Chapter 3

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I run through the door, screaming for mom. I see her, lying on the floor, surrounded by a wall of flames. “Mom!” I scream again, hoping she’ll hear me. Ariel, Rory, Posey, and Olivia come out from their bedrooms. When they see the kitchen, they all looked shocked. Posey starts to cry.

Ariel runs outside, and comes back in with a bucket. I grab the bucket and run to the sink, one of the only things not surrounded by fire. I fill the bucket, and pour the water on the flames around Mom. I scream at Chesca, Ariel, and Rory to get her outside out of the smoke. I begin to work on the fire on the counter and cabinets.

I tell Olivia to take Posey outside and to try to find another bucket. A few minutes later, when I have gotten all the flames off the counter and cabinets, Olivia comes back with a second bucket and starts to help. We’re almost done getting the fire completely out when Ariel comes in. “Mom’s not moving.” she tells me.

I tell Olivia to finish putting out the fires and follow Ariel outside. I look at Mom, not moving, and try to find her pulse. I find one, but it’s not going very fast. Her breath looks struggled, and she seems unconscious. I shake her, trying to wake her up.

I tell Rory to go find a doctor, and Chesca volunteers to go with him. I manage to get Mom to move a bit, but not very much. Her breathing is still strained, but by the time Rory and Chesca are back with a doctor, she can sit up. We tell the doctor, Dr. Barry, what happened. He begins to check Mom, finding her pulse, checking her breathing. He puts this mask on her face to keep the smoke out.

In a few minutes, Mom is breathing normally again. He tells us to take her inside once the smoke is gone, and lay her down and let her rest. After about 10 minutes, the smoke is cleared out and we take her inside. I help Ariel and Rory lay her down in bed and pull the covers up to her chin. Five minutes later, I decide to check her temperature. 98.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

I decide to go to the kitchen, where everyone sits in silence. I suggest helping Posey make breakfast, but no one seems hungry. I don’t blame them. Ever since the fire, the day has seemed to go really slow, even though it’s almost 2 o’clock. I ask Posey if she can help me make dinner, and she nods.

We get some deer and the rest of the fish for ready for dinner, and bake it, being sure not to start another fire. Everyone eats in silence, and Olivia and Ariel take Mom dinner. She’s better; her breathing is normal and her heart rate is back to normal, too. Everyone goes to bed in silence that night, still down from what happened.

That night, instead of dreams, I have nightmares. Nightmares of the house burning down, Mom dying, and me being the only one left alive. All I can say is, I hope tomorrow will be kinder.

The next morning, during a breakfast of omelets, I ask Mom how the fire started. For a second, she just messes with her food, and then decides to tell me. “I was making breakfast, and then I saw this wet trail. I thought I had spilled, and then tracked water around the room. I began to wipe it up, but then something hit me on my head. But before I faded out of consciousness, I saw flames fall around me, and a figure running out of the room. And then everything went black.”

A figure. The figure sitting in my window comes back to my mind. I thought it was Chesca, but maybe it wasn’t. “Chesca,” I ask, “when did you get here?”

“The morning you saw me. Why?” she answers.

“I saw a figure in my window the night before. I always thought it was you. I guess it wasn’t.” I let out a sigh. So now there is a mad killer on the loose who set a fire to our kitchen and almost killed my mom.

“So what now?” I ask. We don’t have a police department around us, nor a fire. We basically have no way to report this crime in our area. We can write a letter to the newspaper department, but no one reads that anymore.

“I guess we have a lock-down. What else are we supposed to do?” Mom says.

“Do we have enough food?” Olivia asks.

“I think so. Maybe ya’ll should go hunting just in case. You never know how long it could be.” she says. With that, I go to my room with Chesca. I change into my hunting clothes, even though it’s not the best day. I lend Chesca some, too. I take Ariel and Olivia with me as well, but not Rory because he doesn’t feel like going. I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t go if I had the choice either.

I head out to the woods, watching closely at the others who are coming with me, to make sure we aren’t being followed and everyone keeps up. First we stop at the pond, not to fish but to gather. After we fill 1 and a half bags, we decide to move on. Next we walk around while I shoot down some stuff and Ariel checks the snares. We end up with 4 rabbits, and 3 squirrels. Then we decide to go to the market, just to maybe restock on some sugar and salt. We trade a quarter bag of greens for a pound of beef, and someone else takes a rabbit skin off of us for 2 cups of salt. Then we decide to head home.

I notice that my mother has decided to start ordering to newspaper, because I pick one up on the driveway. Mother has also shut all the shudders, which makes the house look old and abandoned. Once we’re inside I hand the meat to Posey, who takes it straight to the meat board and begins skinning the animals. I put the salt away and then wash off the greens. Then I meet Chesca in our room.

“Is something wrong?” I ask. She looks worried, like someone popped out and said ‘Hi Chesca! Oh, by the way, your mom’s dead! Well, bye now!’

“Something just doesn’t feel right about me being here. Like all that’s happened has happened because I’m here.” she tells me.

What she says shocks me. “Chesca! Don’t be like that! I’m sure that even if you weren’t here, then these things would have happened anyways.” I reply. “If you weren’t here, I still would’ve seen the figure in my window, and the kitchen would’ve still caught fire! Now, please, don’t talk like that again.”

The words sound wrong coming out of my mouth, because I’ve never been mean to any of my friends, and only sometimes do I raise my voice to boss around my siblings. I let out a sigh.

“Okay, but… Hey! Wait a second! You said there was a figure in your window, right? Maybe you could check for foot or finger prints? And that random note on the wall! Maybe that’s another clue too!” she points out. I had never thought about that way. First I walk over to the essay, since the shutters are closed. I look at the front again, but don’t see anything different.

“What’s that?” Chesca asks, pointing to the back of the paper. I turn over the paper, just long enough to see the words:

I’ll get you, too… soon enough

The words send a chill down my spine, just seeing the way it’s written. I quickly situate it under my bed, just as Mom walks in. She sees the troubled look on my face and looks puzzled.

“Is something wrong?” she asks me. I shake my head, not wanting to trouble her too. I look over at Chesca, who raises her eyebrows at me. She knows something is up.

I’ll tell you later, I try to tell her through my eyes. Eye language was not always my best subject, so I can only hope that she understands.

“Well, it’s almost time for dinner, so why don’t ya’ll wash up?” Mother says. I nod, and she leaves the room.

I look over at Chesca. “Well? What are you waiting for? Spit it out.” she says.

I show her the paper. She reads it with a troubled expression on her face. After reading it, she looks up at me, and then back at the paper, as if she doesn’t believe what she just read.

”Let’s clean up.” I suggest. I don’t really know what to say about the note. I have so many questions about it. Who is ‘you’? Could it be me? And if so, then why? I never did anything to whoever ‘I’ is. Nothing makes sense to me anymore, not even hunting.

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⏰ Last updated: Dec 29, 2013 ⏰

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