"My brother is in there!" he shouted.

"Jason! Get away from there!" a familiar voice shouted. It was Carl Kramer. He had just pulled up, all dressed up in his fishing gear. But Jason ignored his father's order and disappeared into the flames and smoke. Carl then ran for the house, but he was held back by two firemen. He could not believe that both of his sons were in there and cringed at the thought. The small team of firemen, mostly volunteers, was in the process of taking their rescue gear in when a vehicle emerged from the smoke. The Cherokee rolled out of the garage, down the small incline, and into the side yard. Right behind it crawled a figure that was coughing violently and covered in black soot. The firemen let Carl go and he immediately ran to the helpless body.

"Adam! Are you all right?" he asked as he grabbed up his son and dragged him away from the fire. Adam just coughed and gagged, but nodded his head that he was fine.

Carl looked back at the Cherokee and then looked around again. He thought that he saw a second figure come out, but he did not see Jason.

"Adam, where is Jason?" he asked. Adam looked up at him with fear in his eyes.

"I thought he was out here?" Adam replied in between coughs.

"Oh, God," Carl muttered. He got up and made his way to the house, but he was stopped in his tracks by the shouts of the firemen. Two firemen ran from the fire, carrying a motionless body and putting it on the ground. Carl let out a sigh of relief, but that relief was short-lived when he noticed that the firemen were getting ready to perform CPR. He immediately ran over to see how his oldest son was doing. Adam was horrified. He tried to make his way over to his brother, but his strength was zapped. He tried to call out to Jason, but his throat was raw and hoarse. So he prayed. He prayed that his brother's life would be spared. Adam never thought that Jason would follow him into the garage, but then again, he should have known that Jason would do anything for his safety. The guilt came from within and overcame him. He started to sob, but it was so hard to breathe. He saw two squads pull up and two paramedics ran to Jason and began to work on him. Then he felt a set of hands grab him and lay him on his back.

"Go and help my brother. I will be fine," He gasped.

"You don't look too good so please just lay back," a lady paramedic told him. "They will take good care of your brother."

He kept looking over towards Jason, but all he saw was a crowd of people and his father standing watching over the scene with a very worried face. He then glanced up towards the house and noticed that the fire was totally extinguished. Adam tried to recall if he had turned everything off, but he could not remember. His thoughts were clouded with concern for his brother. If anything happened to Jason, it would definitely be his fault. But his thoughts began to slow down and it seemed like the world around him was moving slowly. A wave of tiredness overcame him. Adam tried to fight it, but he could not stay awake. His last thought was a final prayer for Jason. "Please save my big brother. I will not do anything stupid like this again if you save my brother."

When Adam woke up, everything around him was quiet at first. Then he noticed that he had a mask over his mouth and he was lying in a bed. Oh no, not the hospital again he thought. Then he heard a familiar voice echo in his thoughts.

"I think the dead has awakened," a raspy voice said. Adam looked over to where the voice had came from and was relieved to see his brother sitting up in the bed next to him. Jason looked worn out, but he was alive.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," Adam said almost in a whisper. His throat was burning and it made it hard to talk. He pulled the mask off of his face and turned towards Jason. "How did you get the window bed?" "I guess they felt more sorry for me," he replied with a grin. Then his face turned serious. "How are you?"

"I will live, and you? You had me scared for awhile. They said you stopped breathing."

"That is what Dad told me. But the doctor just said I would be fine. I just have to take it easy for the next two days."

"Where is Dad?"

"He is talking to the insurance adjuster. I guess the adjuster is going out to look at the damage."

"Oh, I have been racking my brain trying to remember if I left anything on. Mom and Dad are going to kill me, but I double checked everything before we left," Adam said as he put his hands up to his head.

Jason was silent for a moment. He himself wondered how the fire started. He did not want to say it to Adam, but he also was wondered if Adam's memory problems had played a part in the fire. But Jason would never say that because he knew that it would upset Adam even more.

"I have really messed up this time," Adam said looking at the ceiling.

"Adam, they don't know what started it and it was an accident either way," Jason replied.

Adam turned over and looked straight at Jason. "Jason, I burned our house down."

"No you didn't." He was about to comment more when a whirlwind of a person rushed into the room. It took a second to realize that the blur was their mother. She was hysterical. Alyssa soon followed, wheeling her wheelchair. Mrs. Kramer went to each of her boys and hugged them fiercely. Alyssa went over by Adam and grabbed his hand. Mr. Kramer came into the room and sat down in the chair beside Jason's bed.

"What did he say?" Jason asked his father.

"He is going out there now to determine what is going to happen. I guess we are going to stay here tonight. The adjuster is going to come back here and let me know how bad things are and what the firemen said about it," Mr. Kramer explained. It was apparent that he was very tired from the night's events.

"All that matters is that my sons are just fine," Mrs. Kramer announced, still shaken from hearing about the fire.

"What did happen?" Mr. Kramer asked finally.

"We came back from the hardware and saw flames coming from the garage," Jason recounted.

"So how did you end up in the fire then?" Mr. Kramer asked, sitting up.

"Well, we-" Jason started to say. But Adam cut him off.

"No, I went into the garage while Jason called 911," Adam spoke up. "Jason followed me in."

"What? Why on Earth did you do that? No one was in the house," Laura Kramer said with a stern voice.

"Yes, I want to hear this too," Alyssa asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, your Cherokee was in there," Adam said dropping his head. He knew that it was not a good answer, but it was the truth. "I wanted to save the Cherokee and the house. I mean the gas tank could have exploded and then we would have lost everything."

"Adam Christopher Kramer! I can't believe that is your reason for almost getting yourself killed along with Jason," Laura fired back. "Yeah, I could have lost everything--- everything that mattered to me was not in that house."

"Adam, you should have left it in there," Alyssa seconded that. She was in shock. She could not believe that her boyfriend and his brother almost died by getting her vehicle out of a fire.

"I am sorry Mom, I was just trying to help," Adam said quietly. "I didn't know that Jason would follow me in. He should have stayed outside."

"What?" Jason said, looking over at him with a crazed look. "Do you honestly think I am going to stand by and let you kill yourself!" "I knew what I was doing and I can take care of myself Jason," Adam retorted. He knew he was wrong, but he felt like Jason did not have to follow him in.

"You sure proved yourself on that one. Look who is the hospital bed again," Jason sneered back.

"Jason Matthew!" Laura said raising her voice again.

Carl Kramer, seeing that this conversation was not going anywhere, got up form his chair and stood in the middle of the room.

"Look, everyone needs to stop arguing. What matters is that everyone is fine," He said in a soothing voice.

Everyone looked at each other and the mood changed in the room.

"I am sorry Adam. I went in after you because I was scared something had happened to you," Jason said, fidgeting with his blankets. 'If that is a crime, then you will have to deal with it."

"I know Jason, I am sorry too. I just did not think," Adam said looking over at his older brother.

"That is better. We have to concentrate on the fact that everything is going to be fine," Carl said, walking over to his wife. 'We have been through worse times."

After discussing the fire and the trip to San Diego, the adjuster returned with good news. The house was just fine so Mr. and Mrs. Kramer could go home, but the garage area would have to be repaired. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you know what caused the fire?" Adam asked anxiously.

"It appears to have started from a pile of rags in the corner of the garage," the adjuster said. "It is being ruled as an accidental fire."

"But I don't remember putting any rags over there?" Adam mumbled.

"But you was working on the vehicle right?" the adjuster asked him.

"Yes, I was changing the starter and I drained the oil," Adam answered.

"Well, then you must have laid some rags down," the adjuster said in a matter of fact tone.

"It is okay Adam, these things happen," Carl Kramer responded. He figured his son was upset over the fire.

Adam never said anything else as the adjuster discussed last minute details with his parents. Then his parents kissed them each good night with the promise of coming back first thing in the morning. Laura got behind Alyssa to wheel her out since they were going to take her home. She turned and said, "No fighting, everything is going to be fine."

Both boys nodded as the lights were turned off and they were left in the dark. Jason noticed that Adam was tossing around a little after his parents left the room. He figured that he was upset over the fire, but Adam was going to have to understand that it was an accident.

"Adam?"

"What?"

"Don't blame yourself."

Jason heard a long pause and then a sigh.

" Adam, I mean it. It was an accident. You would never mean to do anything to the house."

"That is not the problem Jason."

Adam saw his brother's shadow raise up in his bed. "Then tell me what the problem is then," Jason replied attentively.

"Something weird is going on."

"What?" Jason said almost impatiently.