Chapter 30- The Fire
As Skye headed to the park to meet Jax at 9:15pm, her phone rang. She pressed it to her ear. "Hi."
"Skye, where are you?" Rae asked. "John is on his way over. But are you okay?"
"I just… just stay with John. Don't leave his side."
"Why? What is going on?"
"Just stay with him," Skye insisted. "That's all I can say."
"Is someone threatening you?"
Skye found Jax sitting on a bench with a briefcase. "I gotta go."
"Skye—"
But Skye hung up and headed over to Jax. "Hey."
"Hey," Jax said.
She sat beside him awkwardly. "I'm sorry about this."
"Whoever you're giving the money to, I'm going with you."
"You can't!" Skye's eyes grew wide. "Look, I just… please just give me the money and leave. I can't tell you anymore."
He looked into her eyes with concern and nodded. "Okay." He handed her the briefcase.
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Rae paced her living room as she waited for John to come over. When he finally arrived, she hurried over to him. "Something's wrong. I need you take me back to Pine Valley."
John scrunched his face. "Okay. Why?"
"Skye's not telling me something and she told me to stay by your side. Just a few days ago she wanted us to break up."
"Does she think you're in danger?"
Rae shrugged. "I don't know. She's acting strange and says she can't tell me why. I'm worried about her."
He nodded. "Then let's go check on her."
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Myrtle sat down in her study to catch up on her book. She hadn't read it in a few weeks because of the amount of drama in her life now. She was so grateful for her new family, only she wished Erica would be a part of it. She sat in her comfy chair with her hot tea and her book, wondering when Skye would be home. After about 20 minutes, she could smell something burning.
When she opened the door to the hallway, she saw flames coming from Skye's bedroom. She gasped and hastened to the staircase, but something smacked her hard in the back of the head and everything went black.
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Skye stood next to the steps at the boathouse and stared out at the water. She wrapped one arm around herself as her other hand clenched the handle of the briefcase. She could still feel the bitter cold water in Port Charles down to the bone and she shivered. Was he going to push her in? She couldn't let that happen. Not again. So, she kept a safe distance away from the water.
Ring. Ring.
She jolted at her phone but held it close to her ear. "I'm here. I have the money. Now free Colby and Lila."
"Once again you have proven that you can't follow instructions," the voice said. "I specifically asked you to steal the money not ask a friend for it."
"What difference does that make? I got you the money! Now let them go!"
"Because of your lack of obedience, your Grandma Myrtle is paying for it."
Skye felt like a knife went through her gut. "You let her go! Where did you take her?"
"I didn't take her anywhere. While you froze in that boathouse, she will burn in her own house."
Skye was the one to hang up this time. She dropped the briefcase and started to run but bumped into Jax.
"What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself in to?"
"I don't have time to answer your questions!" Skye cried. "He's gonna kill my grandma!"
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When Rae and John pulled onto Myrtle's street, they saw the flames straightaway. John didn't even come to a full stop, but Rae jumped out of the car. Seconds later, John followed her.
"We have to get in there!" Rae cried. "Do you have your cell phone?"
John handed her his phone, then removed his coat and put it over his head.
Rae started to dial 9-1-1, but they could suddenly hear sirens in the distance. And the front door burst open and a coughing Stuart with soot all over him wobbled out carrying an unconscious Myrtle.
He laid her down in the snow and sat beside her, still coughing.
Rae dropped beside Myrtle and wrapped her coat around her. "Mama…"
John gave Stuart his coat and patted his back.
"Skye!" Rae's eyes bulged and her heart sped up. She jumped to her feet. "We have to go get her!"
"Stuart, did you see any sign of Skye?" John asked.
Stuart shook his head. "I just found Myrtle. I'll go look for her!" Stuart started to get up, but John encouraged him to sit down.
"I'll go get her," John offered.
The sirens got closer and closer and a fire truck pulled up in front of Myrtle's house, followed by an ambulance and a police car.
John was about to run in, but a fire fighter stopped him. "You can't go in there."
"But my daughter is in there!" Rae shouted.
Some paramedics rushed over to Myrtle and more firefighters got their hose ready.
"I'll go in," the first fire fighter offered.
"Well, hurry!" Rae said frantically.
Another firefighter placed a gas mask over his face and handed one to the first. John wrapped his arms around Rae's waist from behind.
"Noo! Noo!" They whipped around to find Skye standing at the edge of the driveway with Jax. She walked closer but dropped to her knees sobbing as she watched the paramedics place oxygen masks over Stuart and Myrtle's faces and lift them on to stretchers. "I'm too late! This is all my fault!"
Rae breathed a sigh of relief and ran over to Skye. She knelt beside her, kissed the top of her head, and wrapped her arms around her. "I thought you were in there."
"It's all my fault…" Skye cried. "Grandma's gonna die and it's all my fault… And Uncle Stuart was in there too!"
"Skye…" Rae scream whispered. "Stop talking. The police are listening. They will misinterpret what you're saying."
"But it's all my fa-au-au-lt…" she said loudly anyway.
"Skye, you need to tell them, or I will," Jax said.
Skye shook her head. "I can't—I can't. I don't want it to be my mom next…"
Rae rubbed her back. "What is going on?"
"I'd like to know that too," Derek said walking over to them."
"Skye is being threatened," Jax spoke up.
Skye jumped to her feet and started punching his chest. "Just shut up! Shut up!"
"You can't be dealing with this on your own, Skye," Jax said. "Give the officer your phone."
"But he'll kill Mom next!" Skye cried.
"Is this why you've been acting so strange?" Rae asked.
The ambulance took off down the street while the firemen worked on putting out the fire.
John walked closer to them. "Will you feel more comfortable telling me, Skye? I want to help you. You know I would do anything to protect your mother."
Skye shook her head. "I can't. I'll go away. I'll go far away so he won't hurt anyone again!"
"Who is he?" John asked.
Skye chewed hard on her index finger.
"Skye called me today saying she needed a million dollars, and it was an emergency," Jax said. "But she couldn't tell me why. She was overly emotional, and I heard about Lila Quartermaine, so I figured it was urgent. I met her at the park and gave her a briefcase, but it was filled with monopoly money. Skye wouldn't let me go with her meet this person, but I hung around in the bushes to make sure she was okay. That's when she got the phone call. It was short. But she said she got the money now let Colby and Lila go. Then she went into a huge panic, hung up, and ran into me. I asked her what was going on, but she said he's going to kill her grandma. So, I brought her home and we found the house on fire. That is all I know. Skye will need to give you the rest of the details."
"So, Colby and Lila's kidnappings are connected to Myrtle's house fire," John said. "Do you know who has been threatening you, Skye?"
"He's already said to much." More tears streamed down Skye's cheeks. "I just want to get to the hospital."
"Let me take Skye to the hospital," Rae said. "We'll make sure Mama is okay and then I'll try to talk to Skye."
