Fire.
Fear filled her.
She couldn’t see the fire to escape it; she’d have to rely on the others to help her reach safety.
It’s not safe here.
The dreams always took her back to this place. Where she stood frightened and frozen in place, unable to run and not knowing which way to run, but feeling inside like she very much needed to run to stay alive.
Then she woke.
She still had nightmares about fires and not being able to get out of the building.
Tonight, she’d had another one.
Leah had reassured her the nightmares would happen less frequently with time.
Cecelia knew she was perfectly safe here now. During her waking hours everything was fine.
Leah had also reminded her, that even when those arsonists had set the building on fire, she’d still been safe.
Everyone had looked out for each other and made sure they all got out. During her waking hours, she knew all this, but it hadn’t stopped her nightmares.
Fear of fire, when you’ve actually lived through one, is a very palpable thing. A very real thing. It wakes you with your heart racing.
And you couldn’t tell yourself that a fire would never happen to you, as the real event proved that indeed, it could, and it had.
That was the monster she fought now.
She bunched up her pillow, punched it once, and then settled down and tried to fall asleep again.
* * *
Brian came around the corner,just in time to hear Cecelia talking to Leah.
“There are no direct flights to San Diego from Bozeman, Montana,” Cecelia said. “So now, I don’t know what to do.”
“You need to go to San Diego?” Brian interrupted their conversation.
If she needed to go to San Diego, he could help.
“Yes, my cousin Samantha Whitaker is in the hospital there, getting ready to have her appendix out and I need to go see her,” she said.
“I just happen to be driving to San Diego tomorrow,” he said.
“You’re kidding,” she said.
“Nope. Serious as hell. One of the other guys is filling in for me tomorrow and until I’m back. I have to take care of some things on base,” he said. “I plan to drive. You can ride along.”
“That’s a long way to ride along,” she said.
“Yep. It’s an eighteen-hour drive to San Diego from here. I could make it in two days, but for the two of us, I’ll make it three. So, you won’t be on the road more than six hours a day and can rest. And I’d enjoy the company.”
He watched Cecelia’s face as she considered his offer, one little wrinkle line winding across her forehead. A worry line.
“This will solve your problem, and I’ve already been vetted to protect you and escort you,” he said. “As good as a hired bodyguard. Better, since you know me.”
“He’s right, you know,” Leah said. “If we hired you an escort, Brian is the man they’d send. Or someone like him. You have nothing to fear with him escorting you.”
