Beauty's Tale by Summer Cheng

Chapter 31

        Sting showed up at Natsu's place a  week later.  He looked for the ax but cannot find it. He has a shovel and a chainsaw with him this time.  He made sure he wore a better disguise this time.  He sneaked over to the bushes. He checked to make sure no one else was out there.

        He noticed the shrubs were abandoned. He started to use a chainsaw to hack the blue roses in half.  Nothing happened to them.  The tool was wrecked.  He shook his head. He buried the broken item with his shovel.   He never paid attention to the gigantic mound that was left in the ground beside the flowers. 

     Next, Sting dug a hole around the yellow rose bushes. He continued to do so until there was a trench all around it.  He pulled out a lighter, and once the fire came out the end used it to set the trench on fire.

      The flames grew higher and higher.  It was out of control.  Sting was burned badly on his hands. He started to run from the fire. He tripped and was burnt more.  When he stood up, he screamed as he ran for his life. In his haste, he did not remember the shovel.

       Not that it mattered anyway, the shovel was destroyed by the flames. The fire spread to the grass as well as the yellow bush.  Smoke rose from it and everything!

       Natsu coughed and coughed.  

    Lucy started to worry more about him than before. She smelled something that smelt rather peculiar. She looked outside the window and saw the fire and smoke. 

     Oh, no!  She thought.

  She called for help.  She was glad the fire did not spread to the house, but by the time the fire department showed up all the roses were charred except for the nub of the red and white plants, and a few of the purple ones. 

      Lucy wept over the ruination of the beautiful plants. She felt sorrowful that anything bad happened to them. She felt as if she were to blame somehow.

      "Lucy, it is alright." Natsu tries to reassure her.

     "What?  All your work, your lovely flowers they are all gone."

     "How can you say it is alright?  It is not okay. It is just a mess."

      "Lucy, you are more important to me than any flower.  You and I are alive that is all that matters." 

     A knock was heard on the door.  Lucy opened it.

      "Natsu and Miss Lucy, we are sorry about the bushes.  We did the best we could but the fire damaged most of it.  We did manage to save some small red and white ones and a tiny batch of purples.  There was this small mound not far from the demolished tall ones.  We thought you might one to see this."  

     The Chief of the fire department showed them the remains of a lighter with a smudged mark on it.

     "You mean it was no accident?"  Natsu asked although he was sure he already knew the answer.

      "No, by the looks of it whoever set it did it on purpose."

       "Sorry, to be the bearer of such bad news."

      After he left, Natsu and Lucy stood there in sheer shock.  It was devasting to find out someone had set the fire deliberately.  Neither of them knew who it was, or why?  They also had no idea the person responsible was currently being treated at the hospital for multiple burns to the face, legs, the back of the neck, the face, and various other areas.  

      The police showed up at the hospital shortly after Lucy let them in on what the fire chief had told her and Natsu.  

       Lucy closed the door and shut it back. She was not quite sure how to handle all that had happened. It was a bit much for one person to deal with especially one week after Natsu almost died.

       Natsu took Lucy in his arms. Lucy did not say a single word as she cried once again.

     "Shh, there there, Luce. I promise it will be fine. We can refurbish the land, and plant more rose bushes or some other variety of flowers if you want."    

      "We can?"  Lucy said between sobs and a few hiccups.

      "Yes, we sure can, my dear."

     Find out more in Chapter 32

   until then,

  bye-bye, little owlets!

-Summer out!

Chapter published August 21, 2021