Repentance

Kyle remembered where the little girl's room was and opened her door. She was not in the unmade bed. The ladder was still folded under the window. He yelled out and got a lung full of smoke. As his anxiety built and the smoke increased, he searched under her bed and in her closet. She was not there. His mind was searching for a clue when he heard a bullhorn from outside the house. "Kyle, get out. There is no one home. Repeat, there is no one home."

Kyle felt foolish, but infinitely relieved. He went back to the door to see that going back down the stairs was not possible. He went to the girl's window, opened it and let the ladder down. The guys were going to tease him unmercifully for having to use his own ladder to save himself. Just as he got one leg out the window, it hit. A hammer blow to the chest. Numbness in his left arm. The pain was severe. He passed out.

He lasted in the hospital long enough to tell his story before he died.

That night Caroline was not on fire when she came to him. She was smiling. "Welcome, Daddy, you're going to like it here."

*****

BACKLASH

The tributes to Kyle came from wide and far except in one solitary instance. Emily sat in a bar celebrating while most of the people in the bars watched the tribute on the TV and cried. The crowd was silent when Emily screamed out, "Serves the mother-fucker right. The world is better off without him. He killed my daughter." She gulped down her drink and quickly ordered another. She noticed the whole bar was staring at her and the stares were not friendly. "What? You idiots fell for that bullshit?"

There was not a chance for a response from the crowd, when ABC announced they were playing a follow-up program to the one they had aired earlier where Emily had made a lot of accusations about Kyle and Caroline's Ladders. She watched the replay with pride. After the ending line of her saying, "Name me one child that has been saved by Caroline's Ladders. I bet you can't" the narrator announced. "After that episode, we took Emily's challenge. We asked people to send in the names of people who had been saved by one of Caroline's Ladders. We checked out every name and story we were given with local fire and police authorities. We will now play for you the video responses from children who we can say with absolute certainty were saved by Caroline's Ladders."

There was child after child who said on camera, "I was saved by one of Caroline's Ladders." It seemed like the video was going on forever.

A woman at the bar got up in Emily's face and asked, "Is that good enough for you, bitch?"

"That's just TV. Just because he said they had checked it out, doesn't mean it's true. Do you know anyone personally who has been saved by one of the ladders? I didn't think so." Just then another woman approached her and slapped Emily in the face.

"My niece was saved by one of Caroline's Ladders. She couldn't be more precious to me than if I had her myself. Now, bitch, are you going to call me a liar? If so, you and I are stepping outside for an old-fashioned cat fight."

*****

Emily was lying in the Emergency Room when a person from Admissions came in and announced to the nurse. "That's the woman who says Caroline's Ladders program is bogus. By the way, her insurance doesn't check out. Let her know she'll have to pay herself."

Emily shouted out, "I heard that. I'll have you know that I am covered under my husband's health insurance."

The Admissions staff person spoke up again. "According to the insurance company, he took you off the plan recently when he filed for divorce. Do you have some other insurance we don't know about?" Emily didn't have a response for that fact.

The staff person said to the nurse, "I wish that meant we didn't have to treat her."

The nurse responded, "No, we still have to treat her, but we don't have to spend more than the minimum amount of time and treatment on her."

"The nurse turned to Emily. Here, Ms. Granger. These are band-aids and Neosporin. You are ready to go now as soon as they calculate the bill. It should only be about $2800 for Emergency Room care, not counting the ambulance ride."

"What? You can't just give me simple first aid? What about x-rays? Band-aids and Neosporin I could have done at home."

"Guess what? You can still do it at home."

*****

From that day on, Emily had to be content to stay home most days for her own safety. She used the internet and social media to keep up her campaign against her deceased ex-husband and Caroline's Ladders. She wasn't too surprised to receive a letter from Kyle's lawyer. Her first guess was that she was being sued for slander or libel. She had one wild thought that Kyle might have left her money in his will. She was anxious as she read the letter enclosed. It was a letter from Kyle written so as to be sent upon his death.

"Emily,

"For many years, I was willing to take this knowledge to the grave and was not ever going to tell you. Given how your hate has hurt Caroline's Ladders, I now share this with you. It was hard not to make this public, but I couldn't do that to you because of what I have caused you to suffer. Emily, I know that Caroline was not my biological daughter."

Emily put the letter down in shock. She thought, "How could he have known? If he had known, he would have said something earlier. I never told anyone, and her real father didn't even know." She continued reading.

"When you and Caroline were in the hospital from the car accident when she was just three, I was asked to donate blood for her. Of course, I volunteered. That's when I was told that my blood wasn't a good match for Caroline. I had a DNA test done. The first finding wasn't a big surprise, I was not the father of Caroline. I was surprised to learn that you had cheated on me. It turns out that was only a small surprise. What I found out that was a big surprise was that the DNA shows that Caroline's father was a close relative of yours! I did a quick calculation and remembered that nine months prior to Caroline's birth, your brother left for Iraq. You had gone to visit your family to see him off. I guess you helped him get off in more ways than one. My adultery with Beth was wrong, but at least my adultery was not incestuous. When your brother died in Iraq, I guess you saw no need to tell anyone else.

"I didn't say anything at the time because I loved Caroline so much. I wouldn't have said anything to you ever if you hadn't gone on this crusade to tear down what good work has been done in her memory. Emily, by hindering what Caroline's Ladders is doing, you are KILLING children. I've killed one child and I know how I have suffered every day of my life since then. Do you really want to suffer like I have?

"Well, I hope I have made sure you will at least think about how what you're doing may cause other people to suffer. May God forgive you and me both.

"Kyle"

*****

EPILOGUE

"Dad, did you hear about Mom?"

"No Caroline, what?"

"She killed herself yesterday."

"No, I hadn't heard. Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry for you. Sweetheart, I don't know all the rules here yet. Does this mean you have to greet her or am I supposed to?"

"Dad, she didn't make it up here."