Flames At Midnight

13 | quentin miller

Dillon brought the box outside and set it in the trunk. Kya was flipping through photographs, taking out all the ones of her and the girl and burying them into her purse. I took the opportunity to check my phone.

"Oh no."

I had a bunch of missed calls and text. It was then that I remembered switching my phone to silent when we were breaking into Ava's house. I felt my blood turn cold as I skimmed the messages. I felt relieved when I got to the last few.

PORTER: Grace and I are heading to the hospital. We were attacked.
PORTER: Everything okay there?

PORTER: I just got released. No concussion. She's getting stitches for a cut. She got glass in her leg from the car accident we were in before BEING ATTACKED. WHERE ARE YOU?
PORTER: Crap. You're okay right?

GRACE: Meet me at my place. Don't bring Kya or Dillon, or tell them what happened.
GRACE: I mean it Quentin.
PORTER: QUENTIN???
PORTER: If I don't hear back from you in fifteen minutes, I'm telling Deputy Sullivan everything

"Is something wrong?" Kya asked. She must've caught my worried expression.

I resisted the urge to hide my phone behind my back, suddenly overcome with the feeling that I was trying to hide something. "Uh. Grace is having a...emergency."

Dillon slammed the trunk shut. "What kind of emergency?"

"The female kind," I said. "She needs my help."

Kya gave me a look. "She's calling you for help for a female emergency?"

"We're very close."

"Sure. I'll drop you off," Dillon said with a one-shouldered shrug.

"Thanks. Just let me call Porter first. He's been trying to reach me for the last hour and thinks something happened," I said. The fifteen minutes he gave me were almost up. I turned my back as I made the call. He picked up on the first ring. "You guys were attacked?"

"Dude! I was just about to spill everything to the deputy! He was taking my statement earlier and I almost had to tell him that we broke into someone's house so that he'd know where to find you," Porter said. His voice was tight from nerves. "Something huge happened."

He was with Deputy Sullivan. An image of the deputy from my vision flashed in my mind.

"What happened?"

"I'm not supposed to say. Grace said she doesn't want to tell you until you get here because you have a big mouth," he said.

I ignored the jab.

I was also hyperaware of the letter from my mom, unread, clenched tightly in my other hand. "I have something to tell you guys later too." I lowered my voice and asked, "You're sure you're both alright?"

"We're fine now. Just get back safely. You're gonna want to see this."

"We're heading back to Thornhill now."

We piled into Dillon's car.

I wasn't really in the mood for talking. My mind was full of questions. Dillon and Kya were both pretty silent as well. He still seemed tense from finding the letters and she looked dazed.

I still couldn't bring myself to open my own letter.

I wanted Grace and Porter there with me when I read it. And my dads, of course. Although, I wasn't sure how I would be able to explain how the letter came into my possession without mentioning that I've been sneaking out and breaking into homes in Salem. No way would that conversation end in a warm family hug.