𝘌𝘗𝘐𝘓𝘖𝘎𝘜𝘌 !! "It's all gone," she whispered. There was ash on her fingers and soot covering her knees where she knelt.
Cherry Taylor looked up at what was left of her childhood home as the firefighters put out the last of the fire. There were police and EMS on the scene but she didn't acknowledge them any longer after they made sure she was unharmed. She wasn't even in the house, she'd been out when her parents and older brother had died.
If her brother died, she didn't know. They hadn't recovered his body. The police automatically assumed he was a suspect so they started searching. Cherry had a feeling they wouldn't find anything.
___________________________
Cherry didn't know how long she sat there staring as the wretched black smoke disappeared into the sky and filled her lungs simultaneously.
"Cherry Taylor?" she startled when a gentle hand pressed to her almost bare skin, it was summer after all, she wore tank tops during the summer.
Cherry looked up into the face of the woman standing over her. As soon as she realized she didn't recognize her she stood up and back away, dislodging the hand.
The woman smiled kindly and held up both hands as if calming a feral animal.
"I apologize, I didn't intend to startle you. My name is Betsy Dobson," the woman paused briefly, "or Bee if you prefer."
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