In A World Of Our Own (Westlife Fan Fiction)

Chapter 6

Emma stood with Olly outside Ellen’s carcass of a building in silence. The rain pattered down and they could hear it on the windscreen of the car next to them. They were holding hands, their free hands clenched in tight fists and Emma had her head rested on Olly’s shoulder. Ellen was going to be meeting them there soon. Emma just hoped that it wouldn’t bring back memories of that fateful evening. Olly checked his watch, and Emma observed as his muscles flexed as he moved his arm to check the time, and then return it to its vertical position. He sighed and put his arm around Emma, and she grabbed him and hugged him around his waist. They had been dating for some months now and they were in a settled relationship.  

 It had been 3 months since the incident, and Emma was anxious as today; three months ago, Ellen would have been lying unconscious on the floor in the building that stood in front of them, not knowing what was happening around her. Ellen was still uneasy on her feet and going to different places was a tiring process. On Emma’s wishes Ellen hadn’t visited the diner again after the day she saw Kevin, and Emma knew it was time for Ellen’s healed body to face her demons. It was late evening, and Ellen should have been there half an hour ago. Olly kept checking his watch and Emma just shook her head.

 Finally, Ellen’s Vespa could be heard from down the road. It was going at some speed, and Emma was worried that it would crash into them. They stepped aside as Ellen pulled up and removed her helmet. Ellen was no closer in finding out who had saved her, even though it had been three months. The Police had no new leads and the fire was blamed on the deep fat fryer being faulty. Apparently one of the components was loose and oil was escaping and it was only a matter of time before the place burst into flames, Ellen only wished that she had noticed something was wrong.

 In one week exactly, Ellen would be meeting Westlife, the band that made her so happy, and she felt like breaking down and crying. She was very hesitant about going to the concert, but it was their gift to her and she would not disappoint them by not turning up. She was still a little shaky and wasn’t eating properly. She couldn’t hold anything down, and she hoped that she wasn’t ill on the night she was due to meet her four favourite boys.  She was determined to get better, and she was sure that Westlife would help her in some way. Any time she felt lost, confused, happy or sad, whenever she listened to them she was sure of what to do next, and she needed to sort out the financial ruin of the business that had been literally, burnt to a crisp.

 Ellen, Emma and Olly had been patiently sorting out the insurance and the claims factor of the incident. Ellen didn’t understand what was happening, but she knew that she couldn’t afford to rebuild the diner, not now, and probably not ever. Thanks to her friends help, she was slowly getting her life back on track. Her friendship with Emma was still strong, and Olly had become like a brother to her. Ellen hoped that Emma and Olly’s relationship lasted, because she knew not of a better suited pair of people.

 The three of them had been given the all clear to enter the building, providing that they wore hard hats and protective gear over their faces. Olly pulled out the gear from the boot of his car and they all dressed for the entering of the burnt shell of the diner. Olly wanted to walk in first, to make sure that the roof didn’t crumble on top of the girls, but Ellen wouldn’t allow him. Before he could enter, she was already inside, looking around and stroking areas of the building’s interior.  Ellen couldn’t make out anything due to the amount of ash covering the surface of everything. She shed a few tears as she came across the record player. She dusted the top off and stared at the records cleanly inside the casing, looking like they did before the place went down. She climbed over the fallen beams and shuffled over the counter. She stood at the place where she was lying at the time of the blaze. There was blood on the corner of the counter, where Ellen had banged her head, and she dug her way through the debris and found her knife on the floor of the diner. She picked it up, gently traced her fingers across the sides to clean it, and did a few tricks with it before placing it on the unit.