Against All Odds

Chapter 25

Eve

Cold.
I remember feeling extremely cold. Who knew how idiotic I could be, running after Benji into a howling storm with no protection what so ever.
Lucky for me, Lucas got involved.
When I woke up this morning in his bed, several thoughts came to mind.
One was that I felt very comfortable. Next was I wore unfamiliar clothes that I guessed where Lucs. Lastly was the obvious feeling of hunger.
So I dragged my tired self out of bed and headed downstairs in search of food and answers.
That was when I heard the beautiful music floating around the house. Piano. Like a soft melody that could never be broken.
Curiosity got the better of me and I followed the sound to find my little brother sat, smiling happily as Lucas played for him. His fingers drifted along the keys professionally and I felt mesmerised by the sounds he was creating.
Since then we haven't moved.
My brother and I are still sat, listening to Lucas' music.
When he finishes his piece, Benji laughs with glee and we both give him a generous applause.
"That was incredible!" Benji throws his arms around Lucas' waist as he stands up from his stool. "Please please teach me how to do that?"
"Well I'd be happy to, but you'd need your sisters permission of course." Lucas ruffles Benji's hair and a smile forms on my lips as Benji gives me his best puppy eyes.
"Please Evie!" He comes to hug me and I put a slight firm face on.
"First we have to talk about last night." I say and his expression changes in an instant. "I know you don't want to but we have to okay? It was very dangerous. You could have seriously hurt yourself."
"I know. Sorry Evie." Benji stares at the ground and I can see that he understands what he did wrong.
"You can have piano lessons." I give in and he cheers, happy again. "But we can't pay for them so you'll have to pay Lucas back in someway, help him out with house work or whatever. That's for you two to sort out."
"We'll figure something out." Lucas smiles and I can tell he's happy to give lessons for free. "Have a little go now if you want. I just need to have a word with your sister."
Benji claps his hands in glee and jumps onto the stoop, running his small hands over the keys. I try not to cringe when he attempts to play and the notes clash together.
Lucas catches my eye and gestures for us to go into the kitchen so I follow him as he leaves Benji to his own amusement, wondering what he wants to talk about.
"Are you okay?" He asks gently and I nod my head in answer. Luc gives me a sad smile. "You scared me last night. When I got back here you were shaking so much...I'm just glad you slept it off."
"Yeah same, thank you for your help." I say sincerely.
"It's fine." Lucas breaks our eye contact and stares at his feet. "You're brother told me something when he came here. I asked if I should phone his parents and..."
His eyes flicker to mine in concern and I feel my own eyes widening at what he means. He knows...
I'm not sure how to react. Yes, I've been thinking about opening up to him but I didn't expect him to find out so soon.
"Eve, you know you could have told me don't you?" Lucas says softly. "You can speak to me about anything."
I nod, wishing he hadn't found out through someone else.
"My parents are dead." I confirm, attempting to keep my emotions in check. Speaking about this is something I've tried not to do. "Three years ago. Benji doesn't really remember it."
Lucas doesn't say anything and I blink quickly, feeling heat burning in my eyes. I'm not going to cry.
"You want to know how it happened?" I say a bit stonily.
"Only if you're okay to tell me." Luc takes my hand and sits me down on a chair. He's gentle. Undemanding. For some reason this brings out my emotions even more.
"You told me your secrets, isn't it only fit I tell you mine?" I point out but Lucas shakes his head as he sits next to me.
"No, if you need time that's fine. If you don't ever want to open up to me that's fine I won't force you. But if you need to chat through it I promise I'm here for you."
I swallow, not sure what to say. It's true, I want to tell him. Out of everyone he's the person I want to open up with the most. So I go for it. I relive the worst day of my life.

"It was a warm evening. A normal day. Max and I walked home from school as normal and mum was there with Benji. Dad came home later and we had dinner together. Laughing as we always did. Dad was always such a joker and mum would roll her eyes at him and ask whether he'd ever grow up. I loved my parents so much. They were one of a kind." I pause to take a deep breath and steady the grief building up inside. "We didn't live in that house next door. My parents owned that house but rented it out. Course they left it to us in their will. No, we lived in a cottage ten minutes from town. A beautiful thatched cottage."
I pause in thought, remembering how that night we all went to bed with a blissful ignorance to the oncoming events of the night. Had we known, things would have been different.
"Eve?" Lucas puts his hand on mine and I jump slightly.
"Sorry." I mumble, staring at where his hands touching mine. "There was a chimney fire. Birds made nests in the chimney and when Dad set up the fire it caught alight. But dad had fallen asleep watching a film and the fire alarm didn't go off. The fire spread rapidly. Having a thatched roof didn't help. I was woken by Max shaking me, yelling at me to get out. The whole house was filled with smoke. Max had Benji in his arms and I followed him out of the house, into the garden. So many people were there, watching the blaze with shock and sorrow. Max gave Benji to me and went back in the house after he couldn't find our parents standing outside. That was the tensest moment of my life. Not knowing what was happening. Benji was asleep in my arms, clueless as to the trauma going on. The fire engines turned up not soon after I got out. It took them hours to contain the blaze and finally extinguish it. They'd pulled Max out of the house and refused to let him back in. Max was a wreck, crying and shouting. He cursed the firemen non stop and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what was going on. They took us away from the house and to the hospital. We'd inhaled a lot of smoke but other than that we were fine. Max had minor burns on his arms and hands but we survived. Benji cried and cried, Max was in a world of his own. We were in the unknown until a police officer came and spoke to us. They told us our parents were gone forever."

The memories of that day returned and I close my eyes, remembering the numbness I felt when we were told. Shock. Unbelief. And then there was the grief and heart break. The fear. How would we live? What was going to happen to us? Would we be okay?

"They said Dad had fallen asleep and then fell into unconsciousness as the smoke entered his lungs. Mum was above him in bed, close to the chimney. Her whole room had been destroyed by the fire. She got burnt to death. Max witnessed it. He'd gone back in the burning house to try and find our parents. He told me that mum was alive when he got there but the entrance to the room was engulfed in flames. He couldn't get to her. He even burnt his hands trying."

Again I stop but this time it's because Lucas leans forward and wraps his arms around me tightly in a warm, comforting hug. Suddenly I feel an overwhelming need to cry.
I let my guard down and weep into his shoulder.

__________
Finally we know what happened to her parents... She's properly opened up to Lucas now.

Thanks for reading
Sami xxx