Ashes

Sel drow up the graveled road to the stable. Or where the stable used to be. The sun hit his face on an angle through the autumn leaves. Big piles of them had already fallen down, and laid as low barriers on the sides of the road, pushed to the side by the wind of cars that had passed by. He pushed down a gear to make the last slope up towards the parking lot. As the building came into sight, the smell of smoke hit his nose. He parked his moped on the far end of the open space, and stood by it for a moment, taking in what he saw. The walls were blackened, partially from being burnt, but also from the dust in the smoke. What remained of the roof was ashe white. Most of it had collapsed down, and had landed on top floor, where the cafeteria and Katkin's room where.

"What are you doing here boy?" A voice called out.

Sel looked over and saw someone come out of the family house. A lanky man, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, and with a receding hairline, was making his way over to him.

"I just wanted to see the…" in loss of words what to call it, Sel simply raised a hand towards the stable.

The man stop beside him, and took a good look at him. Sel held his helmet in his hands, and fidgeted a little on it.

"You're one of the kids that were here right?" the man finally said.

"Erhm. Yes sir."

"Admiring your handiwork?"

"No not at all sir. I'm very sorry-"

"No need, no need. Come with me." the man waved his hand in the air and started walking up to the husk of the building.

Sel quietly followed, helmet still in hand. He was unsure of the man's intentions, but he didn't seem as angry as Sel would have thought that someone who just lost a stable would be. They walked up to the main doors, or rather the pile of burnt wood that had stopped Dabria from reentering. Now that he had rounded the corner, Sel could see that the horses were separated into smaller enclosures, instead of being loose in the paddock like last he saw them, eating on small piles of hay or just standing. The man walked up to the wooden fence of one enclosure and leaned on it with his arms, looking at the horse in it. Sel follow and also leaned on the fence.

"You know how many horses there are here?" the man asked without looking at Sel.

Sel looked around, trying to make up a number.

"Maybe twenty five, sir?"

"Twenty three. And you don't need to say sir." He turned his head and smiled a little at Sel.

Sel let down his guard slightly.

"It was a damn good job you all did. Getting them all out. Didn't lose a single horse hair, or life for that sake." He looked back at the animals. "Even the cats made it."

"Again, I'm so sorry about what happened-" Sel started again.

"Don't be kid. Or sure, you can be sorry. But not for me."

The man stood up straight, he waved over his shoulder again as he started to walk around the stable.

"I wanna show you something."

Sel looked around, they were alone. The man seemed kind, but if this was all an act then no one would know that he was here.

"I'm not gonna kill you boy!" The man shouted from behind the corner.

Sel put down his helmet on the ground, and slowly followed to where the man had gone. Around the corner was another door into the stables. It was not as affected by the fire, and the whole wall seemed sturdier on this side. The man opened the door wide, revealing a haystack.

"This is where we keep all the hay, or used to, until recently."

He walked into the big room, and shuffled some hay to the side as he made his way to one of the walls.

"Look here." He pointed at the wooden wall.

Sel made his way over, looking up to make sure nothing was suddenly going to fall down on him. But the ceiling seemed to hold well enough. He looked to where the man pointed his finger, and could see black and almost greenish marks on the wall.

"This ain't from the fire." The man said. "I would tell you to try and smell this room but it all just smell of smoke now." He exited the room and gestured for Sel to follow once more.

"The whole thing is molding. Started on the backside, towards the forest. That's where we have the rinsing stall, where we wash the horses. The water eventually made its way into the wood. Then it crept along the walls and infected rooms we didn't spend too much time in, so we didn't notice it until it was to late."

Sel listened and nodded.

"Long story short, the whole thing was infected. It would have had to be rebuilt from the ground up." He looked at Sel, waiting for him to catch on. "So?"

Sel just looked at the man, not sure what he wanted him to say.

"So… It wasn't such a bad thing that it burnt down?" He tried.

He felt like it was almost wrong to say that this accident had led to something that was even remotely good.

"There you go. I would not have prefered this way, but it was going down soon anyway. And no one got hurt-" the man interrupted himself when he saw Sel lower his eyes to the ground. "Oh sorry, of course. Katkin. But I heard that she will be okay right? I'm sorry, that was a bit clumsy of me."

"Yeah she'll be fine." Sel forced a smile to keep the tears away.

He had been so anxious. The whole trip in the ambulance, he had been sitting there, knowing that she was in one of the other cars, but not how bad the situation was. Was se burnt? Was she alive? The trip to the hospital felt like it took forever, and when they got there, they hadn't been allowed to see her at first, and weren't told anything until she woke up.

A hand on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts from spiraling even further.

"Ey kid. Don't go there. She's going to be alright." The man squatted slightly to meet his eyes. "You know what, Imma give you a little something, to keep your mind of it."

He started to walk away again, this time towards the house. Sel simply followed, that seemed to have become his roll. He wiped the sleeve of his hoodie across his face, to dry away the little pool that had started to gather in the corner of his eye. They went all the way up to the house, and the man gestured for Sel to sit on a bench on the porch, before going inside. Sel waited for a moment, taking some breathes trying to make himself calmer. When the door opened again, Ma'am the cat, exited the house. Behind her came the man, carrying a kitten.

"Nothing like a new friend in times of darkness." he said and put the kitten down in Sel's lap.

Ma'am rubbed herself against Sel's legs and laid down at his feet. Sel took the kitten in his hands, and held it up to his face to look at it. It looked back, with big eyes. The kitten caught a glimpse of the straps on Sel's hoodie, and playfully clawed out to try and hit it. Sel smiled at the little creature.

"What are you going to name it?" The man said and sat down beside him.

"I can't just take this cat?" Sel said, hoping he would be told he was wrong.

"Of course you can, he's all yours." The man patted his back.

Sel held the kitten close to his chest.

"I think his name is going to be Flen."

"That's not a bad one. You hear that Ma'am, first one that's got a name now." He bent over and petted the cat on the ground.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Sel said and continued hugging Flen.

Flen cuddled into Sel, before realising he was now closer to the straps of the hoodie and started to chew on one of them.