Chapter Two
Chaos, Grief, and the Silence in Between
The fire engine came too late.
Flames had disintegrated the cottage’s thatched roof within minutes. The entire back half of the house was coated in black charcoal that left no signs of life. Only the kitchen, the twins’ bedroom, the spare room and the loft remained inhabitable, but even up there floorboards had broken off under the stress of heat from the study.
It was determined that Charles Pounce had accidentally knocked over his candle, which set all his files and papers alight. A few must have fallen to the floor, igniting the curtains and consuming the bookshelves. No further detail was required.
A crowd of Southside residents had flocked to the devastating scene. They squinted into the sunlight and stood on tiptoe if they could, trying to get a glimpse of the half-cottage. Charlie would have given anything to trade places with one of them, to be insulated from the fire as a mere witness, not a victim.
It wasn’t long before he noticed a petite person, with hair the colour of young apricots, squeezing her way through the onlookers and underneath the precautionary tape without taking her eyes off Charlie.
They didn’t need to say a thing. Etty hurried up the path in time for her best friend to fall into her arms. He burst into tears, soaking her t-shirt. She held on tight and stroked his hair over and over.
‘It’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok…’ she said, wavering. Tears welled up in her own eyes, from the awful sight of the burnt cottage, and from the smoke that rode on an early evening breeze.
‘Etty…he’s gone. Dad’s gone.’
‘Oh, Charlie…’
‘He’s gone. The house is gone. Everything.’
‘No, it hasn’t all gone, it’s still standing, look - ’
‘I don’t want to look!’
‘Sorry, I’m sorry. You’re right. You don’t have to look. We don’t have to stay. If you want, we can go to mine and you can just sleep as long as you like, whatever you need, I’m here. Charlie…’
He pulled back slowly, forcing a hand through his hair in an effort to draw strength from somewhere.
‘I…no - family, I need to stay with Ma and the twins.’
‘Of course, of course. You want to go to them now?’
‘Yes.’
Eyes taking in nothing but the yellow grass and smoke wisps, Charlie went in the direction of his remaining family members. Taking as quick a glance as possible, he saw a fire engineer with a kind and sooty face telling his mother something. When he was close enough behind the twins, she turned to face them directly.
‘We’re staying in the church tonight. In the crypt. They’ll send us what…what’s left when they’ve cleared everything up. Let’s go.’
‘Now?’ asked Gwen, holding her sister’s hand.
‘Now.’ Susan-Jane lightly placed a hand on each of the twins’ backs, guiding them away. Charlie hesitated, and then followed.
He told himself all the way down the hill that he wouldn’t turn around to look at the cottage, that it would do nothing but make him feel worse. Of course, when they passed the staring crowd, Charlie looked.
YOU ARE READING
A Blue Sky Existence
ParanormalCharlie lived a perfectly ordinary life until an afternoon in August, 1990. His family has to cope with an enormous loss, and it seems as though their world will never be the same again. When an elusive cloaked figure shows up after the tragedy, ho...
