Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
My body tensed. “My house,” I gasped. Panic plowed through me, taking control of everything I was. Aubin slammed his foot on the gas. But the closer we got to the dirt road that led to the wooden house, the clearer the flames were. Orange-and-red flames, climbing higher and higher as they reached for the sky.
When Aubin turned the truck to the right, I choked on my breath. My house was in flames. I found the handle to the door of the truck and threw it open. Aubin was right beside me.
“My parents . . .” I said, my voice breaking.
“Your mamma went out to her mamma. Your papa will have got out too,” Aubin assured me. But I heard the doubt lacing his words.
“Mamma!” I screamed, praying she wasn’t here, searching for a way in through the raging fire. “Papa!” I jumped forward, trying to get up the stairs to the front door. Fire lashed at my arms, scalding the skin.
“I can’t find a way in!” Aubin shouted . . . and then I heard it.
“VALAN!” I snapped my head back and looked up at the attic. The window was jammed, someone pushing at the frame. I wiped the water from my eyes and saw that it was my mamma.
“Mamma!” I ran around the house until I was underneath the window. Her hands slapped at the pane. Then I saw another set of hands. “Papa,” I whispered on a choked cry. “No!” I rocked on my feet, shifting left and right, trying with everything I had to smash through the wall of climbing, scalding flames.
“Aubin!” I shouted.
He was next to me in an instant, his hands on his head. But I couldn’t take my eyes from my parents. My mamma was crying, her blue eyes on me. My papa was behind her, but there was a sad look of acceptance on his face. “No!” I called again, then stilled when my papa turned my mamma from the pane and wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest. The heat from the flames burned my face; the smell of burned hair reached my nose. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Tears streaming down my face, I watched my parents die.
My mamma turned her face toward me once more and mouthed, “I love you.” I couldn’t feel my legs. I heard a loud crack, and the attic where my parents were standing gave way and crashed into the flames below.
“NO!” I lunged forward and ran toward the house. “NO!” I screamed, over and over until my voice was raw. I ran, trying any way to get into the house. They could still be alive. They might only be hurt.
But before I had even made it two feet, Aubin wrapped his arms around me and dragged me back. I fought to get away, but we fell to the ground. Just as we did, the house exploded, a cloud of flames mushrooming above the crumbling ruins.
Unable to move, frozen in the purgatory that was instant grief and shock, I watched as the remainder of the house was ravaged by the fire. I cried until there was nothing left to give. By the time the firefighters reached the house, it was just a pile of ashes. But I knew . . . knew that somewhere among the rubble, there was a couple holding onto one another even as they died. Because from the minute they met, they’d fought for their love. Fought for their love when everyone told them it was wrong.
And they died for their love. Died because people couldn’t see past their different skin colors and admire the entangled hearts beneath . . .
. . . because love doesn’t see color. Only pure hearts . . .
I slumped forward, my head dropping to my chest. Tears poured from my eyes and my chest racked with sobs. Such fucking loud sobs I hadn’t shed since that night, years ago.
“Hush,” Sia whispered, crying right along with me. Her hand gripped mine, and I fucking held on. Held on to her like she was the only thing keeping me afloat. A hand squeezed my shoulder; I knew it was Cowboy. The action mirrored the one I felt that night. I didn’t dare look him in the face. I wasn’t sure I could. Couldn’t look at the only other person who witnessed that fire. Saw them, hands splayed, calling for help . . . because they fucking dared fall in love.
“It was me . . .” I whispered. “It was all because of me.” My body was drained of energy. Sia guided me to lie down. The room started to spin. She curled into my chest, her hands clutching mine. I caught sight of Cowboy sitting on the end of the bed, eyes unfocused as he stared out the window.