"Natalie?" Vince asked as he rushed to the window. As he got closer he could see Mr. Kitteridge was there too, pulling back the blinds and pushing open the window. "Let me call for help. Hang on."
"No, wait," Blaine called out. "Help me get her down."
Vince nodded and stood by ready to help.
Only the upper portion of the window opened outward, but it looked like there was just enough space for a person to squeeze through. Blaine gave Natalie a boost and she lifted her leg over the top of the window.
As she tried to pull herself over, Natalie slipped. But Vince was ready and waiting to catch her and help her land safely to her feet.
"You okay?" Vince asked as he set Natalie to the ground.
"Yeah." She was feeling a bit dazed, but managed a slight smile as she looked up at him. "Thanks."
Natalie barely had a moment to regain her balance before Blaine was calling to Vince from the window.
"Here, grab this," Blaine said as he held his laptop case out of the window and lowered it as much as he could before dropping it into Vince's waiting arms.
As soon as Vince had the laptop, Blaine moved away from the window.
"Dad, hurry! Get out of there!" Natalie pleaded.
A second later, Blaine was back at the window with a chair to step up on so that he could hoist himself through the window.
"Get back!" he called out to both of them.
"Be careful!" Natalie called out anxiously as Blaine lifted himself over the window.
Before he could lower himself to the ground there was a blast inside the building. The force of the explosion threw Blaine from the window.
He landed to the ground unconscious.
* * * * *
Vanessa opened the Kitteridge's front door and walked into the foyer without knocking. "Cassie?" she called out tentatively. She had barely taken two steps when Cassie hurried toward her, phone and purse in hand. "I came as soon as I could. Now what's going on?"
"Can you watch the kids? I-" Before she could finish her sentence went pale and gasped. Overcome with the most intense wave of pain and desperation. She didn't know what was going on, but she did know one thing. "I have to get to Blaine."
As Cassie rushed toward the door, Vanessa put up her hands to stop her. "You are in no state to go out and drive. I'll call Logan and have him check on Blaine."
"There's no time. It's too late," Cassie gasped, hysterically.
Vanessa was already on the phone, waiting for her husband to pick up. "Where is he? Logan will get to him."
"No, no. I have go to him. He's in trouble," Cassie insisted as she wrestled with Vanessa to reach the front door.
"You aren't any good to him like this. You have to calm down, hon. Take a breath."
"I can't. I can't."
The commotion had attracted the attention of the rest of the household. Vanessa looked sympathetically at the children as they ventured into the foyer to see what was going on with their mother.
"Think of the kids," she whispered, hoping Cassie would pull herself together for their sake, but she just shook her head and continued to press toward the door.
"If you must go, you aren't going alone," Vanessa said firmly. "Let Logan drive you. He can be here as fast as you can get to the end of the driveway."
"Fine," Cassie agreed. "I agree. Now will you let me-" Her words were cut off short as her body jerked. She let out a horrified gasp and collapsed to the floor.
* * * * *
"Dad!" Natalie cried out as she and Vince hurried to Blaine's side.
Vince lightly shook Blaine's shoulder hoping to rouse him, but got no response. Frantically he tried to remember what his mom had taught him about emergency first aid. He felt Blaine's neck for a pulse and found none. He hoped that just meant he didn't know what he was doing and wasn't checking the right spot. When he leaned closer it didn't look like Blaine was breathing either.
"Oh man," he muttered, knowing this was bad.
"Is he-" Natalie started as she looked at Vince with wide-eyed concern, but she didn't know how to finish that sentence.
Vince fumbled in his pocket for his phone and handed it to Natalie. "Call 911."
As Natalie struggled to work the phone with shaking fingers, Vince looked down at Blaine and tried to think through the panic. He knew you weren't supposed to move an injured person, but he needed to roll Blaine over on his back. He checked again for a pulse and breath, but found no signs of either. He desperately tried to recall all the steps of CPR.
Natalie silently prayed as she watched Vince and her father and waited for someone to answer the phone. As the 911 operator's voice came over the line, she turned her attention away while Vince started doing compressions.
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