Chapter Twenty
Colton
"Fire!" I shouted out as loudly as I could, running towards the ranch house. "Hurry! Fire!"
Adrenaline was pumping through my body, battling against my drunken state and giving me the focus to move. Mama had a garden hose wound around a hook on the side of house for watering her plants. I turned the faucet on full and started unwinding the hose as fast as my hands would go.
"What the hell is all the noise out here?" William stepped out onto the porch. Seeing me tangled in the garden hose, he asked angrily, "Are you drunk?"
"The barn's on fire. Get Travis out here, and tell me Mama to call 911," I called out.
"Crap!" He ran back into the house, leaving the front door wide open, and I could hear shouting inside. I managed to untangle the garden hose and ran with it to the barn. The roof was ablaze with flames. I pointed the nozzle at it and turned the spray of water full stream of the fire. It was as useless as spitting on it.
My brother Travis came running from the house and took the hose from me. He was a trained firefighter and had been working for the Riverbend volunteer fire department since he was eighteen. I trusted his eight years of experience and let him have it. The flames from the fire were blistering hot and the wave of heat was making my skin hurt and my eyes burn.
"Get back," Travis shouted, and I gladly obliged. "The barn is gone. There's no saving it, but the fire could spread to other structures. Use the hose to wet down the stable and your office."
He thrust the hose at me. I took it with trembling hands, drenching the walls of the stable as best I could while sparks from the burning barn rained down around me.
William, Tom, and Brett were working together as a team to lead the terrified horses out of the stable. Their whinnies sounded liked screams, and it took all of my brothers’ strength to keep the strong animals from bolting out of their grip and running wild with fear.
Mama came out onto the porch and shouted over the noise. "I've called the fire department. They're on their way."
It felt like forever before we heard the sound of engine alarms blaring from the highway. Tears of relief sprang to my red eyes as three fire trucks, two tenders, and an ambulance pulled in front of the house with their lights flashing. It was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.
Travis had been doing his best to clear away debris from around the stable to keep the fire from spreading, but when he saw his comrades, he dropped his axe and ran to greet them.
I'd never seen my little brother in action and my heart swelled with pride as I watched him work with the crew to battle the fire. They hooked up hoses to the tender trucks and aimed them at the burning barn, now completely engulfed in searing flames.
No longer needed, I staggered back from the scene to collaps on the steps of the porch. I'd done what I could, and the rest was up to them.
"Are you all right?" A medic from the ambulance came up to me.
"I'm okay. It's just so hot, I felt a little faint for a moment," I confessed.
"You've got burns on your face and hands from standing too close to the fire. Let me treat you." He put some ointment on my skin and covered it with a bandage and then handed me a bottle of water.
"Keep hydrated, and you'll be okay," he said and walked off.
The fire was almost completely out now, but Travis and the other firefighters still had several hours’ worth of work to do to make sure it didn't reignite. My brothers were all out taking care of the horses, and probably would be for the rest of the night. Mama was in the house, no doubt talking on the phone.
I was all alone on the porch as Bethany walked slowly towards me. Her face was ravaged by emotion, making her even more beautiful. It tugged at my heart to know that she was so worried about me. I stood up to greet her, ready to welcome her into my arms. No doubt she wanted to kiss me for heroically attempting to put out the barn fire.
I was completely unprepared for the sharp pain as she slapped me across the face with brutal force.
"You bastard. How the hell could you do that?" she cried out angrily.
"What are you talking about?" I rubbed my stinging cheek. For someone so petite, she was surprisingly strong.
"You burned down the barn and destroyed all my paintings. Four weeks’ worth of hard work, completely gone. I put my heart and soul into making those paintings come to life, and with one act, you destroyed them all."
"Why would I do that?" I was dumbfounded by her accusation. The anger she felt radiated from her body.
"To keep me from leaving," she shot back at me. I could feel the hatred she felt for me like a punch to the gut.
"Yes, I want you to stay, but why would I burn down my own barn just to keep you here?"
"My mother was right: men will do anything to get what they want. You weren't willing to put in the time to give me the attention I deserved and thought I would just stay and let you use me whenever you wanted.
“When you found out that wasn't true and I was leaving, you had to find an easy way to make me stay so you could keep having your fun. You thought that by destroying my work, I would have to stay to repaint them, but your dirty trick won't work. I'm leaving tomorrow, and there is nothing you can say or do to get me to stay."