When the Smoke Clears

t w o

"Thank you for shopping at Macy's! Have a nice day!" The clerk smiled.

"Thanks!" Taylor said while grabbing her bags and walking out of the store.

As she looked around, someone bumped into her, making her drop her bags. She cried out as the person's coffee spilled all over the side of her jacket.

"Oh, my gosh, I'm so- you?!" a voice said.

Taylor looked up, but soon regretted it. She was face-to-face with none other than Holland Parker, and she did not look happy. There was an unusual glint in her dark gray eyes as she glared deeply at her.

Taylor picked up her bags, and started to walk away when she heard Holland's voice say, "I know what you did to her." She froze in her tracks.

She could feel Holland smirk from behind her, and Taylor slowly turned around, looking straight into her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"I'm talking about that night. You know. The night of the fire?" Holland said.

"Yeah, I know that. But why would you think that I had anything to do with it?" she asked.

"No reason..." Holland smirked, throwing her coffee cup away and walking in the other direction.

Taylor sighed, turning around and walking back to her car. She put her bags in and sat in the drivers' seat, when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her shoulders and back. She cried out in pain and got out of the car.

She slowly skimmed her fingers along the backrest of her seat, but felt nothing unusual. She slowly sat back down, but soon felt the same pain as her back and shoulders hit the seat again. She turned around, gently pressed her fingers against the seat, and yelped in pain.

"Why is the seat so hot?!" she yelled. She got out of the car again, and opened the back door of it. She gasped when she saw a giant hole in the back of the seat, and a heater turned on high inside. She took the heater out and threw it onto the car floor. As she got back into the front seat, she noticed a note sticking to the ignition.

"You know more than I think you do, and I plan on finding out" it read. She looked around, but there was no one near by.

"This has to be some kind of joke." Taylor growled, starting her car and driving back to her house. As she drove up to her house, she saw a car in her driveway that she didn't recognize. She stopped the car, got out, and locked all the doors.

Deciding against the idea of going through the front door, Taylor silently opened the gate to her backyard and cautiously walked to the backdoor. She stood in front of the window, peering in to see if anybody was inside, but soon regretted it as she looked around. Papers were all over the floor, chairs were knocked over, the table was broken, and glass pieces were spread out all over the floor.

She gasped in horror at the mess. She made her way to the door, but stopped as she reached for the handle. What if the person who did this to her house was still in there?

As silently as Taylor could, she crept into her house. Inside, she quietly shuffled against her wall, constantly looking over her shoulder, barely avoiding an overturned table. All of a sudden, a door opened, followed by it slamming. She flinched at the loud sound, determined to stay quiet. She started to hear footsteps in the hallway, and they were getting louder.

Crap, she thought. She looked at the doorway just in time to see a shadow skip across the wall. Her heart skipped a beat as the shadow got closer.

No, no, no. Taylor thought. All of a sudden, a rush of relief washed over her as she saw that it was just her mother, Marissa.

"What happened in here?!" her mother gasped. Taylor let out a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding in.

"I don't know. I'm just glad nothing happened to you and Dad!" Taylor said, walking over to her mother.

"Oh, sweetie. If anything were to happen, we would definitely call you." Marissa said, hugging her scared daughter. Nodding, Taylor looked back at the mess.

"What are we going to do about this mess?" she asked.

"Well... I guess we'll just have to buy new furniture." her mother sighed. "I'm going to go call your father." she mumbled, walking out of the room.

Taylor looked around at the mess. She noticed a sticky note on a piece of broken glass. She carefully picked up the glass and looked at the note.

"Sorry about my tantrum. I didn't mean to break your prized possessions."