My brain still reeling I look up and I'm somehow looking at the person I'm grieving over. The mysterious fire fighter was none other than Blake's twin brother, Brodie.
His burnt toffee hair, his grey eyes, his chiseled jaw. It's all the same but his eyes don't twinkle like Blake's do. Or did, I guess.
I spin around to look at the hall, encased in flames. I blink and they're gone, as if there was no fire. The only evidence of it is the pile of chard wood, brick and the horrifying stench of burning flesh, fur and blood.
I turn back to Brodie, "please tell me I'm not the only one who saw that." I spurt, mouth agape. "No, I saw it too. What the hell was that? The flames just... disappeared." He remarks, as if trying to convince himself that's what he saw.
We look around and all around us are other wolves staring in shock at where the flames just were. All of them just as confused as we are. "Definitely not just us." I say, somewhat relieved.
After my brain catches up, it clicks that there's no flames, I immediately shift, running full speed back to the hall where I had been standing. There's an overpowering smell of burnt bodies, I'm doing everything to not gag. There on the bed, where he had been sitting is the charred remains of the man I loved.
He's gone. I mind link to Brodie crumpling to the ground. I break down, tears fall slowly down my cheeks. I'm so sorry Caitlin. I hear him choking back tears through the mind link. I wipe away my tears, stand up and turn to look at where Brodie is standing. He's wiping his tears away, I can't keep looking so I drop my gaze.
Brodie... You're going to want to see this.I say through the mind link, so as to not get unwanted attention. He's next to me before I can blink. What? How?He mind links back, his voice still breaking.
There's a perfect circle around where I had been standing in the hall. "I'm not expert but isn't that what an ignition point looks like?" I ask, knowing I'm right. "Yea, but why? Why would you burn your own home down? Why would you kill your own boyfriend?" He says, accusation dripping from his tone. "You think I did this?" The pain in my the trembling of my voice.
"The ignition point came from exactly where you were standing. Except why is it so much bigger than normal?" Confusion written all over his face "what do you mean 'bigger than normal?'" I say, mocking his voice.
Brodie walks around for a while before returning with a piece of wood that was untouched by the flames. He pulls a lighter out of his massive jacket pocket. "Look, if I hold this lighter under this piece of wood..."
His voice trails off as he flicks the lighter on, holding it in place under the piece of wood. After a minute or two he clicks the lighter closed, and shows me where he had been burning the wood.
"See. Where I was holding the lighter to the wood, it has the same ignition mark as where you were standing. Except it's much smaller, this is what's normal for an ignition spot."
We both look back to the spot where I had been standing. I open my mouth to speak, but we're interrupted by someone else coming up behind us. "Mom, what are you doing?" I say as she drags me away from where I had been standing.
"What the fuck, mom?" I pull my arm out of her grip. "You can talk to Blake later." She hissed. I feel my heart break all over again, "no I can't." My voice breaks. "He's gone, mom. He was caught in the fire." I look back at Brodie, my heart hurts just looking at him. His face ashen and broken looking at the man who was his mirror image.
"Oh, Catie. I'm so sorry Honey. How's Brodie doing? That can't be easy on either of you." She says he face falling. "What do you want, mom? I know you're not here to pretend like you're sad about Blake." I spit venom.
My mom and I never got along. She always has a problem with what I'm doing. I'm always 'too' according to her. That's literally what she says. "Caitlin, why are you so too?" She always asks. "You're too angry, too sad, too happy." She would say.
"Did you see how those flames just disappeared?" She asked, all care leaving her voice. "No, mom. I thought they were put out by the fire department." I say sarcastically. "We're overdue for a little chat," She says as if she expects that I'll care.
"About what? How I'm too angry? Or am. oo sad? Ooh, how about too confused?" I spit back. "I just found out my boyfriend was burnt alive, Brodie and I found the ignition point but can't figure out why it's the size it is. And now my mother wants to have a 'chat.' I'm not really in the mood to be criticized right now, mom." I say through teeth gritted hard enough that I'm sure I'm going to break a tooth.
"Oh come on, Caitlin. You're being far too dramatic right now." She replies, I glare daggers into her tall slender body.
My mother like to think that no one will challenge her, even when she's being an absolute monster. As long she bats an eyelid, everyone will pretend like it wasn't the most horrific thing they've ever heard anyone say.
She's tall, slender, and her dark black hair cascades down past her waist, looking like a midnight ocean. Her amber eyes shine like gold and her perfect honey skin makes her look like a porcelain doll, perfectly proportioned face and body make her look like a supermodel, and she knows it too.