The Fire That Blew Out Just As Quickly As It Came

It was her. It had to be her. Her voice. Her hips weren't even, making her favor her left side. Madison...
And that's when I saw it. That polka dot umbrella. She used to tell me it made her feel safe.
It hurt like Hell, but i got up and walked over to Madison. I grabbed her by the shoulders. I just needed to look in her eyes. I had to know it was her.
"It's really you..." I whispered. But when I looked closer I could see that her face was streaked, as if she'd been crying. My eyebrows drew together in concern, which she picked up on.
"I can't believe it's you." her voice slightly trembled. She started crying. And not the reunited crying. Like someone had just died...
I could feel it in my bones now. As much as I could feel with my screwed up bones. Something was really, really wrong.
I hugged her closer to me, pressing her into my chest which must have made her aware of how thin I'd gotten and how fast my heart was beating.
She coughed and spattered words that seemed like pieces of a nonsensical sentence. She was still crying too hard to say anything that made sense. I held her at arms length.
"What's the matter, Madison?"
I pulled her back close to me as the door opened. A receptionist type woman and two security guards stood in the door. The receptionist turned on the lights. I blinked several times. Gosh, how long has it been since those were on? She looked utterly shocked, as if Madison was a terrorist and I was some sort of high ranking businessman.
"Do you know her?" the guard asked, nodding toward Madison. I nodded.
"She's my sister." having to actually SPEAK hurt my throat. I had whispered and cried a little but talking was long lost.
"What is she doing here? This is a private facility and visiting hours are over." People actually got VISITORS anymore? these animated corpses had people that wanted be with them?
Madison turned around inside my arms. I guess she needed more than an umbrella now. Finally, she spoke.
"My parents. Our parents." she swallowed. "They're dead."
Dead. In a place like this that word stung. It burned like fire curling the skin right off you.
"Dead?!" at least the three strangers and I were on the same page.
"Our house was very old. It set on fire. Last night." Her voice was still shaking but it was clear that she was trying to be taken seriously.
Then the dirt on her made sense. It wasn't dirt, it was ashes. I ran my hand down her bare arm. It felt textured. It was definitely burned. She looked over and my hand that now rested on her injured arm.
"Th-This is serious! We need to call someone right now!" the receptionist was clearly panic stricken.
"I'm old enough to be her legal guardian. And I'm first in line to take care of her" I wasn't about to let Madison go. Never in a million years.
The guard sighed. "There's no way in Hell that your qualified, Jasper."
The receptionist took out her cell phone and started to dial.
"Don't you dare call services!" I was snarling now. It was serious.
The guard clearly thought I was dangerous, which I guess I was at the moment. "We'll have to make some calls."
No! I can't let Madison live some middle aged drunk who's gonna mess with her!
"I can't let her stay with you unless I can call services, Jasper." the other guard clearly had less patients and was starting to get irked.
Completely out of body, I grabbed the knife from under the mattress that I had saved from that night that seemed so long ago. I pressed it against my throat without actually making a cut.
"She stays with me!" talking dug the knife slightly inward, but I had no control over the situation anymore.
The less patient guard seemed disinterested. "Jasper-"
The receptionist grabbed the guards arm. "He has leukemia! If he makes the slightest cut, he could bleed out in minutes!"
Madison was clearly petrified. She acted as though I had the knife to her throat.
"Jasper, please!" Madison had obviously slightly given up on staying and now only begged me to not make the cut. Because the receptionist was right. It wouldn't be long...
"He might be eligible! She stays or our numbers of deaths just went up." the opposing guard seemed to side in my favor. The knife hurt beyond belief and I could feel a drop on blood drip from the knife.
"He's bleeding!" the receptionist was apparently easily panicked.
"Fine! We'll see what we can do!" the frustrated guard finally spat out. He stormed out of the room. The other guard and receptionist followed turning the lights of on their way by.
Madison was still crying a little. I dropped the knife and pulled her back close to me.
"I could've lost everything in that fire. I'm not letting you go." I held her at arms length and wiped the dirt and ash off her face. But still in her hair and slightly on her forehead was a gleam of fresh blood.
But if all the pain of losing blood meant I could keep Madison with me, it was worth it. Every second of it.