“Did it do that much damage?” I asked, but Ash shook his head.
“No, I’m sure everything will be fixed fairly quickly, that’s not the problem,” he started, his voice tight. “I inspected the boiler.It’s not an accident. I think someone messed with the wiring on purpose. This was arson.”
29
~
Rhea
The next day at work, I was finding it hard to focus on my job. I’d insisted to the guys that I’d be fine at home, since my parents would be coming to town and I wouldn’t be alone. But that wasn’t as comforting as I would’ve liked it to be. I felt violated knowing that the arsonist had been in my home.
Were they targeting me for a specific reason? Were they trying to get to the guys, or were they trying to hurt me personally? What was the motive?
It was even worse that I didn’t know who it was, either. It could be anyone walking around in the community, or even someone who was in the mall right at that very moment.
The whole situation was making me incredibly jumpy, and I made several mistakes with the admin that I had to do on the office computer. For a while, I simply sat and stared at it as if the work would magically do itself. But for most of the morning, I would get up, pace around, and wonder if the arsonist was going to come back to my house given that there wasn’t any real damage.
“Are you okay?” I looked up and noticed Gale standing in my door. She was clearly concerned about me.
I tried to smile at her. “Yeah, I’m fine. I had a bit of a long night.”
“The fire?” Gale asked, and I nodded. “Don’t you think you should take the rest of the day off? Nobody would blame you. Something like that’s really scary.”
“I’d rather be here,” I answered, though the truth was that I’d have preferred to be in the fire station, where I knew I was completely safe. The previous night, it hadn’t seemed that bad. It was a small fire, and it was put out fast.
But the more I thought about it, the worse it was. Someone had been in my house without me knowing, and it could’ve been truly bad if I hadn’t noticed the smoke in time. I could’ve been injured, could’ve lost my house, or even my life; though I believed that the guys would have noticed and intervened long before that happened. They had been at the station at the time, after all.
Still, the arsonistcouldcome back while they were all on another call, or off-duty and back at their own homes. They could be watching and waiting for me to be alone again.
The thought made me shiver, but I still smiled at Gale. “I promise, I’m alright. I’ll let you know if that changes.”
“Okay, uh, well, someone’s here to see you,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “I think her name is Jackie? I remember she’s been here before, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted any visitors.”
“No, sure, you can let her in,” I answered, hoping that talking to Jackie would help get the worst of the anxiety off my chest. Maybe she’d have some encouraging advice, or maybe she could distract me from it all. Either way, it couldn’t hurt to have some company. It wasn’t like I was getting any work done.
Gale nodded slowly. “Well, let me know if you need anything.”
As she left, Jackie squeezed past her to get inside the office, before coming to sit across from me at the desk. She put one leg over the other and leaned back comfortably, as if we were inmy living room rather than at my job. I got up to close the door before taking my own seat again.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jackie pointed out, clear concern painted on her face. “Are you alright? Did something happen with the men?”
“No,” I sighed, noticing the sheer tension in my body and the way I was sitting almost uncomfortably upright. “Something happened at my house, actually.”
“Really?” Jackie gasped and leaned forward curiously like she was waiting for me to share some serious tea. I felt a little uncomfortable with that attitude, but it was something I was used to with Jackie. She’d always been curious about drama, and she probably didn’t realize the kind of situation I was in now.
“There was a fire,” I said tightly. “In my basement.”
Jackie threw her hand over her mouth dramatically and gasped again, her eyes growing wide as if this was the biggest shock of her life. It seemed like a bit of over the top, even for her. I was taken aback by it, enough that I didn’t elaborate any further.
“Are you kidding?” she finally replied, moving her hand so that it was over heart. “That’s crazy! Was it bad? Did you get hurt? Was there a lot of damage? Oh, how could something like this have possibly happened to you, of all people?”
I stared at her for a moment. It seemed like her shock was somewhat out of hand for the reality of the situation. It was like she was reacting to a terrible murder.
“Uhm, no, I’m fine, the house is fine, it’s just the boiler that needs to be fixed,” I explained slowly, still surprised by the way that she was acting. Something about it didn’t feel right, even though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I was hesitant to share anything more with her, but she continued talking.
“Oh, god,” she said, letting out a deep breath as if I’d told her it was her house that had been on fire, and that nothing had survived. “The boiler? That’s so dangerous, oh my god. Anything could have happened! I can’t believe it. Who would hate you enough to do that? I mean, wow. Someone just walked in there and lit a match and you were in the house? Wow, some people. I can’t believe it.”
“It’s fine,” I insisted, despite how shaken I still was. “Nothing really happened, and the guys are on high alert.”
