Running for Life

Chapter 3

Most of the ride too the summer house was quiet. Except for the music that we turned on every now and the to keep our spirits up. Or at least as high as our spirits can get. I kept thinking back to what my dad had said before. They said you were special... if the tests went right... 411 Autumnstone Way... Looked fine but... But what? I needed answers and the only way I would get them was if I asked questions. Although, now might not be a good time. I got out my phone, which I had forgotten was in my pocket this whole time, and checked the screen. A few missed calls and a voice mail from Taylor. Taylor's my girlfriend if you haven't guessed already. I slid the screen to unlock and then listened to the message. Panic was in her voice. "Oh my god, oh my god, Ty, listen, your house is on fire, I was leaving and I felt warm, but I thought it was just from before, but..." The voice trailed off. "Well I turned around and there were people on the roof. I had no idea who they were but, I also thought that was just from last night, thought maybe I was just seeing things. Then I saw that the roof was on fire. Your roof was on fire! It was burning real fire!! I flipped out and ran down the street, I called you like a gazillion times but you didn't pick up! So I just decided to... to..." she trailed off again, it took about a minute for the rest to come. "To call and say, I love you. I already called the fire department and they are about 5 minutes out, but I called to tell you I love you in case you... in case..." Man she had a problem with trailing off. "In case you had just enough time to hear this, in case you didn't make it. I love you so much. Sweet night babe..." She saw them. The people that were trying to kill me. She saw them! Thank God they didn't come any earlier. If she was stuck in there with us I don't know what I would have done. I stopped thinking about what could have happened and decided to call her back. She picked up on the first ring.
"Oh my god. You're alive. I saw them Ty. I saw them running away with the roof on fire. They're horrible people."
"I'm okay baby."
"I know that now. I'm so happy to hear your voice."
"Me too Tay. Me too." There was silence for a while and we just listened to the breathing of each other. Her breathing was short and weak, but also strong, like she had been doing something before she picked up the phone. But she couldn't have been doing anything, it's only 2 o'clock in the morning. Maybe my call just scared her. Maybe she just fell asleep waiting on me to call and was scared awake by the sound of the phone ringing. After all, her ring tone for me is "I Will Always Love You".
I finally broke the silence, "We are on our way right now to the summer house now so I'll see you in school tomorrow okay?" All she responded with was "Alright." and then she hung up the phone.

We kept driving in the cold winter night for about 20 more minutes until we reached our house. The other house may have been beautiful, but this one is even more gorgeous. We pull into the driveway and hopped out of the car. Adam and I walked up to the front door and waited in the crisp, frigid, winter air, wile Brian went to the once-lively, marble fountain where we hid the spare key. Once he had the spare key, he came to us at the front door. "Who wants in?" he joked. He unlocked the door and we all went inside. It wasn't as warm and cozy as the other house, but it would do. The entrance was not as grand as usual. The crystal chandelier hung in place with it's beautiful lights dripping from the main structure about that was about two feet above them. The staircase, which wound around the side and up the corner of the 30 foot wide room, was all marble, probably not the best for when wet kids go running up it and into the bonus room with the 70 inch flat screen that also served as a video game interface. It was all gray and cold now, like the life had been drained out of it.
"Wow. Never seen it in the winter." Adam remarked. That was true. None of us had been in here while it was cold and gross outside. We walked under the chandelier and through the 10 foot arch that allowed us into the main hall. Pictures of me and my best friend Joey running in the sprinklers to cool off on a hot summer day. Man how I wish I could go back to that. The simple life. There were pictures from family bonfires and picnics. All beautiful days. Everything was so, happy. Pictures of me and my dads. Taylor and my prom pictures. We went to King's Point, the theme park about 30 minutes from town, and had a professional take pictures of us on Riptide the only coaster there with an eighty foot drop. Yeah, just saying, that place sucks. It's good for pictures though! The wind blowing through her hair perfectly, her dress flowing like a smooth river behind her, my hair gelled to the side, a white tux, and a red bow tie. We had a great time that day. These memories made me feel warm for one minute, then the cold came back and snapped me too reality. I looked over at Adam who had already made his way to the marble fireplace and turned it on, "How about heat?"
"Brian's on that." Now I realized, they both are only in their boxers. They must be freezing! Of course they would get the heat on as fast as possible! I wandered around a little bit to warm up. The beautiful mahogany furniture had plastic coverings on them. I wandered into the sun room. It was worse there than anywhere else in the house. I looked out the floor to ceiling windows at the pool. The stone wall that had a slide carved into it look so desperate for sun. The pool had the hideous army green covering on it. I walked back to the front and walked up the stairs. I walked down the open balcony hall and into my room. I kept some clothes here, mostly summer ones, but a few winter clothes too just in case something like this had happened. I never thought it would, but I kept them here just in case. I opened up the blankets and got into bed. It was freezing, but the thoughts of summer and happy times helped me warm up a bit. After a few minutes, my mind did what it does best, and started wandering again. Further testing? Was I tested on before? Why was I tested? Was it because of these "powers"? Have I been able to do this all along? Did they know when I was born? Did my dads know about this before tonight? Of course they did, they knew what you were talking about when you screamed for them to tell you what was going on. I passed the tests though, didn't I? I'm here, I'm alive. I'm okay. But am I? I just woke up to smoke and my house on fire, my girlfriend had a panic attack because of me, and my dads are devastated that our house is gone. Maybe I didn't pass the tests. I stopped thinking because my brain hurt, so I laid under the covers for a while just staring at the ceiling, thankful that i even had a ceiling now. A while later, maybe ten or fifteen minutes later, the heat came on. I closed my eyes, felt my body finally get warm, and fell asleep.