Yours Soulfully...

16.

"Whatever in Hell happened to fire safety in this town?! First the Judge's office and now Lincoln's summer home?" Lucas Appleton, the Community Leader, yelled at the firemen. "Why does it take you so long to rescue two damn people?"

The chief fireman stammered. "B - but si - sir, there are about ten people inside according to the reports - "

"Do I look like I care about Lincoln's maids and butlers? You need to rescue just two first. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. Send a search patrol inside right fucking now. I do not care if it's too early to enter or if you'd freaking die of burns. I want them out. Now. And where the hell is LAPD?"

The fireman just nodded and went to his team which was still hosing water down to put out the never-ending fire. It has been three hours since they had gotten the report and come to the spot. The fire astonished these experienced men. It was nothing like they've ever seen before. They couldn't see the building, for it looked like the pieces of wood and tiles being ingested down the throats of the demon that was the fire. There had been no wind and yet the fire swayed monstrously. The fire was macabre.

Kennedy Lincoln was watching the scenario from a few feet away, hands in his trench coat pocket and face pale. This was not coincidental. That was all he knew, though he couldn't answer why he felt like it.

"Excuse me?" A voice woke him back to his senses. He turned to see a certain brunette young girl. Her facial features distorted in anxiety and her eyes... Something about the golden ring and the brown orbs caught all of his attention.

"Are you Amana's father?" The brunette asked and a surprised Kennedy nodded. "Where is she now?"

Kennedy mutely pointed to the back of the second fire van standing across the street where she was being treated. Kennedy tried to force her to go to the hospital, but Amana stubbornly insisted she should stay on the spot. And hence she was being treated in the van.

The brunette wordlessly rushed to the van and got inside.

"Who is that girl? Why is she rushing to see Amana?" Benedict Porter who was standing next to Kennedy enquired.

"I - I don't know," Kennedy replied.

"Must be some friend of hers, I think," Ben said, eyeing the brunette who was crying her heart out, holding his best friend's daughter's hands in care. "Why don't you ask Peterson's daughter? She's pretty close to your kid."

Kennedy shrugged. "Why should I, Ben? That seems nosy. She's just one of her friends."

Benedict shook his head. "You're too different with your daughter, man. Giving her all the freedom she wants and all..."

"My daughter deserves it and more, Ben."

Ben sighed. "Okay, whatever."

Kennedy threw one more glance at the two girls in the back of the fire van. Something about the golden ring in the brunette's orbs gave an odd sense of nostalgia to him. It was so unnaturally similar to hers.

"Ben? Do you think it's true?"

Ben hummed in confusion.

"What Lucas said about Lisa. Do you really think she's dead?"

The night before, when the five friends had met up to discuss the potential threat that they might have to face, Lucas had revealed that Annalise Lincoln had passed away long back. He'd said that he tried to track her down a few years later after the incident and the orphanage caretaker Martha Shawn had said that she was no more.

"For Heaven's sake, Ken! What has gotten into you? Your parents are inside a burning building without us knowing if they're even alive! Your daughter is heavily injured and an anonymous girl is taking care of her out of the blue! Your son is still bedridden from almost dying! And you still have just that slut in your mind?!" Ben raised his voice.