Little Spark

39 - Bill Thrill

When I crest the small hill to my house and see the police cruiser sitting out front, I know I'm in big trouble. I almost turn around, but Ruby spots me before I get the chance.

"There she is, Mommy!" she exclaims, tugging on Aunt Lil's arm and pointing at me as I ride up the sidewalk. "See! I told you she was okay!"

The moment I climb off my bike at the end of our walkway, she bounds down and throws her arms around my thighs. The bike falls over into the yard.

Placing her chin in my bellybutton, Ruby looks up at me, frustration written all over her frowning face. "I tried to tell them you were at the blue house," she moans, "but nobody would listen to me!"

My pulse begins to race; if Ruby knew where I was, there's a chance she also knows who I was with. I'm not exactly sure how much she could see.

I unlatch her arms, taking both of her hands in mine, and squat down to her level.

"So you know I was at the blue house, huh?"

She nods.

"Tell me what else you know, little girl," I say, pinching her nose and trying to sound lighthearted.

She looks at the ground.

"Rube, are you okay?" Her abrupt change in demeanor makes me wonder whether she saw me with her haunter or is having a premonition of my imminent death.

A glance over her shoulder reveals the rapid approach of a furious Aunt Lil and the two police officers.

"Rube?" I say again, beginning to panic.

She looks up at me as her eyes fill with tears. "I'm sorry about your daddy, Bliss."

I'm squatting there, staring at her with my mouth open in shock, when Aunt Lil and the officers reach us. Aunt Lil angrily clears her throat, and I stand, pulling Ruby in close.

"So we meet again," says the cop on the left as he sets his sunglasses on top of his head, revealing his grey eyes. He crosses his arms and grins at me—it takes me a second to recognize him without the smoke mask. 'Milligan' is engraved in the silver nameplate beneath the badge pinned to his uniform. "I take it that friend of yours from the church fire turned out alright?"

"Oh," I say. The thought of Candis makes my chest ache, especially now that I know Shadows were responsible for the death of one of my parents too. "Yeah, she's fine." Officer Milligan's eyes are startlingly sharp. They remind me of Orion, the cute flight attendant who pulled me from my seat on the plane before I could crash it, but the gray seems less intense against Milligan's paler skin.

"Well," he says, turning to Aunt Lil, "I think the mystery's solved here, Mrs. Thrill. We'll leave you two to chat." He puts his sunglasses back on. "Starnes, let's roll." He and the other officer start toward their squad car. "Bliss...."

Hearing Officer Milligan say my name is unsettling.

"You be careful, alright, young lady?" Without waiting for my reply, he gets into the car, and he and his partner drive off. The force-field of fury I can feel radiating off of my aunt makes me wish they'd cuffed me and taken me with them.

As the car disappears over the hill, she stares at me with her lips sealed tight. Her hazel eyes are identical to mom's, and her glare of death is disconcertingly similar to the one mom gave me after the shotgun incident. I have to look away to avoid bursting into tears right here on the front lawn.

"Ruby," she says, diverting her attention to the small person with her face buried in my side, "please go inside."

Ruby does as she's told, leaving me there with my hands trembling, unable to look my aunt in the eye.