Chasing Sapphire

3. FIRE

I screamed harder this time, when another body was pulled from inside. I could recognize those golden locks anywhere, anytime because they belonged to my first love.

"May you both die in your precious house!"

"No." I struggled with all the power I had, trying to loosen Theo's hold on me but all in vain. I didn't know how loud I was screaming or how many people were watching me and to be honest, I didn't care. My house and my life, both were burning to ruins in front of me and I couldn't do anything.

°°°°°

If you think karma is a bitch, you haven't met destiny yet.

I always dreamt of wearing a white dress embedded with light blue pearls on our wedding and here I was, clad in a black knee length dress, attending his funeral. His family came to me one by one after the service to pay their condolences, his mother hugged me and broke down against my shoulder but I didn't tell them that I was the somehow the reason of their son's death. Neither did I told them about him and Claire because there was no point anymore.

I wanted to cry but I couldn't. Maybe my tears had dried up or maybe the feeling of guilt was greater than the sadness.

I could feel Theo's eyes on me as he drove the car towards his house. Both Theo and Zac were silently communicating with each other. They probably thought of me as someone who was just one push away from a meltdown and they didn't want to be that push.

Once they stopped the car, I walked out of it and trudged inside, straight into my room. Flopping on the bed, I stared in the mirror and observed the dark circles around my eyes. It's been four days since he died, four days since I last caught a wink of sleep.

The door to my room opened with a creak and Theo came inside. I recognised his footsteps because they were louder than Zac's silent and sophisticated ones. The bed dipped beside me as he sat down and enveloped my hand in between his warm palms.

"Do you know what were my last words to Roman?" I asked with a faint smile that played on my dried lips. He didn't say anything but his presence was enough for me. "May you both die in your precious house!"

Pity rushed inside his warm brown eyes as he hugged my side. "You didn't mean it Saph. You aren't evil," he told me and ran his fingers through my hair.

"You know what Theo? For just a small moment, I really wanted him to die; just for a really small moment." I said and closed my eyes to stop the image of his charred body from flashing in front of my eyes.

"It was just an unfortunate accident," he said.

"Was it?" I asked, resting my head on his shoulder. "Are you really sure? Because this is not the first time this has happened."

He instantly pulled away from me and looked at me through his widened eyes. "Don't go there Sapphire. That was just a coincidence." he stressed on the word 'coincidence'.

He knew what I was talking about. We were in college then and there was a boy who tried to blackmail me with some pictures that he took of me when I was drunk. I cried in Theo's dorm room for hours and at one point, I told Theo that I wished I could push him from the roof. Theo laughed at my words and said that I shouldn't worry about it. He would handle him and force him to delete all the photos. But before either of us could leave the room, that guy was found dead. Worse, he had jumped from the roof of the dorm building.

"You are innocent Sapphire; kind and innocent." he said and kissed my hair. "What happened was not your fault."

I didn't want to say anything so I just nodded. After patting my shoulder and telling me all the comforting words, he left and I drowned in my own guilt.

He didn't know the truth. He didn't know that this didn't happened only two times. A day before my high-school's head cheerleader Melissa Troy lost her legs in an accident, she got into a fight with me and in the heat of moment, she pushed me to the ground and I had a fracture. I told her that I wished she would go through the same and then, the accident happened. There were many such incidents but before Roman's death, I never considered the possibility that there might be something wrong with me.

Pulling out my mobile phone, I scrolled down the contact list until my fingers stopped at a particular name and my hands froze.

Samantha Edwards.

This name belonged to my only living family member, my mother's sister and my aunt. A part of me knew that only she could answer my question. She was the only one who could decipher my dreams and the weird power I had. Everything I wanted to know was just a call away.

But there was a small issue; I hated her for abandoning me as a child. After my parents died, she couldn't handle my responsibility so she kept me as far away from herself as possible. She left a child of 10 in a strange country in the hands of two strangers.

I tapped the contact and watched the screen, waiting for her to pick up the call. After a moment, she answered the call. Attaching the phone to my ears, I heard as her voice blasted through the mobile speaker. "Hello? Who is this?"

I didn't expect her to return the call, basically because I could never expect anything from this woman.

My mind ordered my tongue to move and say something but my tongue refused to do so. Her voice kept coming from the other side but I didn't have courage to answer. So I did what I had to do, I cut the call and threw the mobile away.

°°°°°

"I have booked a hotel. I'll be moving out until I find an apartment for myself." I told both Theo and Zac as I cut the grilled chicken with my knife and put it inside my mouth.

"Why? Isn't this your house?" Theo scolded me in a disappointed tone.

"It's not the issue Theo. I just.... I need some time for myself." I said and poured water for myself in a glass.

"I'll help you find an apartment. But no, I'm not letting you go into a hotel." he said and stormed away, leaving his half-eaten plate.

"Zac!" I turned to Zac and requested him to make Theo understand my situation. He nodded and put his hand over mine, ensuring me that he would handle the situation.

After I helped him in cleaning the dishes, I called the night and ambled into my room. Changing into my pyjamas, I applied the night cream over my dark circles and brushed my hair. Roman loved my hair, he used to say its a really unique shade of blonde and the fact that it reached my hips made them much more appealing.

Smiling at the memory, I lay down on the bed and buried myself under the blanket. The sleeping pills that I had taken earlier were starting to kick off and soon, I found myself succumbing to sleep but the ringing of my phone made sure I couldn't.

Groaning out loud, I answered the call without looking at the number. "Who is this?" I said, my voice dripping from irritation.

"Who am I talking to, miss?" the masculine voice asked.

"You are the one who called. Who are you?" I inquired.

"It's Sheriff Parker from Raven Hills Town, New Jersey. We are investigating a murder and you were the one who last called the victim." he told in a professional tone and my mind instantly diverted to Roman's death, even though he had no connection to this town whatsoever. But the name sounded familiar weirdly.

"Murder?" I asked in a straight voice, not showing any hint of fear in my voice.

"Yes. Samantha Edwards. Do you know this person by any chance?"

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