Scooter's Ride

Chapter 21: Love...

So, this is my last chapter. It's probably going to be a lot shorter than all of the other ones because there's a certain amount of things that happen. Anyway, please comment, and vote, and I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 21: Love...

Smoke billowed up in clouds, I could smell it from here. The sky above my house was grey, even though it was supposed to be a bright blue. Then I looked closer, and saw that Rose's car was in the driveway. She is still at the house!

Grabbing my phone in case I had to call someone, I examined the scratches. It was still usable. I began sprinting home, dialling 9-1-1 at the same time.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Please come quick, my house is on fire! We are at 23-"

"Yes, your brother already called, we're on our way."

I hung up and pelted up the driveway. I couldn't just stand out there and watch, I needed to get Rose out. Wait- Christian already called?! He's still home, too!

As soon as my breath returned I flung open my front door, and almost choked with the smell of smoke. It was filling the house, blocking my vision, my best hope was to just feel around. The flames burned my forehead and I accidentally grabbed the stair railing, crumbling with heat.

"Ow!"'I quickly pulled my hand away, and, knowing that I couldn't exactly see, I took my time, even though I knew that the two most important people in my life could be dying this very instant.

"Rose! Christian! Are you here?!" I nearly choked. The heat was making me sweat, which was dripping into my eyes. I had just got to the top of the stairs when I could hear faintly over the crackling of flames, the sirens of the police cars. Many loud voices were cramped together outside the house.

Suddenly, I got bumped from in front of me, and when my eyes cleared, I could see a very worried looking Christian standing there with an unconscious Rose in his arms. For a split second we made eye contact, then I hurriedly jumped out of the way and followed Christian out of the house.

"Over here, bring her over here, boy!" An officer called from the ambulance parked a few metres away from the house. Christian took Rose over as fast as he could. I followed and a nice lady took me over to the ambulance. I needed someone to lean on, because for the minute or so I was in the smoke filled house, I was weakened.

I glanced over at Rose being lifted into the ambulance and Christian being tended to by some paramedics, just before I blacked out.

-

-

-

"Scooter, hello? Ms. Shall, are you alright?" I woke up, looking at the lady that had helped me earlier. I was still at the scene of the fire, laying on a blanket in one of the police cars.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Christian? I need to find him." I began getting up, with a pounding in the back of my head. The lady tried to keep me there, but I pushed her away. That was when I had noticed that I had a bandage around my hand. It was burnt from when I had put my hand on the railing.

"Christian!" I found him sitting on the curb and sat next to him. We were silent for a moment and I saw that he was on the verge of tears. "How did it start?" I asked after a few minutes.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I got home and it was on fire. Rose was passed out in her room on the floor. You only got back a few minutes after I did." He had his arms around his legs and his knees tucked into his stomach.

One of the police officers came over while the two of us were hugging. They noticed that we were having a little bit of a moment, so they left us be. That was when I realized, that everything of my parents- photos, belongings, albums, gifts, everything- was gone. I started balling, tears soaking the inside of my shirt as I tried to wipe them away. Christian held me until I was done and the officer came back over.

"Is everything alright?" She asked. I felt like saying, are you kidding me?! My house just burnt down, all of my things are gone, and my foster mother is in the hospital! But, I knew she was just trying to be polite. The two of us nodded and just before she left I inquired, "Do you know how the fire started?"

The lady shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. We don't know. The damage is too severe that we can't tell. But, by the looks of it, it might have been something in the kitchen left on. We will have to wait for Rose to wake up."

She left and Christian went to go check the scene that was now watered and all ash. I hated the sight of it and couldn't bare to look at it.

I went to thank the officers and paramedics for helping us with everything. And after a few minutes, I went to look for Christian, but it turned out, he was already looking for me.

"Scooter, come here. There's something I need to show you." He motioned for me to follow him around to the back of the house. He bent down toward the base of the house. It had a wet look to the grass. I just thought that it was the water that the fire department used to put the fire out.

Christian pointed to it. "Smell it." I was taken aback by his demand.

"What, why?" I asked, cautiously bending down. He didn't answer, just told me to do it. I smelt the part of the grass that was wet and gasped. I stared up at Christian.

"It's gasoline." Christian nodded. He pointed along the base of the house. It had been poured all around the house.

"It looks like the officers should have investigated a bit more." Christian stated. We both began snooping around, searching for anything. It was scary, knowing that gasoline was very flammable and our house had just been burnt down.

I could hear Christian calling my name from somewhere around the house. "Scooter! Come here!" I rushed to see Christian standing next to a gasoline can. "Look what I found."

He held up a small piece of crumbled paper. He handed it it me and I slowly read it:

You weren't in the house,

You weren't in the car,

Scooter, I'm sorry,

But your end isn't far.

The note floated to the ground as I jumped over to Christian. "Christian, was does this mean?!" I shouted, so confused from that threatening paper.

"Scooter, I'm sorry to tell you this, but the fire wasn't an accident, and neither was your parents accident. Someone is trying to kill you." Christian stared me in the eyes and I could see that he was as terrified as I was.

I began crying, not knowing what to do with the fact that I had someone so mad at me that they wanted to kill me, and killed my parents and nearly my foster mother on their way.

Christian had ran to tell the police chief. I decided to take another look at the note. Maybe the writing would give something away. I picked it up and I couldn't breath, and it wasn't from the smell of smoke that still wafted from the left overs of the house. I un-crumbled the bottom of the note to reveal a bold:

Love...

Xojellyfish