there, mostly because of the clothes that were lying around everywhere. On what was left of the table, he saw her phone and knew that if she had left the room, she didn t hope to go far which was why she left her phone, but the question is, where was she?
"Athena?" he yelled and choked right after, he dusted off the fire that caught onto his blazer and refused to believe the fear rising in his heart, she has to be somewhere, she must, otherwise he would never forgive himself. The way he treated her on Monday came to his mind and he started regretting it, if he had known this would happen, he would have pulled her into his arms that day and kiss her while telling her how much he loves her, Frank or no Frank, wish or wish. But alas, he didn t know, and he is going to live the rest of life knowing that he had missed the chance he could to have her.
Just then, a faint thudding sound caught his attention and he looked at the direction of the restroom, he walked to it and had to pull off his blazer in order to use it and turn the knob because of how hot it must be. He was surprised to find the door locked and using his blazer, he turned the lock and pulled the door open. All he saw at first was smoke and he noticed the floor was wet, that was when he saw the frail body lying on the floor with a cloth on her nose and her shoe in her hand. She was looking at him and her eyes revealed so many emotions that he didn t have the time to digest them as he rushed to her and pulled her into his arms. His vision blurred as he hugged her so tightly in his arms and didn t want to let her go. It took her coughing to remind him that they weren t safe yet.
He took off his shirt and wrapped her up in it and his blazer, then taking the wet cloth she was using to cover her nose which was why she was still conscious despite the smoke; he stood up and walked to the sink, praying that the fire hasn t burned down the pipe. His prayer wasn t answer for he discovered Athena had left the tap running which also kept the fire away and if it wasn t running, it could only mean the fire has got to the pipes. He tapped the cloth on the wet floor and rushed back to her, placing it on her nose and making her hold onto it, he picked her up, he needs to get them out of there, his own breath was failing him.