Ashes and Ghosts (Major Spoilers for Little Hope)

Prologue

Little Hope, Massachusetts

Clarke Family Home

1972

Bailey had been hanging out at her boyfriend's house, currently sat next to him on the living room floor. "I'm surprised your parents agreed to let you stay so late." Her boyfriend, Anthony Clarke, admitted, resting a hand on top of hers. Although this hadn't been the first time he'd brought her home, it didn't happen often, as they mostly went out or stayed at her house when they spent time together.

"I know, they don't normally like me out late." Bailey began to say. "But they trust you, and know we're staying in anyway." She pointed out, directing a warm, soft smile at him and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. She then rested her head on his shoulder.

Anthony's brother, Dennis, was sat opposite them, sifting through his record collection, their little sister Megan just sitting and watching some television. Both of the boys looked up as soon as car headlights passed by the window outside. "Tanya's home late. She's always late these days..." Dennis grumbled out of the blue as he was putting his records away. 

"At least one of us is out having a good time, give her a break." Anthony simply responded.

"It's him I'm worried about. That guy's no good for her, all this new age bullshit. It's like some creepy cult." Dennis elaborated. Bailey never liked to interject in family matters, it wasn't her place, so she just stayed quiet. "He came in last week, we shot the breeze a little bit. I like him." Anthony responded. "Besides, you've been pretty accepting of Bailey, it would be nice if you could extend Vince that same courtesy."

The room went quiet as soon as Anthony's dad came in and sat down on the sofa with a beer, wordlessly changing the channel, even though Megan had already been watching something. The child didn't say anything either, she just got up and left the room, accidently stepping on one of Dennis' records on the way out. "Hey bigfoot! Mind the god damn vinyl will you!" He retorted angrily, making Bailey feel bad for the child. 

"There's no need to be so tough on her. It was an accident." Anthony tried sticking up for his little sister, as usual.

"Everything Megan does is an 'accident'." Dennis shot back immediately.

Hearing the sound of Tanya struggling with the front door, Anthony pulled away from Bailey. "I'll be back in a minute, just gonna let Tanya in." He told his girlfriend, giving her hand a quick squeeze before getting up and leaving the room as well. Itching for something to do while she waited, Bailey decided to help Dennis put his records back in the boxes.

"Dennis for the ten millionth time, will you shift that shit of yours into the attic?!" Anthony's mum called down from upstairs as the pair had finished putting the records away. 

"Hey! Some respect! This is a valuable, rare and sought after collection!" Dennis yelled back while he was standing up, taking a box with him. Bailey just got up, joining Anthony and Tanya in the hallway.

"Good evening Bailey, always nice to see you." Tanya greeted her with a small smile. 

"Likewise." Bailey said simply. Out of the whole family, it seemed to be Anthony's older sister she openly got on with the most. "Do you mind waiting upstairs in my room? Got some family stuff to deal with and then I'll be all yours." He said to his girlfriend, giving her a kiss on her forehead. Bailey nodded. "Of course not, go ahead." She responded before heading upstairs to Anthony's bedroom, sitting herself on his bed.

Those next few minutes or so she spent waiting seemed to go slowly. That all seemed to change as soon as she could smell burning out of the blue, so she got up and left the room to see what was going on, smoke starting to waft upstairs as fire began to spread rapidly through the house. Before what was happening could sink in, the whole house was on fire.

Her first instinct was to run downstairs and towards the front door, approaching it just as Anthony was. She tried opening it, but it wasn't budging, Anthony trying it from the other side, but to no avail.

"Shit, it's locked!" He called to her from outside, panicking once he realised he couldn't get to her. "Don't worry about me, I'll find a way out, worry about your family!" She insisted. Anthony hesitated to leave her, but resolved there was no time to talk her out of it, rushing over to the living room window to help his dad.

Bailey started towards the stairs, following Megan's screams and cries for help, only to be blocked off at the bottom by some falling debris, a horrified expression on her face as she could only watch as the child burned to death at the top of the stairs, the smoke and fumes only making it hard for Bailey to breath. "Anthony!" She cried out in a panic, the heat from the flames making her movement sluggish as she fell to her knees. He could hear her screaming for help from outside, he'd been holding a box of matches in his hand when a bystander had run over after seeing the flaming house, a judgemental look on his face, Dennis' body impaled on the fence and Tanya's body hanging from the balcony. 

"Mum! Bailey!" Anthony called out as he ran into the burning building, the bystander trying to tell him it was too late.

When Anthony had emerged from the house a few minutes later, he'd emerged with nasty burns and his girlfriend's singed body cradled in his arms, a distraught expression on his face. Once safely out the building, he only sunk to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes, resting Bailey on his lap, clutching her body close to his and rocking it as he cried.

Not only had his whole family perished in the fire, but he hadn't even been able to save his own girlfriend either, the thought of having failed them all made his heart ache, and he couldn't help but feel like he was at fault for the fire in the first place.