by Dale Mayer
“To close it?” he said. “You realize this thing is massive, right? And it’s burning on gases from deep in the center of the Earth. That it shuts down every fall and restarts every spring, like clockwork, all on its own.”
“I didn’t mean to close off the fire,” she said. “I just want to find closure in my world.”
“That fire? Or the fire of your childhood?” he asked almost delicately.
She looked up at him and frowned. “What do you know about that?”
Silence.
*
Rowan didn’t know what to say. That he’d looked into her history? That would seem incredibly intrusive. Particularly when his reasons for doing so were a little thin as well. “When I was holding you in my arms after Irene went over the edge, I saw all these images, … visions, insights. I don’t know what else to call them,” he said with a shrug. “Just these pictures and I don’t know if it was from your childhood or from a past life.”
At that, she stiffened.
He nodded. “I know that probably sounds horribly invasive. But I didn’t try to see them. I didn’t want to see them.”
“What did you see?” she asked in a crisp tone. “Not that I believe in past lives.”
“I haven’t had too much to do with them myself either,” he said. “But I will admit that I do see a lot of different energies and auras.”
“Auras like what Irene saw around you and me? I wondered if that’s what she saw. She commented on the lights around our heads.”
“I don’t know what Irene saw,” he said. “If you think about it, it could have been anything.”
“Right. So, what did you see?” she asked, her voice challenging. “About me.”
“Fire and being burned,” he said softly. He watched her withdraw and nodded. “Over and over again. As if you were being tortured.”
Her eyelids slowly closed. She opened them to stare at the table.
An almost invisible wall went up between them. Only it wasn’t invisible because he could see it. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I am not trying to intrude.”
“Maybe you’re not trying to,” she said, “but intruding you are.” She picked up the tea, took a sip, and when she replaced the cup on its saucer, she took a bite of the chocolate cake. Chewing quietly, she sighed, settling back happily. “It’s wonderful cake. You should try it.”
He realized, as far as she was concerned, the conversation was over. He let her change it, knowing it was obviously something horrifically painful. “It is good, isn’t it? You can come in during the daytime and have tea and a treat here. It’s quite reasonable.”
“Good to know,” she said. “We’re here tomorrow and then leaving the day after.”
“Where do you go from here?”
“I don’t really care,” she said. “My destination was here. I didn’t really think about what came afterward.”
More alarm bells went off. “That brings me back to my suicide worry,” he said. “That’s what people often say when they don’t make plans after coming here.” And that was one of the biggest warning bells he’d learned to take note of.
“I still have an apartment at home,” she said. “I still have bank accounts open. It’s not like I sold everything or gave everything away.”
“Do you have family?” Again his research came to mind. She’d been the only one to survive, but that didn’t mean other family members weren’t still alive at other locations.
She stared up at him before finally answering. “So, so many. But to my knowledge none are still alive.”
“Wow, that’s sad.” In fact, something was wrong about her tone.
“It happened a long time ago,” she said dismissively. “It’s possible an extended family is out there, but I never bothered to look.”
“Oh,” he said. “Maybe you should make that your mission. Find the other family members.”
“Why?” she asked. “The memories I have of my family aren’t good. And I highly doubt I want anything to do with any of them as adults either.” She returned her fork to the plate and said, “I think I’ll brush my teeth and go to bed now. Thank you for bringing the food.”
It was an obvious dismissal. “I’ll take all this back out again.”
“That’s a good idea.” She got up and walked into the bathroom, where she closed the door and locked it.
Talk about hiding something, but even hiding behind that door wouldn’t hide everything. She needed to be watched. He didn’t know if suicide was on her mind, but she definitely didn’t want him to know about something.
The last thing he wanted was for this woman with the too-big eyes, scrawny body and scars that ran soul deep to commit suicide. She was young and had a whole life ahead of her. That her job was over and that she had traveled this far to see something of a curiosity worried him. This location attracted people heading toward a final end. He couldn’t bear to see his town be her final end.
Chapter 7
Waking the next morning was a slow, painful process. Every time Phoenix closed her eyes, she saw Irene making the swan dive off the cliff. But it was always intermingled with her reappearing at the top of the cliff. Phoenix didn’t know what was going on, but shock and fear had rattled her system. Every time she’d come up with an answer, something would refute it as being stupid and illogical. Phoenix ended up taking melatonin to try to sleep. Thankfully she kept a little bottle with her while traveling so had it available.
She got up, took a hot shower to wake up, then tidied up her clothes and bag so she was ready to check out. A habit she had gotten into since the police had collected her that fateful night so long ago. Her bag was on top of her made bed, waiting to leave, even though she had another day and night at the hotel. It was early yet but she picked up her purse, determined to not lose out on breakfast this morning.
As she walked out of the room, she pocketed her key card and headed downstairs. The reception area was quiet. Somebody worked at the front desk, but she walked past them to the dining room, since she couldn’t see an area set up for breakfast.
A young woman walked over to her and smiled. “Breakfast is served in the morning room,” she said. She led Phoenix to the correct area.
“That makes sense,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Not an issue,” the woman said. “Let’s find you a nice seat by the window.”
Oddly enough, once again she sat at a table for two, and once again she was alone.
The woman called over the waitress, and, within minutes, Phoenix had hot tea and a menu. She turned to look outside at the scenery.
She was distracted by the beautiful and quaint village around her. Something called to her. The wildness of the mountains, … the quaint little cottages, … the cobblestone streets. She shifted in her chair, so she sat sideways with a better view. A few people were out walking, and a vehicle or two passed by but not much else. A blanket of serenity covered the place. Or had something lurking beneath …
In the distance she could see the red halo of the burning fire, and it finally hit her. After all this time she was finally going there today. The tour group had to meet at nine in front of the hotel, and she wanted to make sure she didn’t miss out.
She pulled her attention back to her cup of tea as she perused the menu. When the waitress came by, she ordered the breakfast special, surprised at her appetite after eating so well and so late last night. The woman looked a little surprised but smiled and nodded.
She returned a few minutes later with some French bread that appeared to have been fresh out of the oven. Phoenix sliced a piece and buttered it, then topped it with a dollop of jam. She didn’t want to fill up on bread because she wouldn’t have room for her breakfast.
Something pulled her attention to the door. She looked up to see Rowan standing there, talking with the waitress. He caught sight of Phoenix, smiled at the waitress, tipped his head and headed in Phoenix’s direction. Phoenix wasn’t surprised. Somehow she had been expecting to see him. He sat
down in the chair opposite her.
She said with a half smile, “We have to stop meeting like this.”
He chuckled. “Glad to see you have a sense of humor this morning.”
“It’s better than all the thoughts I slept with,” she admitted.
“You’re not the only one,” he said. “I had a pretty rough night too.”
“I imagine we will both feel that way for a while,” she murmured.
Just then her breakfast arrived. He looked at it in surprise. “Wow, that looks great. And a healthy appetite, I see.” He turned to the waitress. “May I have exactly what she’s got, please?”
The waitress laughed and disappeared.
Phoenix’s plate had pancakes, hash brown potatoes, eggs and sausages. She shook her head and smiled. “I wasn’t expecting this much.” She pointed at the French bread. “That is delicious.”
“Good,” he said and picked up the knife, cutting himself off several slabs. “I seem to have an abnormally strong appetite this morning.”
“I wondered about it as well. I’m starving,” she confessed. “Maybe we just need to carb up.”
“Or we need the protein to keep us going,” he said with a shrug. “Either way, we’re better off to eat if we’re hungry.”
As she dug in, a comfortable silence followed. She finished chewing her bite, then lowered her head and asked softly, “Do you think our appetite has anything to do with the energy from last night?”
He swallowed his bite of bread, looked around and said, “I hadn’t considered that.”
“Maybe we should,” she said. “I don’t know why one would have such a healthy appetite after an experience like that, but it just seems to be something else that’s abnormal. We ate a big dinner too.”
The waitress arrived with Rowan’s plate. He smiled, thanked her and dug into his breakfast with obvious enjoyment. “I’ll dissect the answer after we eat. How’s that?” he said with a smile, then stuffed in a bite of pancake.
The waitress asked if they wanted more tea or French bread. They shook their heads no.
They both dug into their breakfasts with gusto, until they finally sat back, full. “I don’t think I could normally eat that amount of food in two days,” she said. “So I’m putting that down to another supernatural effect of yesterday.”
“Another one?”
“It’s not like we need more, do we?” she said with a grimace.
“No,” he said. “What we need is a way forward and to put that to rest.”
“I leave in an hour,” she said. “The tour bus is heading out at nine.”
“Because of yesterday’s events,” he said, “I’ve doubled up security around the Burning Fires, and I’ll be on-site myself today.”
“You think something’ll happen?” she asked curiously. She leaned forward and, in a low voice, asked, “Are you expecting somebody else to commit suicide?”
He glanced around the room as more and more of the bus people had moved in and were eating breakfast around them, but nobody seemed to pay any attention to them. Usually, if people saw an officer of the law, they would be looking over more often. It was almost as if Phoenix and Rowan were invisible.
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice equally low. “But I don’t want to take that chance.”
“Okay,” she said. “The bus isn’t terribly full. You can probably get on with us.”
“No, I want my own wheels,” he said. “I’ll be connected to my own equipment and communications.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” She had no idea why she had offered him a spot on the bus. She couldn’t even legally do that. More disturbed by her friendliness, she tried to pull back. “I’ll head up to my room and pack up the rest of my things, then wait in the lobby until it’s time to leave.”
He nodded.
As she stood from the table, she looked out the window and said, “It really is pretty out there.”
He stood beside her, and they walked to the lobby. “It’ll be a nice day,” he said. “You should enjoy it.”
“I hope so,” she said. “I need something to replace the memories of yesterday.”
“I hear you,” he said.
“See you up there.” She turned away, walked a few steps toward the elevator and stopped. Her heart slammed into her chest. She spun to Rowan.
He looked at her and mouthed, “What?”
In a low murmur, she said, “Look at the doorway.”
He turned and looked in that direction. She heard him suck in his breath and look back at her with wide open eyes, mouth dropped open.
“It’s Irene, isn’t it?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
He nodded. “It so is.”
*
Rowan left her in the lobby and ran out, slamming his way through the double doors, rushing past people and darting around the crowd. His gaze searched for what he was sure was Irene’s ghost.
It had to be a ghost. Four of them had seen her dive off the cliff. No way she could be alive. Yet she’d come back once before.
As far as he knew, the search and rescue retrieval mission was due to start later this morning. They’d had trouble getting enough skilled men with ropes for this job, as this would be a part-helicopter, part-repelling mission. He wasn’t sure how any of it would go and was thankful it wasn’t his job. They had specialists for that.
But no doubt he had seen Irene in the doorway, looking at both of them. This time she wasn’t wearing that same lively look she had had before.
Instead it looked like an accusation was on her face, as if she blamed them. He already blamed himself enough. What he didn’t know was whether he was tuning into Phoenix’s psychosis or if seeing Irene now was because they had seen the original vision together? Were they still seeing bits and pieces of the same energy? None of it made any sense, but, if he could find a way to talk to this vision, maybe he could help her cross over.
Only he saw no sign of her now.
He had searched to the left and then the right. He wandered around, hands on his hips, swearing under his breath.
“Any sign of her?”
He turned to see Phoenix standing beside him, arms wrapped around her chest, as if cold.
But he knew the chill was deep inside. He shook his head. “No.”
“She’s really dead, isn’t she?”
He knew what she was asking. “Yes,” he said. “She’s really dead.”
“Have you retrieved her body yet?”
He shook his head and turned to listen to noises coming from the left. Realizing it was just a group of kids, he turned to Phoenix. “The retrieval process will start later this morning.”
Her shoulders hunched, as if she’d taken a physical blow.
He reached out a hand and gripped hers. “We couldn’t have done anything.”
A sigh worked up her chest, rattling every bone.
He swore he could hear it as it coursed through her body before releasing from her chest.
“I know that, in theory,” she said. “But, in reality, my mind won’t accept it.”
“I know.”
She gave a brisk nod. “I was doing much better, until I saw her standing in the lobby.”
“The question is, why was she there at all? And does she want something from us? If so, what?”
“No clue. Maybe because we didn’t save her? Did anybody else see her?” She looked around, her hand gesturing to the crowd. “And how is it possible they couldn’t have?”
“We’re back to that shared premonition again,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m sure there’s an explanation. I just don’t know what it is.”
“It could be all kinds of things, but I’m not sure what you are talking about.”
“When two people see the same vision,” he said, “like we saw earlier here and on the cliff, it’s like her energy is attracted to both of us.”
“What about the paramedics?”
“They were there when she committed suicide,
not for the shared premonition,” he said, his voice low. “Both were distraught enough at her final moments. Neither of them showed up for work today.”
“I wouldn’t have shown up either,” she stated bluntly. “I’d like nothing better than to be at home in my bed.”
He turned and studied her. “Yet here you are, ready to get on a bus and go to the Burning Fires.”
She gave him a ghost of a smile. “It’s what I came for,” she said. “I have a letter I wanted to burn in the Burning Fires, but that probably is not allowed, is it?”
“You can’t get close enough,” he said. “It’s not safe.”
“Is there any place where it could be dropped in?” she asked. “By someone who is allowed to get close enough?”
He shook his head. “No, and there shouldn’t be. Because it would mean somebody had to risk their life in order to get close enough to throw it in.”
She frowned as she thought. “I haven’t seen it, so I don’t really know. I guess I was thinking I could use a long tong or something to drop it over the edge.”
He smiled at her. “People come with all kinds of preconceived ideas, but we’ve had to tighten security because of the reasons I explained already.”
She nodded and glanced at her watch. “I need to leave. They’ll start boarding in a few minutes.”
“I’ll walk you down,” he said.
“Nobody else noticed, did they?” she asked. “I expected screams, or people crying, saying something.”
“I highly suspect it was only us,” he said.
“Weird to be bonded in such a way,” she murmured.
“Very.” He slid her a sideways look. “Just don’t let it freak you out too much.”
“I said I’m fine. And again, I am not here to do anything crazy.”
“I remember what you said, but I’m here day in and day out as people say things and do the opposite.”
They approached the line of people getting on the bus. Rowan stood to the side and waited.
She glanced back at him and smiled as she walked up the steps. She sat in a window seat.
He waved, turned and walked away. He’d meant it. No way in hell he would miss her trip to the Burning Fires. He didn’t know what the heck was going on, but it was linked to her. And to him.
