She appeared through the haze like a ghost made of starlight. Her face was pale, streaked with soot, but her eyes were alive with fierce urgency.

  She didn’t run past me.

  She ran toward me.

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  “Are you paralyzed? Are you crazy?” she shouted. “You’ll die if you stay here!”

  She grabbed my hand. Her skin was cool despite the inferno around us.

  For a moment, the world narrowed to the space between our palms.

  As we ran through the burning streets, I heard her whispering a prayer.

  “God, please save these people… hide them from the heat… punish the monster who did this.”

  Her voice trembled, yet it carried a strange courage.

  Each word struck my chest like a stone.

  I had started the fire to save a friend.

  Yet I was being rescued by the very soul I had endangered.