Chapter 19

Mia

"Mia!"

Bang, bang, bang!

When Mia opened her eyes, it was dark. She tried to orient herself as she slowly opened her eyes.

Mia's bedroom door suddenly flew open and hit the wall with a bang.

She sat up and caught her breath, wide awake, recognizing Caleb's voice. "What's wrong?"

"The barn's on fire!" he yelled as he ran out the door.

Mia ran out of the room, dressed in her nightgown.

"Stay here!" Caleb yelled, and then ran out, headed toward the barn.

Outside, flames shot out the windows and out the barn door. "My God!" She ran into the children's room, and they were still sleeping. She shut their door and then ran outside as quickly as she could.

Caleb led a horse out of the barn when he saw her. "I thought I told you to stay inside!"

"The children are safe, and you need help!" she yelled as she ran into the barn, and he ran in after her.

He quickly wrapped a blanket over a horse's eyes and led it from the barn.

Mia grabbed a horse blanket that was thrown over a stall door and led a white stallion out of the barn. Then she ran back inside, and the flames were higher. Her movements now had to count.

"We'll need the milk," she said to herself as she ran over to Ol' Bessy's stall and hooked the lead strap to her halter.

She unlocked the stall door and tried to lead her out, but the cow saw the flames and pulled back. Mia wrapped a blanket around the cow's eyes. She led Ol' Bessy toward the barn entrance when a beam crashed down on her, hitting her head and pinning her to the ground as bright orange and yellow flames blazed around her. Disoriented, she willed herself to stay conscious. She tried to push the beam off, but she was too weak… and beginning to lose consciousness.

"Mia!" Caleb's voice echoed into the barn, frantic. "Mia, where are you?"

"Over here!" she yelled back, forcing her eyes to stay open. She tried to stay focused, but it was becoming more difficult as each second passed.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and her heart jumped, for Caleb was standing on the other side of the beam. He looked down, his eyes wide.

"Mia!" The moment he saw her, he bent down and tried to push the log off her, but it was heavy and catching fire.

Tears fell onto her cheeks. "Caleb, go! Save yourself!"

He shook his head as he pushed hard against the log, but it wouldn't budge. "I'm not leaving you!"

She shook her head. "Caleb! Look at me! You have to think of the children! Now, go!"

"If you think for one minute that I'd leave you here, then you don't know me very well," he said as he pushed the log, straining with the effort. But, this time, it moved… a little. "Yah!" he yelled as he kept pushing. And this time, the log fell off. "Come on." He bent down and scooped her up with ease and carried her a safe distance from the barn and collapsed with her onto the ground.

Mia pushed up and turned over as orange, red, and yellow flames engulfed the rest of the barn, against the darkness of the night. "What about the animals?"

"We got them all out," he said, trying to catch his breath.

She coughed, placing the back of her hand to her mouth. She looked around, disoriented as her head pounded. "Where are they?"

Caleb rolled over and opened his eyes, breathing hard. "In the back fields or in the neighbor's lands, away from the flames." He thought for a moment, and then asked, "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "My head hurts. Other than that, I'm fine." She coughed, looking over at him as he sat up. "How about you?"

He nodded as he propped himself up on his arms. "I'm fine."

They sat in silence as they watched the barn burn down, making sure the fire stayed contained.

As the sun rose over the snow-covered mountains, the last of the flames turned into embers. In the morning sunlight, she could see some of the animals in the distance, but she wouldn't be there to help catch them. As they watched the barn burn down, Caleb had said nothing.

She let out a deep breath as she rose to her feet, exhausted. But she would have plenty of time to sleep on the train. Mia looked over her shoulder as she walked toward the house, but Caleb just sat on the snow, watching what was left of the barn burn down… as the snow melted into the ground.