ALL THAT GLITTERS...

29.

The car turned down a familiar street, what used to be my street. There weren’t many people outside, it wasn’t unusual, it had always been like this. Our house, or whatever was left of it, was the last house down the street.

I felt a weird sense of calmness as the car came to a stop. Through the window I eyed what was left of my childhood home, the building still stood strong but most of the things inside had been burnt to ashes, the entire bottom floor was destroyed.

I looked over at Seth who was looking straight ahead, his face twisted in shock. I didn’t wait for him to snap out of it, I quickly got out of the car and started walking towards the house. I could hear the crackle of the fire again, the smell of smoke, the shouting of the firefighters as the fighters as they tried to get to my parents and my very screams, screaming at them to be okay.

I could see it all over again.
Hear it. Smell it. Feel it.

I hadn’t even realized my whole was shaking like a leaf till I felt Seth’s warm arms around me. I broke down. A loud wail escaped my lips and I felt my knees giving up on me, Seth’s hands kept me from dropping to my knees. He didn’t say anything but let me ruin his expensive sweater with my tears whilst rubbing up and down my arms. I hadn’t cried so much in nearly three months, I let out so much of the pain I was keeping in and the sorrow of being left alone with my aunt who probably wasn’t my real aunt.

“Better?”

I nodded after I was all cried out. What he did next surprised me, Seth took my hand and led me towards the house, he didn’t rush, we just walked slowly together till we reached the burnt down door.

“I was supposed to be there too. Stacy’s mom managed to convince my parents to let me have a sleepover at their house at the last minute.”

If I had never gone to that sleepover I would have been dead too. Maybe I would have managed to save them but it was highly unlikely, the investigators were convinced that there was no way anything would have gotten out of the house.

I looked around what used to be our living room, everything was burnt out. At the corner of my eye, I watched Seth walk over to what used to be the kitchen, it was where the gas explosion had occurred. Below the partly burnt staircase was a passageway to the backdoor, that path wasn’t entirely burned, looking back to where my parents’ bodies were found, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“You okay?” Seth asked joining me.

“Looking at this...” I pointed out between the two spaces.

“Do you think that there was a chance they would have survived if they tried to run for the back door?”

Seth’s face morphed into one of pure sympathy, he didn’t even try to hide it. He just looked around slightly and hesitated for a minute, I had never seen him hesitate before.

“I...No, they wouldn’t have. I’m sorry Lisa.”

I knew that, the sheriff had assured me the same thing. They said the explosion had knocked them both out but even without that they still wouldn’t have made it. I just didn’t want to believe it.

“I think I should go upstairs. We never moved anything there so there could be something.”

“You shouldn’t, the stairs aren’t stable enough.” Seth objected.

“They are if I go up there alone.” I argued.

“You don’t even know what kind of damage occurred up there, you could get hurt.”

“I will be fine. Please, just ten minutes.” I pleaded.

He gave one of his famous disapproving looks.

“Five. Non-negotiable.” I nodded at him.

The second floor had incurred fewer damages. My room which was directly above the kitchen hadn’t been as lucky as the master bedroom and the guest room.

“Three minutes!” I heard Seth shout.
I scurried into my parents’ bedroom. The room once smelt of clean sheets and water lilies my mother used to keep but the air was now filled with a sickening smell of smoke and charcoal. I could feel my throat close up again but I shook it off, I needed to find something before Seth got up and dragged me back downstairs.

“You’ve got one minute left!”

I flipped open the jewellery box and came across a bunch of different things but most importantly a charm bracelet with little keys falling off. I didn’t have time to pick which one so I just grabbed the whole box and ran back downstairs careful not to step into anything damaged.
 
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 another slightly short chapter