Chapter Three
Sarah took a hot shower when she got home, dressing in a baggy shirt and pants, leaving her hair wet around her shoulders. The storm still raged but she felt a little bit better being at home. Even though her apartment was just a small one-bedroom place on the outskirts of St. Neuri, she turned it into her own private space. Plants decorate most bare surfaces. Taking care of them calmed her and she enjoyed raising them to flourish in her tiny area. The apartment complex didn’t allow pets but she had an aquarium of a few fish she took care of. Pillows and extra blankets were placed on the couch for those days of lazy reading. She had a tea to brew for every mood; coffee gave her a headache.
Tonight, Sarah lit a couple of candles, made a soothing cup of chamomile tea and turned on the TV, curling up on the couch. The fish swam merrily in their tank. Not for the first time, Sarah felt envious of their simple lives.
Even though she wanted to forget about the day, her mind kept drifting to work, Mary Ann, and discovering Logan in the house. Had he left yet? The storm was still going. She shouldn’t have told him that she would call the police. Normally, Sarah wasn’t that type of person. What was work doing to her to treat someone badly like that?
Mary Ann hadn’t even bothered to text her back after Sarah told her the house was fine. Being punished for something completely outside of her control was tiring and she was feeling sick of dealing with it. Mary Ann was a grown woman, much older than Sarah, and was acting like a child.
But she simply couldn’t afford to quit this job. It had been her steady source of income for so long – where would she go? It wasn’t as if the market in St. Neuri was booming. Even with Millie saying she was going to bring her fashion line locally, Sarah still didn’t want to ask for a job with her, worried that it would come off as entitled due to their years of friendship.
There was also the nagging feeling in her stomach that Millie was keeping things from her. Yet Sarah didn’t even feel justified in harboring negative emotions about that either. Once college started, all those years ago, Millie dropped off the face of the planet. It was absurd to believe they could instantly bounce back to how things were when they were teenagers, no matter how much Sarah would like that back in her life.
Her thoughts drifted to Logan. What was a man like him doing squatting in a foreclosed house? He looked so well put together, not like someone who had been homeless for a long time. How long had he been at the house? They owned the property for just a couple of weeks; had he been there the entire time?
The thing that struck her most was just how handsome he was. He looked really good. It had been a long time since Sarah took notice of a guy. After a recent failed string of dating attempts, she retreated inward, opting to be alone than dealing with some jerk who made comments about her weight, stood her up, or wanted her to be the side girl in his world.
It was wrong to be thinking about his muscles in that thin t-shirt and how good he looked in it. She wished there was some way to turn her brain off. Sarah forced herself to watch TV for a while before heading to her room close to midnight. She would be tired tomorrow but would have to deal with it. Tossing and turning in her bed, she rolled onto her side, watching the lighting illuminate the world outside.
In the distance, somewhere in St. Neuri, she heard a wolf let out a howl, slicing through the storm.
Finally, closer to two, as the storm began to wind down, sleep came for Sarah.
*
In her dream, she was running through the forests with a wolf by her side. The storm was raging, soaking through her skin, causing her to shiver yet Sarah didn’t mind. The wolf next to her glanced at her with large, brown eyes, dark like chocolate, as they ran. The ground rumbled under her feet, getting her attention. Sarah glanced over her shoulder to see a pack of wolves coming after them.
They were growling, sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight, barreling towards them. Sarah tripped suddenly, spilling out across the forest floor. She rolled onto her back, covering her face with her hands, waiting for the attack –
And awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. Sarah kicked the covers off, looking around the room. Sunlight streamed in, casting pools of light across the floor. Her alarm was blaring, rattling around inside her skull. She turned it off quickly, rubbing the temples of her head. A headache was brewing, probably from the change in atmosphere pressure from the giant storm relenting. Or her dream. Lack of sleep. So many reasons.
Sarah showered, dressed, managed to eat some toast, made some coffee and was off, heading for another day of work. Anxiety bubbled in her chest. Work had no longer become something she merely tolerated. It felt as if it was becoming a thick blanket that covered her body, something she dreaded.
In the morning light, the storm still seemed to hang over everything. Tree branches had been knocked down onto the roads, debris from trash cans tossed everywhere. The storm washed everything out; the sky looked translucent, as if it belonged to another planet. Even the air smelled differently – like spring instead of fall. It was an odd juxtaposition of rebirth and just general mess, with the disarray evident. It had easily been the strongest storm all season.
But there hadn’t been any fog last night. A good omen. Surely, St. Neuri would be feeling the relief today. Maybe even Mary Ann would ease off.
At the office, Elizabeth was already taking phone calls. Tom was nowhere to be seen. Elizabeth said he called out sick. That meant Sarah would be saddled with his work. She tried not to let it show on her face that it bothered her. She couldn’t even recall the last day she called off.
She sat at her computer, beginning her morning routine. Her thoughts kept drifting to Logan and the house on Brook Street. Was he okay? The thought of waiting until after work to go see the house felt like ages away. She decided she would go there on her lunch break.
Mary Ann shot her a few e-mails, saying she was out all day showing houses. Sarah felt relieved, easier to focus knowing that she wasn’t going to come in until later this afternoon.
But as lunch time rolled around, the urge to go to Brook Street proved to be too strong. She told Elizabeth that she was going to lunch, took the keys to Brook Street and got into her car. Was she hoping that Logan would be there? Or just relieved he was gone?
Driving to the house was much easier when a crazy storm wasn’t going on. She found it in no time and parked the car. Yet something felt off. There was a scent in the air that seemed to hang around her. It was oddly familiar but she couldn’t pinpoint how.
She got out of the car, unlocking the front door and stepping inside. After a pause, Sarah called out Logan’s name. No reply. But the scent was getting stronger. Like something was cooking. She followed the scent towards the kitchen, hearing a crackling noise. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She walked into the kitchen and came to a sudden stop, gasping in shock.
The kitchen was ablaze, fire rolling across the counter, swallowing the fridge. It burned brightly, intensely, heat smacking Sarah in the face. Shocked, she took a step backwards, hearing a loud noise upstairs. She thought of Logan and took off up the stairs, pulling her phone out of her pocket at the same time.
“Logan?” She called out, “Are you in here?” She couldn’t just leave him inside if he was still here – the idea that he could have started the fire out of anger didn’t even occur to her.
To her horror, the fire was in the bedroom. It spread wildly across the floor, so quickly that Sarah knew this wasn’t some accident. The fire was clearly planned. She backed away from the door as the fire licked the sides of the wall.
Stumbling backwards, she turned to the staircase. To her horror, somehow the fire was already at the base of the stairs. How could it spread so quickly?! She fumbled for her phone, about to dial 911 when something knocked into her.
Wild-eyed, soot on his face – Logan stared at her. She gripped him, the fabric of his shirt curling around her finger tips, trying to say something as the flames closed in.
“We are getting out of here!” He said, “Hold onto me!”
She closed her eyes tightly and held onto him, unsure what he was going to do to get out of here, or where he had been this whole time. Logan wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into the spare bedroom. The house shuddered underneath her, as if the foundation would go at any moment. Everything felt surreal, in slow motion, as if she was having a nightmare. She buried her face in Logan’s neck.
One second they were in the house, the fire circling around them. The next, they were crashing through a window. Sarah screamed, clutching Logan as they fell, shards of glass in her hair. The impact would break their bones – if the fire didn’t kill them, then this crazy jump would do something dreadful –
They slammed against the ground. In the distance, Sarah could hear sirens. The wind was knocked out of her lungs. She was pressed against Logan, on top of him. But he was already sitting up, his hands firmly around her waist, his cheek grazing hers.
“Come on. Get up.” He ordered.
Dazed, she managed to slide off him, getting to her feet. She wobbled unsteadily and he held her up right. The sirens grew louder.
“I can’t stay.” Logan said to her as the fire roared.
“What?”
“Don’t tell them I got you out of the house. Don’t mention me at all, okay? Please, Sarah.” He pleaded.
“Where are you going to go?” She said as he moved away from her.
Logan didn’t reply. He was anxious to go; clearly he didn’t want to deal with the authorities. She reached out for him, grabbing his upper arm.
“If you need help, I’m apartment 402 at the West Creek Apartments.” She said without thinking.
Logan looked at her for a moment; something passed behind his eyes that she couldn’t read. He broke free from her grip and cut across the lawn, looking over his shoulder once at her before the tree line swallowed him.
The sirens were loud, shattering the bubble of silence that curled around her. Behind her, the fire blazed, engulfing the house with a speed and strength completely unnatural. As the chaos of the fire, the police and the firemen swallowed her up, Sarah wondered just where Logan was going, and what he had to do with the fire.