A Knock at the Window

Chapter 10: Past Ashes

We finally came to a stop; an old house stood in front of us, at least what was left of it. The broken and burnt structure showed that there had been a big fire which took off the whole back of the once beautiful Victorian building.  I stood back, focusing my mind on why he would bring me here.

 A sudden brush from his foot kicking up burnt ashes startled me and then I spoke.

"Why did you bring me here?" 

Nothing. He seemed to be dazed, as if he was lost in a thought. The look on his face troubled me and then the pieces started to come together. This was his house.

"You use to live here...didn't you?"

His head hung low as he continued walking through the ashes, his brown boots quickly turning grey from the smut on the ground. I watched him for a couple minutes wondering if he would ever speak. After watching and waiting, I had to say something, so i walked over to him and pulled at his arm.

"Can you please tell me something,"I said,"You promised me you would."

He turned, his eyes quickly locked to mine, all emotion had been wiped from his face. Then, just as the cold wind swept through the trees,anger draped across his face and he pushed right through me, and walked to the truck. 

"Hey!"I screamed loud, in thought of grabbing his attention, "Where are you going?!"

He swung the truck door open and said, "Come on, We've got to go."

I refused.

"I said let's go Carly! Get in the truck,"he said sharply.

"No! Not till you talk to me about what the heck is going on!"

He stormed towards me, his boots loud as they hit the ground. He reached for my arm to drag me to the truck but I pulled back.

"Let's Go!" he shouted.

I said nothing, just stood there silent. He rumbled through this jean pockets and pulled out his wallet as a picture of a little girl fell in front of my face. She seemed to be only about 6 years old. Her long dark brown hair draped across her shoulders, pinned to the side by a flower clip. I reached for the wallet as he released it  into my hands.

"They took her from me and they'll take you away from me too.' he said quietly.

He walked over to a nearby oak tree and sat down. 

Standing in front of his feet, he spoke again.

"After my parents died, Casey and I only had each other. We finally got adopted into our family we're with now and we moved here that July. Before we made it into the system, I was finding anyway to take care of her...." he sat dazed then spoke again, "It was a business deal gone sour. It started with a couple sales for this one guy then when he didn't need me anymore he refereed me to his buddy. I'd do a job a month, then I'd be set. I had money to take care of us both. Then sales started to decrease, business was slow for a while. I tried to sell to anyone that would buy, just to provide for Casey. Little did I know, I sold to an uncover cop one day. That's when I got caught and so did the whole franchise. I got out as a minor, but the other guys were thrown in jail."

I sat next to him and wrapped my arm in his and laid my head on his shoulder.

He continued.

"They all got released from prison 2 years ago. The way they planned to celebrate their release was to get revenge on me," he sighed," our adoptive parents were out of town that week. I went out into the shed to work on some things and about an hour later something felt totally wrong. I opened the shed doors and saw the smoke. I don't think I've ever ran that fast in my life. The whole back of the house was in flames and Casey was inside. I tried everything i could to get her out but by the time the firetrucks showed up the main part of the house had collapsed. They thought I was in that house. It should've been me."

I never thought I'd ever see him cry, but a tear rolled down his face. I looked up at him and wiped his face and lifting up his chin I kissed him. I understood now and as long as i was with him, i was ready for whatever was heading our way. Game on.