The black smoke was pungent and intense, and the fire in the hallway burned more and more fiercely, with flames surging into the house.
Tracy’s leg was injured by a thug earlier and had not fully recovered. She walked with a limp.
Being physically impaired, she fell to the ground right after coming out of the bathroom.
“Hurry, carry Nana and the child out!”
Tracy bent down on the ground, trying to get up but felt a piercing pain in her leg.
“You hold on, I’ll come back to get you!”
Seeing his wife unable to stand on her own, Jerry felt anxious but helpless.
He comforted Tracy and rushed towards the fiery entrance, taking large steps.
The burning flames reached temperatures of several hundred degrees, but Jerry couldn’t care less about his own well-being.
Even though his clothes were already on fire, and his face was being scorched by the intense heat, he stubbornly carried Nana downstairs.
At this moment, many residents on the same floor were taking shelter outside. When they saw Jerry turning into a human torch, they hurriedly took the blanket-wrapped Nana from his arms.
Everyone joined forces, struggling to extinguish the flames engulfing Jerry. They advised him not to risk going back upstairs.
“No, I have to go upstairs. Nana’s mother fell, and I can’t leave my wife behind to die in the house!”
Although Jerry was already burned by the fire, he endured the pain and, disregarding the crowd’s attempts to stop him, rushed back into the hallway.
“Dad, come back! Let me save Mom!”
At that moment, Nana hurriedly emerged from the blanket, patting her crying daughter while shouting towards her father’s fading figure.
But Jerry didn’t respond. His charred figure disappeared from everyone’s sight in the blink of an eye.
And so, Jerry never returned. It wasn’t until the firefighters extinguished the blaze that he and Tracy were carried out together.
Looking at the two lifeless bodies, Nana could hardly recognize that they were her parents.
“Dad? Mom?”
A pale and shocked expression appeared on her face, and tears uncontrollably streamed down.
Jerry and Tracy’s bodies lay curled up on the ground, emitting a burnt odor, their exposed skin charred beyond recognition.
Nana stared blankly at them, calling out a few times without receiving a response, until suddenly her vision blurred, and she lost consciousness.
In this era of information explosion, the fire quickly made it to the news. Residents of the neighborhood who enjoyed watching the spectacle posted their selfies online, and netizens responded with sighs and sympathy.
At the same time, Carl was waiting for Nana at the Supermarket.
More than half an hour had passed since the agreed-upon time.
The excitement on Carl’s face gradually faded, replaced by anxiety and confusion.
“Why hasn’t Nana come yet…”
Carl held the toys and clothes he bought for his daughter in his hands, pacing back and forth at the supermarket entrance, anxiously watching the distant fire trucks and ambulances on the road.
At this moment, he had no mood to care about these things; he just wanted to see his daughter as soon as possible.
This was the moment Carl had been longing for. When he received Nana’s message during the day, he even held his phone and burst into tears of joy.
Unable to bear it any longer, Carl took out his phone and called Nana.
“No one is answering the phone? Could it be that she changed her mind again and stood me up?”
After several unsuccessful attempts, his expression became increasingly restless, suspecting that Nana deliberately broke their appointment.
As he waited and waited, Carl decided to go find her.
However, when Carl arrived at the Lawson family’s residential complex, he found it overcrowded, with residents discussing in a flurry.
“What’s happening in the neighborhood?”
Carl had an inexplicable sense of foreboding as he stopped a middle-aged woman in her fifties to inquire.
Upon learning about the fire in the building where Nana lived, Carl’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately ran towards the scene.
Except for the bedroom and bathroom, the living room was in complete disarray, and the twisted front door had taken on a eerie shape.
Carl’s expression turned dumbfounded as he didn’t see Nana’s family or his own daughter.
Could something have happened to them…
Carl’s mind went blank, and he rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible.
Later that night…
Nana woke up in the hospital room, slowly opening her eyes. She tried to speak but felt a sharp pain in her chest, followed by a long fit of coughing.
Upon hearing Nana’s cough, Carl walked into the room, holding Janelle in his arms.
“Nana, you’re awake!”
Carl looked at Nana’s pale face with joy.
However, Nana’s mind was still hazy. She stared blankly at Carl and asked in a faint voice, “Where are my parents? Are they still being rescued?”
In Nana’s consciousness, even amidst the raging fire, she firmly believed that her parents would not meet a tragic fate.
Carl’s lips moved, unsure of how to make Nana accept the fact that her parents had already passed away.
He forced a gentle smile and said, “Nana, you’re weak right now. Lie down and rest…”
“I’m asking you, where are my parents?”
Nana stared at Carl angrily.
Silence filled the hospital room as Carl held his sleeping daughter, unable to find the words to convey the news of Nana’s parents’ death.
As time passed, Nana’s thoughts gradually became clearer.
She recalled the scene she saw before losing consciousness.
“My parents are dead, burned to death in the fire…”
Nana murmured with vacant eyes.
Finally, she faced the harsh reality.
But with that realization came a mental breakdown. Nana couldn’t bear the pain of losing her parents and fell into a state of hysteria.
Nurses rushed in to comfort her, and Carl held his daughter while embracing Nana.
“Nana, be strong.”
Carl was also filled with grief, knowing that no words could ease the sorrow in Nana’s heart.
“Why did this happen? Why…”
Nana repeatedly questioned herself.
She remembered the warm and loving dinner they had as a family before the fire broke out.
“Why did this happen? Why…”
The pain of losing her parents was indescribable. Nana buried her head in Carl’s embrace, wishing that she could have been the one burned in the fire if time could be reversed.
Seeing Nana in such agony, Carl could only try his best to comfort her.
“Nana, at least you and Janelle are alive. Your father risked his life to save you. You must stay strong!”
Upon hearing Carl’s words, Nana recalled the scene of the fire once again.
She vividly heard her father’s agonizing groans as he rushed into the fire, even when his own body was on fire.
However, for the sake of his daughter and granddaughter’s survival, Jerry endured the pain and made it downstairs.
Nana’s breakdown worsened as guilt and self-blame made it impossible for her to maintain her composure.
The fire incident garnered attention online, and Scarlet saw the news in her rental house.
She even watched a video taken at the scene, showing Jerry and Tracy burned beyond recognition, and Nana collapsing on the spot due to the shock.
“This family’s tragedy is just too much!”
Scarlet was profoundly shocked, never expecting that such a sudden disaster would engulf Nana’s family.
Although Scarlet didn’t know what would happen next, besides being amazed, she also felt a sense of schadenfreude in her heart.