« NOW »

When my night shift at Welsh's Bar got over, it was already midnight. And it was taking everything inside me to remain on my footing as I walked back home.

Frank had once again been kind of pissed off today at my lack of enthusiasm towards the customers. Which clearly wasn't my fault. My head had been clouded up with various thoughts and dealing with drunk customers wasn't an easy thing.

I was still thinking about the conversation I had with her.

Dr Blackwell. Cynthia.

I still couldn't let go of it. It seemed creepy and suspicious at the same time. After all, why would she think about helping me now? She could've helped me back when I was in Manhattan.

But she hadn't.

Almost as if she had been waiting for this specific time.

I straightened my light grey sweater over me and walked silently along the almost empty street. The sky was completely dark by now and I could spot only few people besides me.

I inhaled deeply, my hair blowing lightly along with the wind.

Back at the principal's office, she hadn't told me much. She hadn't even been specific about it. All she had told me was how she needed to meet me somewhere private to discuss further about this. She had given me her phone number to call her when I was ready to meet her again.

As if.

She thought I would agree to meet her. She thought I was stupid. I knew how desperate I looked about this. I was desperate to solve this mess. But I wasn't going to trust her.

She didn't seem like the person to be trusted.

I breathed out a small sigh of relief when I saw my house nearing. Walking over towards the familiar street, I stopped in front of the old wooden fence surrounding my house.

I was about to swing it open when I heard the slight rumble of a motorcycle. Almost immediately, I looked over towards my left and saw Luca's bike in his driveway. And he was just getting off from it.

He just came back.

My heart lurched involuntarily when he looked at me. This time, surprisingly, it was me who looked away first.

Opening up the fence, I walked inside towards my front door. All I was looking forward to was some sleep. I wasn't expecting anything to happen. Nothing at all.

So it actually took me off guard when I heard a small bark from the bushes surrounding the old apple tree in my yard. I immediately froze in my position, looking around. There was clearly no one.

But why did that bark sound so—

Before I could've even comprehended it all, a small, furry animal jumped out from between the bushes. Right at me.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around him and stumbled back a little. Then I heard another bark.

"Frost?" I whispered looking down at the blue eyed husky. He barked again before licking my face.

"Geez, stop it." I laughed a little, pulling him away. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

He barked a little loudly this time. But not at me, rather it was towards my house. I frowned as he jumped out of my hands and ran towards my closed front door, barking at it.

I walked towards him with the frown still on my face. Before I could've picked him up again, I saw mud slightly caked across his white fur. Bending down on my knees, my eyes widened a little when I saw dried blood streaked down towards his left paw.

"Frost, what happened?" I spoke, picking him up and inspecting his left leg. Between the fur and the blood, I couldn't see if he was really injured or not.

Meanwhile, Frost continued barking at my front door.

Why was he even doing that?

I was about to stop him when the frown came back on my face. Unconsciously, I sniffed the air around my front door.

It didn't smell right.

It smelled like...smoke.

"Oh God." My breath almost got knocked out of my throat when sudden realization hit me. Standing up abruptly, I fumbled in my pocket for my keys.

My heartbeat raced as fear clawed my insides.

Somehow, I managed to unlock the door and threw it open. Running inside, I looked around and my heart almost stopped beating.

It was burning. My house was almost filled with flames.

I heard Frost's faint barks behind me. I didn't know if he had followed me inside or not. The smoke had entirely filled up my house and I could barely see. I could barely breathe.

I ran towards the lounge, realizing how the fire was spreading from the kitchen mostly. It must've started from the kitchen.

But how?

I looked around, not knowing what to do. It felt suffocating. I could feel my lungs clenching in response. I needed to stop this fire before it spread everywhere. But I didn't know how.

The carpet had caught some of the flames. The kitchen was completely filled up with heavy smoke. I couldn't even make out the front door with the windows closed shut.

I stumbled towards the kitchen, almost about to get in when someone gripped the back of my sweater and pulled onto me. My back hit against a warmer body before I turned around.

"What the hell are you doing, Grace?" It was Luca, his brown eyes glaring down at me.

My eyes widened a little as I looked at him. Out of panic, I tried pulling away, but his grip on my arm was too strong.

What was he even doing? Did he want my house to burn up completely?

"I need to stop the fire." I glared back at him. "Let go off...me!"

"Jesus." He muttered before starting to drag me out of the house. My eyes widened up even more at that.

"No, stop it! Are you crazy?" I shouted at him, trying to pull away. We were almost out of the front door when he stopped and turned around, looking at me with clear disbelief.

"You are crazy to think you can stop this fire, Grace." He said. And there was definitely anger in his voice. "You can't! Do you understand?"

I felt my throat clenching itself. I couldn't speak. He took that as his queue and pulled me out of the house. Oxygen rushed in my lungs the moment I stepped out.

Luca let go of my arm and I saw Frost running over towards me, slightly limping. I heard faint sirens around the corner of the street. I saw police officers and a firefighting truck at some distance.

Looking back at my house, I felt my heart thudding loudly against my chest.

Somebody had burned my house.

On purpose.

•••••

"How did it happen?" Marleen asked, her voice edged with concern as she gently wrapped a white bandage around Frost's injured paw.

I inhaled deeply, leaning against the kitchen counter. I knew the answer to that. The same answer I had given to the police officers. The same answer I had given Alice when she had heard the commotion and came outside. The same words that had been going inside my head again and again.

"I don't know." I murmured. Marleen glanced at me sympathetically. But when Frost tried licking the bandage again, she focused back on him.

"The...police officers said that the back door was opened." I looked at her, once again feeling the fear clouding up in my chest. "But I always lock it."

She looked back at me with the same warm look. It did comfort me for few seconds, until the reality came back, sinking inside of me.

"You're staying here tonight, okay?" She said. "And besides, your little pup here will probably need another change of these bandages. Staying here will make it easier for me to check up on him."

There had been a deep gash on Frost's paw, almost as if somebody had done it to him. I had wanted to ask Fraser if he had brought Frost here, but I had only seen Alice back there.

Frost looked up at me and barked.

"I don't think—"

"It's really fine, Grace." She cut me off.

I didn't want to go back home but staying here didn't seem like the best option either.

"All right. It's done." Marleen said before lightly petting Frost's paw. He only barked in response.

"Thank you." I looked at her gratefully. "Really." She looked exhausted but she was still here, helping me with stuff that clearly shouldn't have bothered her.

"Don't worry about it, dear." She smiled at me before picking up the torn pieces of cotton and bandages and throwing them in the bin.

I looked up at the wall clock and saw that it was way past midnight right now. Absentmindedly, I found myself looking at the door. I had barely seen Luca after he had dragged me out of my house.

The same house which had been in flames just an hour ago. I was more than grateful when they told me that the fire had been controlled. It hadn't damaged much.

But it sure as hell had freaked me out.

How could someone get in my house when it had been all locked?

"I'll be in my room, okay?" It was Marleen's voice that broke me out of my thoughts. "If you need me, just let me know. I'm sure you know where the guestroom is."

I nodded before forcing a smile on my face.

Just as she was gone in her room, the front door opened. And Luca came inside.

Frost barked loudly, getting his attention. Luca looked at him, his eyes slowly trailing up towards me.

"Are they gone?" I spoke up. "The police officers?"

He took off his black jacket and tossed it over to the couch. "Yeah."

I looked down at Frost who was nudging his snout against my arm now. Luca walked inside the kitchen, picking up a glass and pouring in some water. His hair was tousled like crazy, something which happened quite often when he ran his hands through it a lot.

My heart sped up almost immediately when he looked back at me. Even when I looked away, I felt him staring at me, in a strange way.

After few seconds of silence, I turned around towards Frost and carefully picked up him.

Thinking how better it would be to head for the guestroom now, I turned around and inhaled sharply. I hadn't even noticed Luca coming up right behind me.

"Where are you going?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

I looked up at him, relieved that Frost was between us. "To the guestroom?"

His gaze didn't leave mine even for a second. And that really rooted me to my spot.

"No. You're not going anywhere."

"What?" I spoke up in disbelief and confusion.

He took a step towards me, making me step back in response.

What was he even—

"You're going to tell me everything." He replied. "Right now."

_______________________________________________________________________

Crystal 🌿