The apartment barely existed anymore. I stood behind police tape while firefighters moved through the blackened remains and smoke still drifted lazily from parts of the structure despite the fire being mostly contained.
Everything looked smaller. Sadder and broken.
The windows were gone, the roof had partially collapsed and the tiny apartment that once represented freedom now looked like a burned skeleton.
Knox stood beside me silently and for once neither of us spoke. There wasn’t much to say.
The fire marshal walked through the wreckage with two investigators while cameras flashed from local reporters gathered near the street.
Apparently the story had become news. Again. Everything became news lately.
I stared at what remained of my front window and the same window that once g
