Love and Pain

Chapter 1-3

The train slowed as it approached the next station when the subway’s glaring lights shut off. The metro train stopped, the doors jarred open. The station illuminated only by faint emergency lights near the stairwells and every three feet. Jake coughed. Smoke seeped into the car.

“Oh my God!” screamed a woman. “I can’t see anything!”

Shouts from different passengers encouraged her to step out.

“It’s probably an electrical malfunction,” yelled a man standing a few feet to Jake’s right.

Jake closed his mouth, covering it with his hand and proceeded to the exit with other passengers, some who ran out while others pushed to get through. Jake almost reached the door when he heard a child’s cries.

“Mommy! Mommy!”

He expected to hear a woman’s voice, comforting the girl but didn’t so he faced the cries. He took two large steps but he saw her. She sat on the floor, her curly hair long. He guessed her age to be six years of age. He didn’t see the young man that stood next to the child before or the woman feeding the baby.

He crouched so he could talk to her. “Hey, Princess, your mom’s outside,” he paused. “You want to come help me look for her?” He coughed because of the smoke. In the dim light, he saw the young girl nod her head and lifted her arms to be carried. Jake obliged by hoisting her and then turning towards the door. “Close your eyes and cover your mouth until we are outside, okay?”

He heard her choke her sob as he double-timed it out of the subway. Good Samaritans stood near the stopped escalators, some using the lighted screen of their phones, others using the flashlight apps to help people take the steps up. People shuffled and voices blended, but he could hear many of the Metro’s passengers encouraging others to take it slow as they left the station. He caught part of the station sign, announcing they were at New Carrollton.

Shit! I’m barely halfway home.

As he took the steps up, Jake tried to keep his breathing short. Smoke seemed to be around everywhere. He heard coughing around him and the sound of fans in the background but he couldn’t tell if the fans were moving the air away from them or towards the subway’s passengers. As he climbed, the young girl’s weight shifted in his arms and Jake felt a pull in the muscle in the left arm. His shoulder had healed after being shot by Ivan but the child’s presence put some stress on it.

“Everything will be okay, don’t worry,” said Jake. He hoped his words reassured her. He thought about Chelsea and held the six-year-old closer to his chest. He coughed. The smoke overwhelmed the top of the landing as he got closer to the exit. He could see streetlights illuminating the top. Finally, as they reached topside, he breathed a sigh of relief. Fresh, cold air filled his nostrils and he took some deep breaths. He saw flashing lights of fire trucks, the red and white emergency lights of DC metro police and two or three television station vans.

“We’re safe, sweetheart. Can you look and see if you see your mommy?”

He felt her shift in his arms, her own clutching his neck. He realized for the first time that his neck was wet from her tears. “We’re okay. Do you see her?”

She gulped her tears and craned her neck. Without saying a word, she shook her head no.

“What’s your mommy’s name?”

“Connie. My mom’s name is Connie. She was holding my baby brother, Danny.”

“Connie! Connie!” he yelled, repeating her name. He paused then repeated.

When he didn’t hear any response, he moved to the ambulances in the area. “Connie! Connie!” he shouted. He started to face the other direction, toward the police cars when he heard a female shout.

“Oh my God! Do you have my girl?”

Jake whipped back to the ambulances and saw the same young woman with dark hair holding an oxygen mask, a wool blanket around her shoulders, and a newborn in her arms, in the back of a van.

Jake ran toward her. He didn’t need to confirm if the child knew the woman because the six-year old screamed. “Mommy!”

“Oh, thank God! Timmy said he thought he had you, Lisa. He’s been searching for you.”

The young girl squirmed from his arms and he put her near the edge of the ambulance. Connie dropped the oxygen she had in her hand and hugged her daughter.

“There you are!” he heard a man shout behind him.

“Timmy! This guy brought Lisa here.”

Jake felt the tap of a hand on his arm. Timmy held out his hand. “Thank you, sir. Somehow with the crush of all of us trying to leave, I thought I had her and when I got to the stairs, I looked, and she was gone. I couldn’t see anything.” Jake shook Timmy’s hand. He heard the relief in his voice. Timmy could be no more than twenty-five and Connie probably was the same age.

“No worries. I’m glad I could help. I have a daughter too so I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“Thank you, sir. Thank you,” said Connie, who now was wiping tears from her eyes.

Jake nodded and then stepped back to allow Timmy to hug Lisa, the young girl he held in his arms a few minutes earlier. He scanned the area and saw more passengers being attended to. As he stood there massaging his neck, an EMT approached him and offered him oxygen. Jake waved it off, but the first responder insisted.

“Have some oxygen. Take a seat for a little.”

“Okay, thanks,” he replied. Jake moved towards a folded chair but before he reached it, a young blonde woman, holding a microphone approached him. Following her was a pony-tailed cameraman. Jake moved to his left to walk away, but the reporter followed.

“We saw you bring a young girl up. Was that your daughter?”

“No, that’s hers.” Jake pointed to Connie, still seated in the ambulance approximately fifteen feet away. “She got left behind in the panic to leave the Metro.”

“What’s your name?”

“My name’s Jake. Jake Chandler.”

“Well, Jake Chandler, can we ask you a few questions?”

Jake squinted in the camera light. He couldn’t see anything behind the light but shadows. He pursed his lips and breathed in. “Sure.”

I have nothing to worry about.