Heat in the Hamptons

Chapter 33

Megan looked over at the folded pair of pajamas on the passenger seat. It was Sunday and she was driving to Noah's to drop these off for Addison.

They were the pair Addison had given her to wear a few nights prior when Megan showed up at their house drunk.

She meant it when she decided to leave Addison alone, but she did feel guilty she still had Addison's pajamas.

She meticulously washed, dried, and folded them and let them sit on her desk for a couple of days before finally convincing herself to drive to the beach.

She planned on leaving them on a chair on the back patio.

Megan pulled up and parked on the street. She didn't bother parking in James' driveway, truthfully she hoped he wasn't home so she wouldn't have to interact with him at all.

She gathered the clothes in her arms and began the walk through the side yard between Noah's and James' houses, to go to Noah's back porch.

The smell hit her first. The smell of a campfire, of smoke and ash and soot. She looked up, confused because beach bonfires were strictly forbidden on this beach. She expected to find a dying campfire on the sand, what was left of the wooden logs charred and white, so burned the touch of a hand would disintegrate it. 

But instead, she found a large pile right in front of her reaching the expanse from James' house to Noah's.

She took a small step forward. Where had this all come from?

She was concerned, worried that some kind of accident had happened and someone had ditched the fire outside to burn out. Maybe a cooking accident, or grilling?

She thought about calling Noah but the ruins of the fire seemed to be closer to James' house, almost as if it began just under the second-story window.

She knelt down once she reached the pile. Now she could see there were tattered clothes blown about, some in the soot and some a few feet away. Who would burn clothes when you could just donate them?

She saw a few shoes, melted until they were almost unrecognizable. What happened here?

Something red caught her eye. She reached for what seemed like paper and dusted it off until she was left with a triangular piece of red cardstock. She saw the yellow letters "SLAU" on the paper before the rest of the word was torn away.

She gasped as she recognized what this was. It was what remained of the book Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, one of Addison's favorites. Tears stung her eyes as she realized what this meant. 

James had burned Addison's belongings. Megan dropped the paper back into the ash as if it was still hot, standing up furiously. 

She wrestled with whether to go scream at James or salvage what she could from the wreckage. She didn't get much time to decide, because she heard tires on the pavement behind her.

"Jesus Christ why can't she leave us alone?" Addison hissed to herself when Megan came into view. 

Noah shrugged. "She's standing by James' house, hopefully, she's just here for him."

Addison nodded. 

They parked the car and stepped out, and that same campfire smell that Megan had detected hit them.

Noah and Addison looked at each other and hustled forward. Worried something had happened to their home.

Addison could see the distress in Megan's eyes. "Megan, what happened?" She asked as they came upon the pile of ash.

Megan's mouth tried to move, but no words came out.

Noah looked behind her at the wreckage that laid there. Addison did too, what the hell happened? A bonfire that got out of hand?

Megan moved out of the way, sidestepping so they could see, still not sure what to say.

She knew they were just things, and honestly, Addison probably wouldn't care about most of it. But the books.

Addison walked forward, looking closely at what she thought was a wood campfire.

Noah scanned the ash. What, did James have some kind of accident?

His eyes landed on a melted curling iron, a high heel shoe. The tattered clothing blowing in the wind.

"Addison, don't--" he said as he stepped forward to grab her, but she was already reaching down to pick up a shoe.

"What the hell?" She said turning to show Noah.

"Addy let's go inside." He urged her, putting his hand on her arm.

Her eyes grew with realization. That wasn't a shoe, it was her shoe, burned. Her head snapped back to the ground and she saw what everyone else had seen. A curling iron, clothes.

"No." She whispered, falling to her knees in the soot, reaching through it with her hands, desperately looking. Her hands scanned the wreckage. The ash felt soft beneath her hands as she rifled. Her hand swiped over something jagged but she ignored it.

A few feet in front of her, in the middle of the pile, she saw something red. She crawled forward to grab it. She ignored the pricks she felt on her knees and shins.

"Addison, wait." Megan cautioned. She didn't know what to do, does she tell Addison to stop or leave her alone?

Addison picked up the paper, immediately realizing exactly what Megan had. This was one of her favorite books.

Addison's hands shook as she held the tattered cover. 

"No!" She screamed, a sob ripping through her body.

Her books, he'd burned her books. Tears streamed down her face as she searched further.

"No, no, no, no." She whispered through her tears as she searched.

Across the pile, she found a small piece of paper, burnt at the edges.

All that remained on the paper was an inscription "Love, Mom."

Addison collapsed down into the ash, her head in her hands. She sobbed, everything was pain. The physical pain she felt in her heart, the pain in her lungs from breathing in some of the ash only inches from her face as she cried, the pain in her hands and knees.

She sat up and looked at Megan. "What did you do?!" She screamed.

Megan held her hands up as if she'd been found guilty of a crime.

"I-I didn't, I just got here!" She stuttered.

Noah sprung into action. He had let Addison search the pile but now he needed to step in.

He grabbed her shoulders, hugging her to him.

She buried her face in his neck, her hands fallen on her lap.

"My books, they're all gone." She said between sobs.

Noah looked up at Megan. Her eyes showed concern. She shook her head at him and shrugged, she didn't know what happened.

Behind them, they heard the door to James' house creak open.