The Fire

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Present

My legs pushed back my chair, and it clattered to the floor.

How could this be happening? What was happening?

"Hello, Sophie. Long time, no see." Josh smirked.

Katie giggled.

Josh held a gun in his hand: black and deadly, pointed straight at my chest as he walked towards me.

"J-Josh...y-you're alive?" Millie asked

"Y-y-yes," Josh mimicked Millie's stuttering speech with an exaggerated pitiful expression.

Each breath I took got caught in my throat and my chest felt tight. It was him. It really was. He was standing right in front of me. Why was he here? Why was he holding a gun at me? Why was he acting like this?

"Josh..." It was all I could manage

"That's me," he grinned, "alive and well and better than ever. I can't say the same for the both of you, however. Bringing Millie here might've been a mistake Soph, but I suppose dead people have no regrets. The guilt won't last long."

It hit me.

"It was you all along. You're The Hooded Man."

He did a weird kind of wince. "Technically, it was both of us. Katie and I teamed up for a little bit of fun and games."

"Fun and games?" Millie repeated. "FUN AND GAMES IS NOT TAUNTING YOUR EX-GIRLFRIEND OVER HER FRIEND'S MURDER. FUN AND GAMES IS NOT FAKING YOUR DEATH AND MAKING HER BECOME TRAPPED IN HER OWN LIFE WITHOUT A WAY OUT – "

"You killed Leah," I whispered, my head about to explode. "Y-you murdered her. Why?"

Katie perked up. "Ah, the age-old question that no one could ever answer. Isn't it obvious?" She glanced left and right between Leah and me, but we said nothing. "It was you, Sophie! We didn't want to kill Leah." She walked right up to me and placed a pointed finger on my chest. "We wanted you." She jabbed her finger into me on every syllable. "Leah just happened to be in the house at that time." She paused. "Collateral damage, shall we say?"

Of course. It all made sense and I couldn't believe I had been so stupid to miss it. It was my house that was burned to ash, not Leah's. They were coming after me.

"Then why me?"

"Well, it may come as no surprise that I don't like you, Sophie. You and Josh broke up, I got the boy I wanted, and you just wouldn't go away. You were like a limpet just hanging on to something you couldn't have. No matter what I did you just kept coming back – "

"That's not true."

"-for more," she continued louder.

"So, you thought you would kill her?" Millie questioned in a tone of disbelief.

"Well, that was the only way to get rid of her."

"You're mad," I said, shaking my head, "and you went along with this?" I focussed on Josh.

He looked surprised that I had even spoken to him. "Obviously. Katie may have come up with the idea, but, truly, I was the brains of the operation. I did love you Sophie, but you broke my heart and I couldn't stand the sight of you- "

"Josh, no!" Millie exclaimed. "Can't you see she's manipulating you? You don't want this, Josh."

"Oh, but I do."

"And, what about James? You framed him."

"Yeah, that wasn't difficult. The most fun, actually, watching him helplessly sacrifice his freedom for you. Just planted his DNA on that fuel and fake dead me, blackmailed him with your life to confess, and bam!" He made an explosion gesture with his hands. "Your brother is guilty, your mental state is beyond repair and Katie and I are still free to do whatever we want to you."

"I trusted you," I whispered.

"Well then, you can't really blame me, can you? That was your decision and your mistake."

Katie groaned and her eyes rolled, "can we please stop talking, I'm so bored."

Josh picked up the gun that he had delicately placed on the table and pointed it, not at me, but at Millie this time. I didn't know what else to do but jump in front of her; if Millie was gone, I'd have nothing left.

"Please," I begged with my arms outstretched in front of Millie, my eyes looking down into the darkness of the barrel of the gun, "I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt Millie. Please."

"Well, we'll have to see if fate is in your corner," he turned to Katie, "shall we?" He gestured to the hallway he had emerged from 5 minutes prior.

Katie nodded, but before leaving, she pulled open one of the drawers and removed a small something. I couldn't tell what it was. Josh motioned with the gun for us to follow her. We did so without a word otherwise. I knew this was the end.

I knew we were going to die.

How had we got to this point? Josh had died. I had mourned him for months. I went to his funeral, cried over him, loved him and let him go. Katie was at the back of my mind and I had barely registered her this whole time. And James? He took a life sentence to save my life, and he was still there, in prison and totally innocent. These two were going to get away with everything they had done.

Although I had walked a few paces after Katie, Millie had not moved. Although I had given up, she had not.

"I'm not going with you." Her voice was shaky, but she held her head up high and stood her ground.

Josh gave a grim smile and looked quite pleased with Millie's resistance. "Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be, Mills."

"Don't call me that."

He frowned. My feet were frozen to the ground; I didn't want to see what happened next. Millie was nearing on a green belt in Judo: Josh was six foot 3 and muscles were not something he lacked.

Josh walked up to Millie and struck his hand across the right side of her face.

"No!" I cried, helplessly. I ran forward towards them, but Katie had grabbed me and pulled me back by my wrists. I tried to break free, but Katie's grasp was surprisingly strong.

Millie had taken it quite well, although her hand caressed the cheek that had been hit. Josh grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her up towards his face. I didn't know this person. This wasn't Josh. This was someone else. Controlled by power and a need for control.

"Don't talk to me like that," he sneered.

I watched Millie's leg wrap around the back of Josh's leg as her arms lifted up to grab his shoulders. With a grunt, she tried to get his leg to give way so she could throw him down. But he was too strong for her. His arms looped around hers and pinned them to her side. He spun her round to hold her hands behind her back. We both continued to struggle, but to no avail.

I wish I could have said something to Millie. Apologised to her, comforted her. Anything to say sorry for taking away the life she could have had. I caught one last glimpse out the kitchen window as Josh and Katie took us away. Just to see the sky one last time. And the birds, and the trees, and the beautiful colours of the Earth.

I was saying goodbye.

Why had I given up so easily? I had been through so much in these past few years that some peace would be kindly welcomed. If this was the way life was going to treat me then I was done with it. I just wished Millie didn't have to come with me.

Mum.

Christian.

I hadn't even said goodbye to them. What was the last thing I said to them? Was it good? Was it bad? I couldn't remember. I had shut them out so much over the recent years that I couldn't recall our last proper conversation. Maybe it was that Christmas party. Yes, I think it might've been.

Regret. It was all I felt in that moment. It consumed me and blended with the guilt to create one new emotion that was unbearable. At least it would be over soon. The window was soon out of sight and the darkness of the basement stairs came into view.