Chapter 1 - Dominic
I love the smell of sulphur that hits my nose when the match bursts to life.
I watch the tiny flame for a second as it shifts and dances in the light breeze. I glance up at the sky, littered with a million stars, and then down to the huge, looming building in front of me.
I can smell the gasoline soaking into the ground and into the timber at my feet. The luxury hotel is like a stain on the side of the mountain. It shouldn’t be here. Still, as I stand here with the match in my hand, I can’t help but hesitate.
My brother Ethan drops his match. I hear the whoosh and crack of a new fire coming to life across the construction site. Sheriff Whittaker is next, igniting the north side of the building. I watch the two fires start to lick at the new construction. They climb up the bare beams and travel along the trails of gasoline that we sprayed all over the ground floor.
The match is burning close to my fingers. I watch the small flame for a second more, and finally drop it at my feet. I take a step back as the gasoline ignites. It starts as a low blue flame, travelling fast along the fuel that I just splashed over the ground. A deep sense of satisfaction wells up inside me as I watch the fire ignite. I’m transfixed, watching the flames as they dance along the side of the half-built hotel. The heat of the fire starts to warm my face and clothes until it’s almost too much. When it starts climbing up the beams, I turn away and walk back towards the trailhead where we came from.
Ethan and Bill are already there. They nod at me, and the three of us turn towards the building once again. We watch it in silence until the flames have overtaken the half-constructed luxury hotel.
“Let’s get out of here,” Ethan says in a low voice. I grunt in response and turn back towards the trail. We walk in silence, waiting a few minutes before fishing our head lamps out of our pockets and turning them on. It’s a two-mile hike before we get to the old logging road where we parked our trucks.
When we get there, Bill extends a hand towards me. “Good work, Dominic. Ethan. I never thought I’d commit a felony as Sheriff, but I can’t feel guilty about this one. That hotel would have been the end of this town – and the end of these forests as we know them.”
“It’s better off gone,” Ethan replies. Bill nods his hand and heads off towards his truck. I jump into mine and Ethan gets into the passenger’s seat. The engine rumbles to life and the two of us head back down towards the town of Lang Creek.
We crest over a hill and I see the fire burning behind us in my rear-view mirror. I stop the truck and jump out. Ethan follows. We climb into the bed of the pickup and watch the fire burning for a few minutes. As the flames lick higher and higher, the corners of my lips start to lift up with it. A siren wails in the distance, and Ethan and I exchange a knowing look.
Gradually, a laugh starts rolling through my chest until my shoulders are shaking and I’m throwing my head back. I clap my brother on the back and he grins at me.
“I can’t believe we fucking did that,” I finally say as I shake my head.
Ethan laughs. “I can.”
“Let’s go,” I finally say, staring at the fire one last time and shaking my head. As we drive away, the smell of smoke lingers in my nostrils and I grin. It’s a crime, and it should be wrong, but it feels so, so right.
One year later…
I look at the dregs of beer left in the bottom of my bottle and I sigh. It’s probably time to go home now. My brother Aiden and his new wife Madeline are cuddling at the long table with stars in their eyes.
It was a great ceremony and a beautiful wedding that the whole town came to. I’m happy for him, of course. He’s my brother. How could I not be happy for him? He’s found a beautiful wife, started his own garage and hardware store in town, and finally found happiness. After ten years of grief following Dad’s death, that’s something to celebrate. I just can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right.
Maybe this sour feeling in the pit of my stomach is just plain old jealousy.
I jump when Bill Whittaker puts his hand on my shoulder. He hands me a new beer and I nod in thanks.
“Why the long face, Dominic? Aren’t you happy for your brother?”
“Delighted,” I say. “Just tired, I think. Long day.”
Bill takes a seat next to me. He spreads his legs wide and sighs. It’s strange seeing him in regular clothes. He’s usually always wearing his dark blue uniform and wide-brim hat. Even when we snuck through the forest to burn down that damned hotel, he was in uniform. He looks over at Aiden and Maddy and nods.
“They make a good couple. Aiden deserves a bit of peace.”
I don’t bother looking over at my brother and his new wife. I grunt in response and put my empty beer bottle down on the table in front of me. The plastic chair groans underneath me as I move, and I wonder how long until it collapses. It probably wasn’t made for someone my size.
Bill stares at me for a few moments. “Are you okay, Dominic? Ever since that whole thing with the hotel…”
“I’m fine,” I interrupt. “Fine.”
Bill stares at me and nods his head a few times. “Are you having regrets?”
“Regrets?” I say, shifting my weight again and looking at him. I snort, and for the first time in hours, my lips curl into a grin. “Not a fucking chance.”
Bill laughs and raises his beer towards me. I clink my fresh bottle against his and smile again, shaking my head. “Best thing we ever did was burn that thing down,” I say before taking a sip.
“Yup,” Bill replies.
The two of us fall into a comfortable silence and I think about that night last year. The whole town was up in arms about the new luxury hotel being built on the outskirts of town. When it burned down, it was like everyone celebrated for weeks. Everyone except the McCoys, obviously. They owned part of the new hotel before it unfortunately went up in flames.
People suspected my brothers and I, and the three of us were treated like heroes. Aiden didn’t have anything to do with it, but it’s not the type of thing you talk about after it’s done. I hadn’t expected that much attention. They still look at me differently, even a year later. It’s almost like a sort of reverence.
The McCoys haven’t said a word to me since the whole thing happened, and I’m not complaining. They keep to their side of town, and I keep to mine. I still have that deep, endless desire to get even with them, but I don’t know how.
I shake my head to pull myself out of my reverie and nod to Bill.
“I’ll see you around, Bill. Time for me to head home.”
“Take it easy, big fella.”
I stand up and stretch my body. I’ve been working hard at my workshop lately, and every muscle in my body is screaming for rest.
“Hey,” Bill calls out as I turn away. I look over my shoulder at him. “You heard Mara McCoy’s coming back?”
I frown as I think of the McCoy girl. I shake my head. “No, is she?”
“Due back any day now. Didn’t work out with her rich businessman.”
I grunt in response before turning away. Why is he telling me that? Why would I care? Something stirs in the depth of my stomach as I think of the McCoy girl, but I shake my head and ignore it.
It takes a few minutes to say my goodbyes, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I finally head down the mountain towards my little cabin on the outskirts of town.
As much as I love my brother, and as much as I’m happy for him, I can’t wait to be back in the peace and quiet of my own four walls.