For Everything a Reason
Chapter 10: Everything's on Fire
I'm at the beach with Holden. He's throwing rocks into the waves right before they sweep over the cold sand; giving the tiny grains a clean slate. I'm sitting on a blanket sketching the sight before me. The sun is setting and the sky is a brilliant dark pink with layers of vivid oranges and yellows. The hair at the nape of Holden's neck is starting to curl up from the sea water. His eyes are sparkling with the amusement of a five-year-old. I can taste the serenity in the air. I close my eyes and lean my head back to breathe it all in. I reach my hand out to feel the cool sand. Just as the it begins to fall through my fingers I let out a high pitch shriek in surprise. The sand is burning hot.
"AHHHHH!" Holden yelps as he jumps about like a hyperactive child. The blanket underneath me bursts into a bright inferno. I quickly jump off only to have my feet greated by scorching sand. "Get in the water!" Holden yells as the sand begins to sprout flames. I retreat to the glistening water as the flames lick at my naked feet. I splash ungracefully into the water and grab onto Holden for support. "What is this shit?!" Holden demands irritably. "I... I don't understand," I mutter in disbelief. Before I even realize what's happening the water around us begins to bubble. "Oh god," I screech. The fire on the beach has managed to ignite an equally frightening set of flames on the water. "How is this even possible?!" Holden yells, clawing into the water with frustration . "It's not!" I respond. I try to swim further out but it's futile. Within seconds the flames have themselves wrapped around us. I'm on fire. I'm in the middle of the ocean and I'm on fire. I open my mouth to scream but then there's a bright flash and-
My eyes shoot open and I sharply inhale, desperate for clean air. I'm back in my room with Paisley shacking my shoulders. "Jesus you're hard to wake up," she says before dropping my shoulders. I fall back into a heap of pillows, blinking in disorientation. I was very surpised to find Paisley sitting in front of me. I kind of figured she hated my guts after the past few days, but here she was calmly perched on the side of my bed. "I can't go two days without someone waking me up, can I?" I say, rubbing my tired eyes. "You looked like you were having a nightmare. So you know what? You're welcome," she says, scowling at me. "You're right. Thanks," I say sincerely. "Believe it or not I actually woke you up for a reason. Not just to piss you off," she nibbles on her bottom lip nervously.
"What's going on?"
"Come on," she beckons for me to follow her.
"On a scale of chipping a nail tothe Cuban Missile Crisis how bad is it?"
"The Cuban Missle what?"
"Back in 1962-"
"Oh my god we don't have time for one of your ancient history lessons!" Paisley grabs my arms and hauls me out of bed with a force I didn't know she was capable of.
She drags me through the halls and down the stairs into the living room. "Where is everyone?" I ask, noticing the emptiness. "The rents left early this morning with another vague explantion and Holden and Declan went toexplore the woods," Paisley says blandly. "Oh," My eyes dart to the well sized TV. A picture of a modest building built completely out of wooden planks is frozen on the screen. "That's the thrift store we were at the other day," I point out, not understanding the big deal. "Watch," she instructs as she presses play. I watch the screen a attentively.
My hand flys to my mouth with a gasp at the scene plays out before me. I see images of an untamable fire burning the store down to a charred skeleton of what it used to be. People are watching in horror as a few brave citizens try to diminish the flames with buckets of water. "What happened?" I turn to Paisley whose expression of disgust mirrors my own. "They don't know for sure, but they think someone torched it on purpose," Paisley explains with an edge to her voice that makes my spine go rigid. "You have a suspicion, " I state. "I'm surprised you don't," her eyes widen slightly. Whoa talk about role reversal. I take a moment to review the past few days and run through everyone we'd come in contact with. Paisley is starring at me anxiously, twirling an amber ring around her fingure. The color of the ring reminds me of something. Oh!
"Those people we saw at the thrift store. The Capitol kids," I perk up now that my brain seems to be functiong properly. "There ya go. I was worried you were starting to lose it," She smiles crookedly at me. "Yeah me, too," I bite my pillowy bottom lip. "It makes sense because-" "I'm so sorry," I blurt out, overcome with an intense pang of guilt. "What?" Paisley says, taken aback, " Is this real life?" "I don't give you enough credit. I shouldn't be treating you the way I have been lately. I was wrong. It's not you're fault I've been a horrid bitch. I shouldn't have lashed out at you the way that I did and I'm sorry," I apologize. Paisley looks at me with her mouth gaping open in shock. I rarely apologize. Paisley composes herself and walks over to me. "I'll forgive you if you tell me where and what you and Holden were doing last night. I know you lied to me," she crosses her arms infront of her chest. I take in a deep breath and explain everything to her. From the very beginning.
By the end of the story she's bouncing up and down with giddiness. "I don't understand what you're so excited about," I tilt my head to the side. My hair brushses softly against the bare skin. "What's not to be excited about?! This trip might actually be fun! Sneaking around, come on that's gotta be a total thrill! Plus Tate is hot, and hot guys usually have hot friends," Paisley's head is bobbing up and down. I smile and laugh at my friend. Just like that things are back to normal with us. That's the good thing about true friends. No matter how pissed off you get at them or they get at you, at the end of the day whatever you fought about is cancelled out by all the good times you had together and how much you love them.
"We should go tell Tate about your theory," I insist. "You sure you want me to come? "Paisley teases. "Yeah definitely. As long as you don't rip his clothes off right then and there," I say, heading for the door. "No promises!" Paisley calls from behind me as she jogs to catch up.
We're standing infront of the bakery contemplating how to go about this. "Should we both go in?" Paisley whispers to me. "No, definitely not," I shake my head. "Me?" she tries again. I consider it for a moment. "No, you look too much like your mom," I sigh. "Your mannerisms might tip them off, too much like your dad," she lets out a irritated breath. "Well, we need to come up with something soon because we probably look sketchy as hell just standing here!" I whisper back. "Hey look," Paisley points to the back door. My eyes scan the vacinity. A tall muscular blonde boy has a trash bag thrown over each of his shoulders and he's heading for the dumpster behind the bakery. "Tate!" I yell as I run after him. So much for being calm and reserved. Paisley starts in the same direction once she recovers from the initial shock caused by my outburst.
Tate drops the trash and turns to face us. He smiles once he realizes who we are and his grey eyes light up. "Hey guys, where's the fire?" He jokes. "About two blocks from here," I say, reminding him. His eyes go wide. "Shit, I didn't think about what I was saying," he says regretfully. "That's actually why we're here," Paisley chimes in. "To discuss my lack of a mental filter?" Tate looks genuinly surprised. "No, to discuss the fire," I correct him. "Oh right," he blushes a light pink. The only boy I had ever seen blush was my brother since it was literally impossible to embarass Holden. I quickly decide that it is cute when boys blushs. Tate especially. Paisley nudges me to break my trance. "So about the fire?" Tate smirks. I scowl. "We think we the capital kids did it," Paisley enlightens him. He purses his lips as he thinks about what he's just been told. Amidst his thoughts a warm breeze sweeps his light blonde hair off of his forehead to reveal a tiny scar right above his left eyebrow. I wonder where it came from.
"You're probably right," he concludes.
"What does it mean?" Paisley asks nervously.
"They're probably trying to make a statement," I offer.
"I"m surprised it's taken them this long to act out. You see the way they look at people. It's murderous," The corner of Tate's mouth pull down.
"Do you think it has to do with the anniversary?" I ask.
Tate and Paisley exchange a glance. I fidget with loops on my jeans while I wait for someone to say something. "I'd bet on it," Tate confirms. "So they're not done yet?" Paisley's face drops with my stomach. "Not even close," he says ruefully. "We need to tell Holden," I say instinctively. Holden was my safe haven. He usually knew how to handle a situation. He had to be calm in a crisis from an early age considering he was the man of the house. "I'm coming with you," Tate says, heaving the trash bags into the dumpster. "Uhhh..." Paisley looks at me. It wouldn't be fair to tell him he couldn't come since we were the runs who came running to him. "Okay," I say skeptically. With that we start towards the house.
"Are they home?" Paisley asks from behind me. "Maybe," I reply. We're standing behind the bushes across from the house looking suspicious yet again. "It's a nice house. Very grand and well constructed," Tate observes. "Are you seriously admiring architecture right now?" I give him a side glance. "Just look at it! Like really look at it," he persists. I sigh and focus on the house before us. The house is a large mansion with sandy colored bricks. Two large windows are placed on the the left and right of the rounded doorway. A long cobblestone pathway leeds up to the mahoganny door. The shrubbery lining the path is in perfect condition. Tate is right, the house is very aesthetically pleasing. "Yeah, it's beautiful," I agree. " I'll go inside to see if Holden's back yet, you guys stay here," I instruct.
I slowly open the door and peer around it without stepping foot in the house. "Holden?" I call out. There's no response at first, but then I hear light footsteps. Holden walks in to the foyer wearing nothing but a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. "For christs sake Holden, put some clothes on," I step out from behind the door. "You have no idea how lucky you are to behold such a glorious sight," he says flattening his palm against his well defined abdomen. His entire body is decorated with tiny water droplets that sparkle like crystals in the light. A few droplets fall from the tips of his dark brown hair down his sharp cheek bones and across his parted pink lips. "Many a women would pay to be this up close and personal," he added arrogantly. "Maybe you should consider becoming a stripper for a future career then" I roll my icy eyes at him.
"I prefer the term exotic dancer," he flicks his tongue against his top lip to catch a drop of water. "We need to talk to you," I tell him. "We?" he raises an eyebrow causing a few drops to fall onto his long lashes. "Paisley, Tate, and I. Is anybody else home?" I ask, looking around. "Declan, but he's upstairs on the phone with Fawn so World War III could be going on right outside our front door and he'd have no idea," Holden rolls his seagreen orbs. "Great I'll tell them to come in. Can you please put some clothes on? I find it unnerving that I have to ask again," I turn my back to him and walk out the door before I hear his response or more likely his objection.
I come back into the house with Paisley and Tate in tow. I'm delighted to find that Holden is now dressed in ripped jeans and a light blue tshirt. "It's so weird to hear someone telling me to put on clothes instead of take them off, I'm more accustomed to the latter," Holden announces condescendingly. "He's kidding right?" Tate asks. "I wish he was," Paisleys replies. "So what's going on?" Holden asks curiously. Tate and Paisley look at me expectantly. "Lets move this to the kitchen," I suggest. "Splendid. That's my favorite room. Apart from the bedroom of course ," Holden smirks. Paisley gawks at that and Tate looks uncomfortable. I grunt in annoyance and push Holden, quite forcefully, towards the kitchen.
I give him a recap of what happened over the last few hours. All the amusement from earlier had drained from his face as I finish. "We should go the authorities," Holden suggests. "There isn't any evidence," Tate says, disappointment clear on his chisled face. "So we just wait until something else happens?" Holden asks. "That's all we can do," I say. "Tate, do you have any idea-" Paisley starts to say. A distant, but not distant enough sound catches my attention. "Shit," I whisper shout. "What?" Tate asks. "Oh fuck," Holden's face looks panicked. I can hear the footsteps getting louder. Each step on the wooden floor is an explosion to my sensitive ears. "Our parents are home," Paisley gasps quietly. I can practically feelTate's blood turn to ice as I see the shadow of my dad's tall figure.
A/N: So sorry it has taken me so long to get these chapters out lately. I've had some serious writers block but hopefully I'm getting over it! I hope you guys liked this chapter:) I tried to make it longer than usual since It took me forever to post. Reviews are always great motivation for me to post the next chapter sooner ;)