REMI HOOD

Chapter 18

Will

Who would assault Remi? I wonder as she cries in my arms. I brush her hair lightly with my fingers.

"Urh, Will..." Finn's voice calls from behind me, snapping me out of thought. He sounds panicked. "We need to go to the police station, ASAP!"

Something's wrong...

I let go of Remi, who sniffs and smiles at both of us. "Thank you, I appreciate that you both came here to see me... No one ever really bothers to."

Finn gives her a look full of empathy. "We will be there for you, buddy. Always." He winks. I nod my head in agreement.

"Always?"

"No matter what." I reassure her, but she gives me a defeated look, almost as if she knows something we don't. I don't know what it is but it's something... Sad.

We leave the room. "What happened?" I ask Finn as we race down the stairs and all the way to the road. He leads me towards a black Mercedes and gets inside it.

"This is yours?" Finn ignores me as I get inside. We reach the police station in a minute.

Inside, people were going crazy, police officers exit the building with unbalanced looks on their faces.

I look at Finn. "Finn, seriously... What's up???"

He finally opens his mouth to tell me  but Ryan spots us and motions us to come towards him.

"What's going on?" I ask again as we go near Ryan.

Finn avoids eye contact with me. "Well... A whole house is set on fire and it's spreading fast. And uh... This house, um..."

"The house that's on fire is Remi's." Ryan finishes for Finn.

Wait... WHAT?!

"Remi's??? What?! How???" I demand for answers.

"I'm heading towards the house with the fire department, you both need to be there too." Ryan tells us. We follow him out of the building.

Remi

I switch on the television, lying on a hospital bed is boring.

"Breaking news, a fire has started in a house in Maafannu, Maaveyo road." Huh? That's the road where I live.

I increase the volume. "The fire has started to spread rapidly from the house, M. Nimeri."

Oh my god! That's my house... Holy shit, it might have been dad!

I use my non-broken hand to take my phone and I dial dad. "Dad! Did you do this?"

"Did what?" He asks, annoyed.

"Where are you?!" I ask.

"I'm in the hospital... In the lobby. Where else?"

"Huh... That's weird. Come to the room I'm in now!" I hung up the phone, I know my dad quite well, he's just as curious as me, even more so.

He barges into the room, I nod my head towards the television.

The fire is roaring furiously, flickering flames everywhere, my house is no more as it gets consumed by the enormous appetite of the bright red and orange flames. I watch as pieces of metal from my house melt and fall to the ground.

"Is that my house?!" He howls in disbelief. "How did that happen? Everything is in there! All the money..."

"So... You didn't cause the fire."

He glares at me. "Of course I didn't, you dumb piece of shit! All I can do is hope that the fire melts any evidence of the money."

I hope it doesn't... Then I can live a life I always wanted. No, wait. Since I stole the money, I'll be living in jail. I sigh to myself.

It looks like this princess will never get her happy ever after...

"I know exactly who'll dare to set fire in my house."

"Who?" I ask, curious.

"Your mom."