Chapter Text
Evan Buckley wasn’t always a quiet person; he actually used to love to talk.
He used to love to talk with his family, fight with his older brother, and make fun of his older sister. He loved his siblings; they were the world to him when he was younger.
His family wasn’t rich, they didn’t have a lot of money, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t happy. They were actually really happy people. Despite all the stress of working multiple jobs to support their kids, the Buckley parents did their best to keep their kids loved.
They made sure that their kids knew it. They did, in fact, know it.
evan had just recently gotten home from school while Philip just got home from a long day of work. He got promoted at the local grocery store he worked at, which meant more money for their family, things were looking up.
“How was school?” Philip asked sitting down next to Evan.
Evan smiling up at his father replied, “It was pretty good. We had an assembly today for winter break and they were handing out gifts to the students that entered a raffle, but I didn’t win anything.”
“Bummer, I’ll bet you’ll win something next time.” He reassures.
“But on the bright side Maddie bought us ice cream from that good place down the street! You know, the one with all the cool decorations, and it has like a million flavors to choose from!” Even exclaimed as he took another bite mid-sentence, food muffling his voice.
“Ooh how nice of her!” Philip said reaching for Evan’s spoon to take a bite of the chocolate ice cream.
Evan quickly saw the attempt to snatch his precious snack and moved his bowl out of reach of the older man.
“Nuh-uh, this is mine, get your own!”
Philip just laughed at the kid, patted his head, and stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Looking for something to make for dinner.
Evan stood up with his bowl of ice cream in hand and walked over to the window to the balcony and opened the closed curtain. It was far too cold to go outside onto the balcony. He loved looking outside at night, even though you can only see a few stars, and the view from their apartment is just of a parking lot. It was calming in a sense, there were tall buildings in the background, the furthest ones just seemed to get bigger and bigger. It wasn’t a super windy night, but it was windy enough to where you could see the trees subtly swaying in the wind. Even a firetruck’s siren wailing in the distance.
Evan just stood there, still working on his ice cream. He hated how in the winter it got so dark so fast, he was disappointed he missed the sun going down, but when your favorite TV show comes on at about that time it’s easy to forget.
He had just finished his ice cream as he saw his mom’s car pull into the parking lot.
“Mom is home!”
8:31 p.m.
“You did not say that to her Evan! Oh my gosh your terrible!” Margret Buckley laughed out.
“Well, what did you want me to say?!” Evan defended himself and shrugged his shoulders with a huge smile on his face.
“Well maybe you could have been a little more respectful about its little brother.” Maddie replied.
“I dunno I think that was pretty solid, she totally deserved that.” Daniel holding his hand up to give Evan a high five.
Everyone was sitting around the living room laughing. Philip and Margaret were sitting on the couch leaning into each other. Maddie was on an old armchair, Daniel was sitting on a beanbag in the corner of the room near the tv and the window, Evan was sitting on the floor with a blanket wrapped around his lap.
The show that was once playing on the TV has timed out and went to sleep. Everyone was happy, it was a normal day.
Right?
It was a good day, filled with ice cream, good news, laughter, and simplicity.
Until that all changed almost 4 hours later.
12:17 P.M.
Everyone has long gone to bed, Evan and Daniel are in their rooms fast asleep. Margaret and Philip are sleeping soundly in theirs. Maddie would deny it on a normal day, but she was still awake. She was on a group call with her friends, trying to be quiet.
“Yeah, Evan basically begged me to buy ice cream on the way home.” Maddie whispered “Oh my god my upstairs neighbors seem to be having a really heated argument. They’re being so loud!”
Maddie looked up at her ceiling and then looked back down to continue her call. Making up scenarios with her friends about what they could have been arguing about at midnight.
Maddie eventually finds herself tired, she hangs up on her friends and goes to check on her brothers before she heads to sleep. Daniel isn’t that much older than she is, but Evan is still in the 6th grade.
God, she loves that kid, even when he breaks her things, talks her ear off, or just won't get out of her room. He is still her little brother.
Not throwing any shade of Evan, but Daniel was the more mellow one, he never did any of those things, he was the respectful golden child. The first born. Maddie still loves Daniel a lot as well, he helped take care of her when she was little. He would never let her forget it.
12:46 p.m.
“Babe, what’s that smell?”
Margaret Buckley was never a deep sleeper. The lightest footsteps walking into her room, or her husband snoring in the middle of the night could keep her up for hours. Even when her daughter is whispering in her room right down the hall.
“Huh, what?” Philip asked disoriented from being woken up by his wife.
“What’s that smell? Is it smoke?”
“I was just going to ask you that.” She tiredly said to her husband.
Philip throws the covers off his body and gets up out of bed. As he’s opening their bedroom door he says in a slight panic, “Go check on the kids.”
Margret hops quickly out of bed, rushing to the kids’ rooms to make sure that they’re okay.
Philip goes to the front door and looks through the peephole, fire. There’s so much fire. It hasn’t reached their door yet, but it will soon. He hears someone yelling in the hallway, they seem close, could be the neighbors.
He puts his hand on the metal door handle and feels that it’s hot. He pulls his hand away and goes to look through the peephole one more time. He sees firefighters, but they’re not stopping to help him and his family.
He opens the door.
He thinks he heard his wife yell, but she yells a lot sometimes, he used to it.
There is a giant gust of smoke that enters the room. He sees flames everywhere. But the strangest thing is that one door down he sees firefighters pulling a man down screaming “Give me your gear! Give me your gear!” Before Philip can even think of what is happening a bunch of fire catches up to him.
There are fire fighters panicking to get the fire off Philip, he is agony. He can feel his skin burning, the heat that he just can’t seem to escape, he’s not touching anything but the floor, why is the floor so hot? Why is it so hot? Where did that copper smell come from? Theres so much yelling, so much noise, the ringing in his ears is so loud. He can feel his skin and melting on his body. He can’t feel anything anymore, it’s all numb.
Everything goes black.
2 minutes earlier
Margret stormed out of her room and opens her kids’ doors in a panic, making sure that they were safe.
The kids are fine.
“Mom, what’s going on? What are you doing in here?” Daniel asked in a low raspy voice, confused and a little worried at the panic on his mother's face.
“Wait, is that smoke?” Daniel said scrunching his nose from the gross smell filling the room slowly.
“I think so, your dad is checking the- “she cuts herself off as she looks down the hall to where Philip is pulling is hand away from the door due to the heat. Puts his face back toward the door and then looks back at her with a slightly angry look on his face. And opens the door and begins to shout.
“Philip don’t open the door!”
Her yelling gets the attention of Maddie and Daniel. They both walk out of their rooms, Evan, unlike his mother, is a deep sleeper. So, he is just waking up.
Even walks out of his room in time to see his brother and his mom run over to Philip screaming as he is engulfed in flames.
Evan sees his father screaming in agony as he falls over. He is frozen, standing there as fire is overflowing the room.
His mom runs over to him where the firefighters are trying to help him. She makes it 7 feet before the floor falls beneath her, and she disappears from his sight.
Even starts to yell for his parents, “Mom, Dad, Mom!!”
It feels like a fever dream. Where did his mom go? Where did that hole come from? Wait there’s another? Who are these men in thick gear? Oh, firefighters. Everything happens in a blur. He is screaming and yelling for his parents, he is holding onto his older brother. Where is Maddie? Where is Maddie?!
“Maddie?! Maddie?! Daniel where is Maddie?! Where is she, where’s mom?! Dad!!” He chokes out and thrashes around his older brother and the firefighters trying to help him out of the building. His brother is yelling at him telling him to stop thrashing around and go with the firefighters.
He thinks he hears someone yell for Daniel to stop and to come back, he’s not sure if that’s his own voice, or someone else, or maybe both. Maybe he doesn’t say anything at all and lets him walk away further into the inferno.
He is sitting in an ambulance silently.
What just happened?
Maddie comes over to him with an oxygen mask, tears staining her cheeks as she sits down next to him and pulls him into the tightest hug.
He sobs into her shoulder, tears staining her dirty shirt. They were the only ones to come out of that building. He doesn’t even know what happened to Daniel. Did he make him go back for Maddie? Was he to selfish and scared to look back and realize he wasn’t by his side anymore?
“M-m-Maddie, w-where’s mom? What h-h-happened… D-Dad!” He loudly sobs into her neck as she holds him.
It was a normal day; it was supposed to be a good day. Evan wants to ask where Daniel went, what happened to him.
He tries to speak, but nothing comes out.