Eden

When I finally got home, I was in a haze, my mind gone from everything that had happened.

Steve and Bob.

Now Kevin.

I couldn’t believe it. I’d just seen him and now he was gone. I thought back to what Gerald had said, wondered if maybe we were cursed.

I dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come. It was stupid, and even more, it opened the door to blaming Michael. I wouldn’t even consider that. Everything inside of me left me with no doubt he’d had nothing to do with their deaths.

Perhaps it was a silly thing to think, especially given how little I knew of him. Outside of those few moments when he had shown some hint of vulnerability, those times when he had seemed somewhat protective, there had been nothing to suggest he was anything other than his reputation said. None of that mattered. I knew Michael, and I knew he had nothing to do with this.

I collapsed onto my sofa and flipped on my television, desperate for any distraction.

Distraction, it seemed, that would not be coming.

My eyes were glued to the screen as I watched the news unfold.

I recognized the image instantly because I spent almost all of my waking hours there.

The beautiful architecture that had been hand-selected by the Murphys, that trademark M. I recognized them all, watched in stunned silence as they burned.

The entire structure was engulfed, orange-black flames shooting from the roof.

I was frozen, stunned, almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The hotel, the one that I had just left, was burning.

I groped for the remote control and turned the volume up to hear what was said.

“A massive fire has broken out. Authorities told me that all guests have been safely removed from the hotel, but the building is engulfed. The authorities say it’ll be a total loss.”

I dropped the remote, ignored it as it clattered silently against the carpet.

The hotel was burning, a total loss.

What a perfect representation of everything that was happening. I almost couldn’t believe it but then, I couldn’t believe much of what had happened.

I reached for my cell phone, and without taking my eyes off the television, I dialed in the number to the hotel switchboard.

Instead of the expected ring, I got an error message telling me the number was unavailable.

I shouldn’t have been surprised and I shouldn’t have expected an answer, not when I was watching the hotel light up, seeing the terrified guests and staff gathered outside.

But hearing that message did something, changed something.

Though I had been watching it on television, I hadn’t been able to believe what I saw. But calling and not getting an answer proved to me that it was true.

Steve and Bob were dead.

Kevin was dead.

And now the hotel was on fire.

That realization was almost overwhelming and left me feeling shocked, shaky. I hung up, the grating sound of the error message gone. Then I quickly dialed Michael’s number. Prayed as fervently as I could that he would answer.

It went directly to voicemail.

I stood, jammed my feet into my shoes, moving in a haze.

I looked at the TV once more, saw the hotel was still on fire. I knew I couldn’t stay here, couldn’t just wait and watch and do nothing.

I’d go there. Check on the staff, hope that they were all okay.

I grabbed my keys, didn’t slow down enough to get my purse, and pulled open my door.

“Oh God!” I screamed when I crashed into a figure.

“Eden. It’s me.”

I had been on the verge of swinging wildly when I met Gerald’s eyes.

“Gerald!”

I acted on instinct, hugged him, my nostrils burning from the acrid smell of smoke on his jacket.

I let go, pulled him into the house.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

He looked over my shoulder toward the television, which still blared. “I see you’ve heard.”

“Yes! I was going there now. What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “I think I was right. I think the place is cursed.”

“Is everyone okay?” I asked, my mind shifting between disbelief and frantic confusion, confusion that Gerald being here only intensified.

He looked at me, frowned. “Everyone’s okay,” he replied.

“Come sit! Tell me what happened! We should go back!” I said frantically.

“We should. They are going to need us. Especially after…” he said.

I froze, looked into Gerald’s eyes.

“Gerald, are you sure you’re okay? You don’t seem okay.”

I had missed it before, but now I saw that his jacket was ripped, his always tidy clothes looked dirty. Even his thinning gray hair, which was always neatly combed, looked disheveled.

I took a step back, then forced myself to be still.

He looked at me, studying me, his eyes empty, the blankness in his expression almost scary. Something I had never, ever felt around Gerald.

“You remember before? When we talked about the old times?”

“Yeah…” I said, both impatient and uneasy.

“It can be like that again. But you have to help, Eden,” he said.

I was even more wary now, but I took a step closer, lifting my hand, though I didn’t reach out to him.

“Gerald,” I said slowly, “just tell me what’s going on.”

He tilted his head. “I tried. But you defended them. Are you going to continue to do that?”

The uneasiness that had been on a low boil notched up to fear.

“Gerald—”

“Eden. Answer. I don’t want to do this, but I will,” he said.

“Do what?” I asked, my fear notching even higher, my mind screaming that something was very, very wrong.

“Look out the window, Eden,” he said.

His voice was flat, completely without inflection, and hearing it made me freeze.

I didn’t want to move away from the door, but I felt compelled, something about his demeanor, his voice making staying still impossible.

I shifted, moved toward my small kitchen, and looked out the window into the backyard.

“Oh my God!”

“So you see. I need your answer, and quickly,” he said.

My yard was engulfed, the now-roaring flames, the small wood balcony out back starting to smoke.

“We have to go!” I turned, screamed when I again collided with Gerald.

He held my arms in a tight grip. “Your answer,” he said calmly.

“Gerald! You’ve gone crazy! Let me go!”

I twisted, trying to free myself from him.

“No, that’s where you’re wrong, Eden. I haven’t gone crazy. I’ve finally seen the way,” he said.

“Gerald…what have you done?” I asked, my brain struggling to catch up with what my thudding heart and twisting stomach already knew.

“What I should have done years ago. I realized that I’ve been playing by the rules. Other people don’t.”

“Gerald, don’t do something you’re going to regret,” I said, though by looking at him I could tell he wouldn’t regret it, didn’t want to imagine what he had already done.

“I won’t regret it,” he said. “At least not all of it.”

That last statement filled me with even more dread.

“What does that mean?”

“It means all that I’ve done, I won’t regret it. But what I have to do here…I might…”

“Gerald, you ne—”

I cut off, tried to rush around him.

Almost made it too. But he caught my ankle, and I went tumbling to the ground. I didn’t have a chance to brace myself. Instead I landed face-first on the floor. My face burned and my head spun, but I tried to keep moving. When I couldn’t, I kicked at Gerald, desperate to get free.

I couldn’t.

With strength that surprised me, he pulled me toward him, my shirt ripping as he dragged me along the floor.

“I don’t want to do this, Eden,” he said, his voice and eyes so calm, it filled me with a soul-shattering dread.

“Answer,” he said as he flipped me over.

He trapped me under him, loomed over me, glaring down.

“Gerald, please,” I whispered, praying that I could get through to him, terrified that I wouldn’t.

“Answer me,” he said, his voice almost pleading now.

“Gerald, we can work this out,” I said.

“I guess I have my answer,” he replied.

Then he closed his hands around my throat.