FicWad

There wasn’t much left to the house. A few beams, charred past saving, stood upright, bones of the house. The entire thing had gone up, as if a rain shower of gas soaked the place. There were fire trucks on the curb, their lights flashing away. The firemen stood there, arms crossed. They couldn’t do anything but keep the crowd back at this point. Not that there was much of a crowd. Four boys, none of them out of their teens quite yet, all stood there. When they had first arrived the fire marshal told them to stay back. When the one in aviators threatened to break the marshal’s jaw if he wasn’t allowed in the police were called in. Now the four stood on the curb across the street, the dying flames warming their cold bodies. In the light they could see the paths of saline tears that rolled down their cheeks.

“FUCK!” the one in a fedora cried, finally falling to his knees. “FUCK!” And then he just knelt there, too numb to do anything else but watch as they firefighters were given the OK to check the house out.

“Maybe she wasn’t in there.” The tall, lanky boy said hopefully. The shortest one, the one with the blonde Mohawk, shot him a dirty look. All four hoped the same thing, but to say it out loud? They couldn’t acknowledge the hope because if there dreams were dashed- none of them could survive it.

“Where is he?” Aviator suddenly called out, looking at the phone in his hand. It wasn’t hope, it was desperation. “Wasn’t he supposed to go with her to the mall?” Fedora began to shake his head, back and forth, moaning sounds that were supposed to be words.
“Maybe she was with Mikey and Gerard?” Tall said, more desperate than a second before. “Maybe they both were. He said he wanted to talk to them...”

“Then we know they were here.” Mohawk said sadly. “She would have never let them fight. And he wanted nothing more than to destroy those boys. She wouldn’t have let him out of the house.”
The talking suddenly ceased when the firemen came out of the house slowly, one of them heading straight for the boys. Even through his visor they could see the sadness in his eyes. And in his hand, a charred book.

“Boys, I’m real sorry.” The tone of the firemen’s voice proved he really was sorry. “We found two bodies in the back corner room.” A strangled sound came from Fedora, who still hadn’t gotten off the ground. “Their bodies are charred beyond recognition, but one of them was holding this.” He offered the charred book to Aviators, who took it.

“It’s her diary.” His said softly. The Firemen nodded, looking over his shoulder to the others, who all were looking in different directions. They knew this moment was hard, they had seen is a thousand times. The survivors never wanted to be looked at. And to be honest, some of them feared these teenagers.

“We don’t know how it survived. It shouldn’t have. So it didn’t, if you boys get my drift.” He patted Aviator on the shoulder, no hard feelings for threat earlier. Tall nodded and the fireman left.

Gently Aviator opened the book, looking at the first page.

Not Everything Is What It Seems