Match

41: Charred

 "Jonah, can you help me here?"

"Yeah, got it."

On one side of a king sized bed, Jenny lifts a bedsheet high into the air. Jonah catches the other side, then begins tucking the sheet in between mattresses.

"God, why are there so many mattresses on this bed?" Jenny says, shoving the sheet in firmly.

"Beats me," Jonah wipes a brow of sweat.

He grabs the blankets toppled on the floor and brings them onto the bed's bare surface. While fixing the pillows, Jenny takes a glance around the bedroom interior more.

"Hey, Mr. Architect."

"Hm?"

She gestures to the room. "What's your opinion on the decor?"

Jonah raises an eyebrow at her. His eyes follow where Jenny was looking.

"Jen," he lowers his voice to a whisper, "the people who live here, are here right now."

"So?" She tosses a pillow to him, to which he catches. "They're out in their backyard and the windows are closed. It's not like we're coming back to this house anytime soon, anyway."

Jonah sighs. He takes one more scan around, then places the pillow down in a polite manner. "It's not my favourite. Hell, the house in general isn't my favourite."

"Oh? Spill your reasons."

He shrugs. "The colour combinations are kinda weird. I've never seen a neon green paint job mixed with a faded yellow. Not to mention the structure looks proportionally incorrect."

Jenny snorts. "Really?"

"I'm guessing the builders were trying to make a cube shape fused with other cube shapes. But it just looks claustrophobic."

"Sheesh, that's harsh."

"You asked for my opinion," he places the last pillow down. "I gave you it."

Suddenly, he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket while ringing. The noise startles him for a second.

"Shit, sorry I thought I turned the ringer off," he says.

He pulls out his phone to silence it, but then stops once he sees the name of the caller: Coach John.

"I gotta take this call."

"Go ahead," Jenny gestures to the empty bathroom.

He strolls in and shuts the door. A large window pokes sunlight into the space, so he doesn't bother turning on a light. He presses the green button, then puts the phone to his ear.

"Coach?"

"Hi, Jonah," the coach sounds exhausted. "Are you busy right now?"

Jonah scratches the back of his head. "Well I'm kinda working at the moment. But what's up?"

"Oh, you're working too?"

Jonah blinks, wondering why he added that last word. "I am but shoot me what's up real quick."

"Okay," he sighs. "I've uh, been trying to call everyone on the team because this is urgent."

There is a pause. Jonah anticipates what he's going to say next, as he knows that since the coach hardly calls him, let alone the whole team, that this is not good news.

"There was an early morning fire on the soccer field."

"Huh?"

"On our field. The firefighters managed to put it out quickly, but a large portion of the field is basically charred right down to the earth. Including part of the gate."