Fire - Betrayal

by Amelia Grace

  But, he did not sit beside me on the sofa, as I had expected him to do. He remained standing, watching me. It made me feel uncomfortable. What was going on?

  And then, after a short time, he walked around in front of me. His behavior was puzzling me. There was no way that I could predict was his was going to do at the moment.

  “Let’s go to bed Cate,“ Ben said, offering his hands to me.

  Shocked by his request, I looked up at him, and saw the seriousness in his eyes. I turned off the television immediately and took his hands in mine and stood, very close to him, and kissed him lightly on the lips, concerned about his state of mind.

  He closed his eyes as I kissed him lightly, and then I walked away to the bedroom. However, when we entered the bedroom, neither of us orientated to each other, or the bed, I went and showered first, followed by Ben.

  I was standing at the tall wooden sash windows, looking out into the darkness when he had finished showering. He walked over to me slowly, and stopped behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and then kissed my neck softly. I put my hand up around his head, and then slowly turned around.

  He was looking into my eyes, mesmerizing me. His eyes were serious, and emotional. They were drawing me into him. But, I refrained from kissing him. I knew what his eyes were telling me. I returned his gaze with my eyes full of love for him, and then led him over to the bed.

  At first, we lay on the bed on our backs, with only our hands touching, keeping eye contact the whole time. But then, eventually I rolled over to him, putting my head on his chest and my arm around him. He kissed my forehead. But then, I lifted my head up towards him, and brought my lips close to his. I wanted just one kiss before we went to sleep, just one kiss.

  Ben lay very still as I gently placed my lips on his. He kissed me back very gently, as if I would break. I whispered his name as my love for him overflowed. I couldn’t help myself. I knew that whispering his name when we were close was his weakness. I really should not have done that. It wasn’t fair of me to do that.

  He moved his lips over mine with hunger, and I whispered his name again. He held me closely to his body and then starting kissing my neck. I was responding in pleasure at the touch of his hands and his kisses.

  He moved his lips back up to mine, and I kissed him urgently, bringing my hand up to his face. It was then that my promise ring sparkled in the moonlight shining in through the window, a stark reminder of our promise.

  He pulled away from me in absolute frustration, his hands over his eyes.

  I rolled beside him again and put my head on his chest. He put his arm around me, kissed my forehead and then breathed deeply.

  “Two weeks, “ he whispered, “two weeks.”

  ***

  I felt her body relax as she fell into a deep peaceful sleep, but I did not. My mind was filled with conversations and happenings from the day, the Terreans and their quest to find the Warrior, the men in black stealing a seed from The Magnificent Tree.

  And, I had to return to work tomorrow. I hadn’t told Cate. I wanted her to enjoy being with me, and not worry about what tomorrow would bring.

  But I was concerned, deeply concerned.

  Finally, sleep did catch me, and then I woke in the morning to find her still peacefully asleep in my arms. I could not wait until this would be forever.

  Two weeks.

  Chapter 14

  Mortality

  I woke first, but I did not get out of bed. I wanted to be with her when she woke. I loved the way that she would stretch, and then look out of the window and smile, no matter what the weather. I loved the way that she would look at me when I stayed the night, it melted my heart.

  Two weeks.

  She started to stir. First it was her arms that moved, and then she twisted and rolled onto her back, stretching her arms and legs and then arching her body, accentuating the feminine shapeliness of her body.

  I wanted to touch her. But I knew that I must not.

  I wanted to kiss her. But I knew that I must not.

  I wanted to pull her body closely to mine. But I knew that I must not.

  I didn’t want to start something that I could not finish, that would leave us both frustrated.

  Two weeks.

  Then she turned her head and looked at me, smiling, her whole face lit up. She touched my face, lightly, and traced my lips with her fingers, then ran her hands down over my chest and stomach, and back up to my face. She leaned in to me and kissed me and moved away. My eyes were burning into hers, and I felt myself becoming absorbed into her. I breathed in deeply.

  Two weeks.

  Then she sat up and got out of bed and stood beside the window looking out.

  I watched her closely. And then stood behind her and pulled her closely to me - tightly. I couldn’t resist her. I loved feeling how her body fitted against mine. I breathed deeply.

  Two weeks.

  “Cate, I have to check in at base today,” I said unenthusiastically.

  I felt her peacefulness and contentment leave her body. It took some of mine as well.

  “Let’s have breakfast, and ah, we need to talk about the best day of our lives coming up….two weeks,” I said smiling coyly, trying to make it up to her after delivering the bad news of me returning to work.

  She breathed in deeply and looked out the window. We had only spent two days together, and now I had to go back to work.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs Ben,” she replied forlornly.

  I watched her carefully as she left the bedroom before I headed downstairs as well. I knew that she was not happy about me returning to work.

  This was going to be a long two weeks.

  I stayed with her until midmorning before I headed off to the base at 10am. I was going to be late, but I needed to spend time with her. I would only leave her when I was certain that she was going to be okay.

  Two weeks.

  After kissing her at the door before I left, I held her closely, breathing in her scent.

  “I love you,” I whispered, and then kissed her again with passion.

  “I love you more!” she said as I walked the path to Katie’s Gate. I turned to her, walking backwards, and smiled shyly, before I left in my car.

  ***

  I watched him drive off, before hurriedly returning to the house. I had plans, ideas, bookings and wedding dress shopping to do, and I set about it with zeal.

  3pm that day, the phone rang. I knew it would be Ben. And, I knew it would not be good news.

  “Cate. This is going to hurt. Ah, I have to go away again. But I’ve made a deal with them, and I will be back on Wednesday next week. Four days before our wedding. Cate, are you still there?” he asked worriedly.

  “Yes. I’m still here … listening.” My voice was down.

  “I’m really sorry Cate. But, this is my final call out. I have renegotiated my work contract with the company so that it no longer takes me out of state or out of the country.”

  “And our honeymoon?”I asked.

  “Don’t worry, I have that all covered Cate Adams,“ he replied. “I’ll see you early Wednesday morning Cate…I love you.”

  “And I love you more!” I added. And counting down to Wednesday morning, I said to myself once I had gotten off the phone. At least I would be kept very busy with the wedding plans.

  I couldn’t wait to finally be Ben’s wife.

  I then contacted a wedding planner, an associate from work whom I highly respected, and got things started straight away. We booked the church first. At least now I definitely knew that I would not be getting married in the church of my recurring nightmare.

  I organized the wedding reception, including the menu and cake tasting.

  It seemed to flow so smoothly.

  All that there was to do now was to organize the bridesmaids, choose my wedding dress, and send out invitations – immediate family and a few close friends only, we had decided.

  It seemed to flow so smoothly.

 
; By the Monday before their wedding day, everything had been organized and planned with precision, and I could start relaxing to enjoy the time up to Saturday. I loved everything about the build up to the wedding, the planning, the checking of details, the purchasing of flowers, the dresses, the shoes, the invitations, the cars.

  The only thing that Ben had to do was to arrange their honeymoon destination, and I couldn’t wait to see where he had chosen to take me. Normally I hated surprises, but just for this one particular extra special occasion, I’m sure that I would cope with the surprise honeymoon location.

  It seemed to flow so smoothly.

  Bright and early Tuesday morning, I woke up and organized the fruit for the day for the homeless people, as I always did. Tomorrow would be Wednesday, and Ben would be back. I walked along with a spring in my step. Many of the homeless people who had come to know me well, commented on it, and were overjoyed to hear that I would be finally marrying the love of my life.

  Later that day, the six Terreans showed up at her door. They had returned to tell me how well my eye contact lens idea had been working. In the short amount of time that they had concealed their eye colour, they had all secured a job. They felt that they were going well with their mission, and they wanted to thank me for my help.

  I really enjoyed the company of the Terreans, and asked them to stay for dinner. We coversed about the personalities and attitudes of the Earth people, and ways to respond to them. They shared their stories of what they found hilarious living here, and also stories of the many things that made them sad.

  After dinner, we all settled on a movie, and sat silently watching it. Life was pretty much as perfect as it could get. But then, came an unfamiliar sound. I brushed it off. The house was very old and made some strange and peculiar noises at times.

  So, I turned my attention back to the movie.

  All of a sudden, a deafening KABOOM sounded. There was an explosion in the kitchen, blowing out the windows and starting a fire. I was totally stunned, and shocked, and in a panic. We started to get up to run, when two more explosions went off upstairs.

  We ran to the front door, the closest and easiest exit, but it had been sealed from the outside. The look of horror was mirrored on our faces. We were about to be incinerated alive in the burning house, a horrendous death.

  I knew that there was only one way to escape, and I also knew that I should not use it myself. But this was a life and death situation, and, I must save the Terreans, even if I could not save myself.

  I quickly ushered them through to Grandy’s drawing room in the thickening smoke, the heat of the fire becoming unbearable. I opened up the floor door to the portal, and indicated for them to climb down into it. They were stunned, but quickly disappeared into the safety of black space. Jack stopped and motioned frantically for me to come too.

  “No, I am not a Terrean. I cannot go to your world. It is forbidden…..” I said between desperate gasps of breath, and fits of coughing as the smoke filled my lungs. Dizziness started to overtake me.

  Then another massive bomb went off. I fell to the floor, belting my head as I went down. The head pain seared through me as I now lay on the wooden floor in the fiery house, defenseless, as the burning walls tumbled around me, as smoke heavily suffused the room, strangling out every last bit of oxygen that my lungs so badly needed to survive.

  Ben’s face flashed before my eyes,the love of my life, the reason for my being. Then the reality of Saturday hit me like a blow to the gut. The day of my marriage to the man whom I loved so deeply forever, would never come.

  I was crippled by a pain in my heart before the blackness overtook my sight, until I was aware of the nothingness of unconsciousness. Death was upon me.

  Chapter 15

  The Love of His Life

  The purr of the engine could not subdue my energy or excitement as my heart pounded loudly in anticipation of seeing my beautiful Cate again. The car journey to her house seemed like it would never end.

  I couldn’t wait to see her. I couldn’t wait until Saturday came – the day when I would marry the love of my life, when she would finally become my wife.

  I couldn’t wait.

  I couldn’t wait to feel her lips on mine again. I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms again and feel her feminine body against mine. I couldn’t wait to smell her sweet scent that awakened every part of my being.

  I couldn’t wait to finally become one with her, to finally give in to my desires and seal my deep forever love with her.

  I couldn’t wait.

  I slowed the car to a crawl as I saw the red flashing lights in Cate’s street. There were fire engines everywhere. I couldn’t park at Cate’s house as the road had been blocked, so I got out of the car and walked.

  My heart started pounding as I got closer to Cate’s house. I started to run to her house, but it felt as if I was in slow motion, panic rising fast in my chest.

  I stopped at Katie’s Gate, frozen, unbelieving what was seeing before me eyes.

  Smoke was thickly rising from the ashes, although the flames had all been extinguished. My heart was beating erratically.

  Cate, where was Cate?

  I dialed her cell phone – no answer, not even a ring, just nothing.

  I dialed her parent’s house.

  “Hi, can I speak to my beautiful Cate please?” I asked, my speech fast, urgent.

  “Ben, hello, our soon to be son-in-law! Cate’s not here.”

  I rang everyone I thought that may know where Cate was – and nobody had seen her or heard from her.

  I paced to and fro, sick with sorry, breathing shallowly, my heart beating extremely fast. I pushed through Katie’s Gate to go to the house. I was sure that she would be there with the firefighters discussing the unbelievable event that had occurred here.

  I started to run toward the black ruins, but then was yelled at by a fire fighter.

  I ignored the voice telling me to stop, and continued running getting closer to the ashes of the house. But found myself being violently pinned to the ground by strong fire fighters.

  “ CATE ……CATE ! ! ! ! “ I yelled, and then began sobbing.

  “Sir, you need to go home. We will contact relatives if we find anything. Cate may not even have been here when the house caught fire. Sir, you need to go home. You need to go home,” instructed the fire officer.

  I stared at what was left of Cate’s house in disbelief, shaking my head, saying her name over and over. Slowly, I managed to get to my feet and staggered back to the car, my chest heaving in great emotional sobs. I sat in the car, staring out of the windscreen, emotionless.

  I did not go home. I wanted to be there when Cate arrived back at her house.

  I wanted to believe that she was still alive.

  I wanted to believe that she would come running to me and into my arms so that I could hold her for eternity.

  I wanted her to be alive…..breathing….smiling…..talking……looking into my eyes with passion….I wanted her, with me.

  As the last of the fire trucks left the scene, I moved my car down in front of Cate’s house. I sat there for a while, and then decided to sit just inside Katie’s Gate, and wait on the seat.

  To wait for Cate.

  I watched as the fire investigation bureau arrived and searched the remains of the house for clues as to how it caught fire. I watched as they collected many samples in the ashes. I heard them discussing the prospect of bombs being let off in the house.

  Then I saw one fire officer lift up a heart shaped locket on a gold chain.

  Cate’s locket.

  She wore it everywhere and never took it off.

  It was Cate’s locket.

  Her Grandy Katie had left it for her and it meant the world to her.

  It was Cate’s locket…..

  She would never have taken it off and left it in the house.

  It was Cate’s locket…..

  But still, I waited for Cate to return to her house. I didn�
��t want to believe that something had happened to her in the house fire. She was about to marry me, so that we could be together, forever. I was sure that she would turn up in her car any moment now, after hearing the news of the fire. And I would be there to hold her, to comfort her.

  And then my eyes followed the fire officers. They stood at a mangled melted piece of metal. I recognized it as Cate’s car. The fire had been so intense that it had melted the rubber over the wheel hubs, and blacked the paint work.

  Then the realization set in. Cate wasn’t going to return home.

  Cate wasn’t going to return home…

  My heart started to ache.

  Cate, the one and only love of my life…..

  I could never love another woman as I loved her…...

  I started rocking myself where I was sitting, clutching at the tearing pain in my chest. And I continued to watch the fire officers in their investigation of the house fire. They painstakingly sorted through piece after piece of anything that was left.

  One of the fire officers collected a very small undamaged portion of Cate’s wedding dress that had survived the fire.

  My beautiful, beautiful Cate.

  My heart was fracturing.

  My beautiful, beautiful Cate…..

  I whispered her name over and over and over again. I couldn’t live without her. Tears poured down my face, and I couldn’t control the shaking of my body. My heart was in agony. This couldn’t be happening.

  My beautiful, beautiful Cate….Not my Cate….

  We were about to get married. She was about to become my wife.

  I had waited for her for such a long time…….

  My beautiful, beautiful Cate...