Page 95 of The Unravelings

So many people have told me what happened the night I was reborn into this version of Olivia. Jonathan, mostly.

Now it’s time to investigate for myself. A deep dive into the narrative I’ve been fed for years.

Getting up from my bed, I shakily plop into my computer chair and stare at the blank screen of my Veritas-issued laptop.

It’s now or never.

Time to go back to the beginning of everything. The catalyst to my demise. Everything I’ve ever known started right here in Greenwood.

The fire. My childhood. My boyfriends. My true family.

The fire shaped me into who I am today, and I still don’t understand everything that happened that night. Memories of the assault are always fresh in my mind. But after that? Getting out? Waking up in the hospital?

It’s blank.

Jonathan filled in those missing spots. He pulled me out. He got there in time, having been following Franco for years for his crimes.

But is it true?

My head swims when I click on my internet browser and stare at the blinking cursor, trying to gather every ounce of courage I have inside me to do what I need to do. I need to go back to the beginning. I need to examine everything with new eyes and momentarily forget the past that’s been holding me down for so long.

So, with that in mind, I do the one thing I promised myself that I would never do and search for the Greenwood house fire. Ignorance is bliss, right? Well, until now. My entire body shakes when my fingers hover over the Enter key. Come on, Liv. You can do this. You’ve never done this before. You’ve always believed what others have told you.

Hit. Enter.

I swore I’d never look on the internet and solely live by what I remembered about them.

My mother. My sister. Even myself.

All the pictures we had together were erased in the flames of that day. I lived by memories alone. Reveling in the amazing times we shared. Even the bad times, which seemed to be more common the older I got and the worse my father became.

My breath pulls from my lungs as multiple news articles pop up on the screen with pictures of my house—or what was my house. In the pictures, it’s nothing but a shell of a former home. A few two-by-fours extend from the framing. But the rest? The rest is a blackened mess of ash and embers, still trying to consume the place I once lived and was pulled from at my lowest point.

I blow out a breath, ignoring my churning stomach, and click the first link.

Greenwood Mourns the loss of a family of three.

Three unnamed victims were found after vicious flames had been extinguished.

Early Thursday morning, a neighbor called the authorities to investigate what looked like a forest fire. Chief Investigator Collins reported that the home was completely engulfed in flames when they arrived, and they worked hard and efficiently to put it out. Unfortunately, the occupants weren’t as lucky.

They’re still investigating whether the fire was malicious or accidental and will have more information later.

Bile rises in my throat as I read the words repeatedly. The article was published a few hours after the discovery, with no answers in sight. Clicking back, I find another story that makes my muscles lock.

Midnight Blaze: The Greenwood fire ruled an accident

“It’s a very unfortunate event that happened,” Neighbor Nathaniel Franco tearfully states, looking over the home that once sat on his property. “These were my neighbors, and to think they were trapped inside…”

Rage builds inside me at the picture of him standing outside the remnants of my home with a sad expression pulling down his features. He peers back at our house with an expression I can’t place.

Early Thursday morning, a devastating house fire claimed the lives of three members of the Viotto family. The victims have been identified as Espie Viotto, her young daughter Sophia Viotto, a student at Greenwood Elementary, and seventeen-year-old Olivia Viotto, a student at Greenwood High.

The fire was first reported at approximately 1:00 a.m. by local businessman and neighbor Nathaniel Franco, who has close ties to the Viotto family as their landlord and very close friend. Mr. Franco reportedly noticed the flames, thought a forest fire had spread through the trees surrounding his home, and alerted authorities.

Fire crews arrived within minutes, but the small ranch home was deemed too far gone to save. Firefighters worked through the night to contain the blaze, saving the dense forest and battling the winds to keep the inferno in check.

“There was nothing we could do for the occupants inside. This fire burned hot and fast,” one firefighter notes with tears in his eyes. “I’d give anything to march through those flames and bring those women back.”