A Fire That Burns

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  Austin threw her arms up in the air in detest as she turned back, “Why are you even talking to me? I walked away from you so why are you being even remotely nice to me?”

  “It’s a lot of effort to hold a grudge,” Tyler admitted to her as he took the few steps down from the porch to close the gap between them. “Trust me I tried.”

  Laughing at the irony she rolled her eyes, “Believe me, Tyler; it might just be easier for you to live with a grudge. I was wrong to leave here like I did. It’s wrong for me to be here now when everyone has made that abundantly clear. I should have given you a chance back then, the-then maybe n-now we would still b-” Austin stopped, she wasn’t going to do this. She wasn’t going to pour her heart to a man that probably hated her and was only being nice so he could have an explanation at long last.

  She wasn’t ready to give Tyler a reason to really bury everything they had lived together. Everything they had felt, loved, hated. He wasn’t being given the chance to bury their memories just yet.

  “You still love me don’t you?” Tyler asked her outright. “Six years on and you’re still as in love with me as you were when you left. You never stopped loving me, you never could. You didn’t leave because you didn’t love me.” He could see it written on her face. “I’ll let you go if you tell me you still love me, Sunny. Tell me the truth here so I know.”

  The impact of that one nickname – Sunny – hit Austin. He still remembered. Had waited all these years to use a nickname he had given her while they sat under the sunrise and he told her his day only ever started and ended with her. She was his sun.

  Austin quivered as his hand came up to bring her face to look at him, and she was forced to speak, “I could never stop loving you.”

  It seemed her words were the catalyst to igniting whatever they had. That was it. The moment Austin felt his lips hit hers she knew she was a true goner.

  There was the proof that six decades could well have come between them, hell even six centuries, and their hearts would always beat perfectly for one another. The six year distance hadn’t changed how perfect it felt to revel in the others existence.

  As the kiss ended, even Austin knew she could not be that big of a fool to believe that this would be easy.

  She could not be foolish to walk back into Tyler’s arms without guessing he had moved on from her. It was only her heart that had been frozen for years. She would be a fool to look the other way and guess that Tyler hadn’t moved on. Especially when she knew otherwise. It just didn’t stop her from believing for a second that she was still nineteen and her world hadn’t shattered down around her.

  Chapter Five

  SITTING in the old Pearson dining room, Austin hated that all eyes were on her, and she hated even more the disdainful glare her mother was giving her across the table. If looks could kill she would be six foot under and her mother would be happier. Maybe she would even dance on your grave, Austin’s warped sense of humour sneered. It had only been days, but her disappearing act from the party seemed to just cause more damage.

  Looking around, the gap between 2006 and 2012 was enormous in length, but it seemed this house’s decor was timeless and the only change she had seen so far was a new kitchen and the frosty exterior her mother was able to penetrate into a room. Physically it was her home, but in another instance it was far from the home she had grown up and fell in love with.

  “It’s simple,” Austin’s eldest brother, Dean, spoke up, “Aussie’s back now whether we like it or not.”

  Austin could just see her list of haters growing even more, and she was thankful that she had one parent that still wanted her around and a brother that was more than ecstatic to have her living with him. Her other two brothers and sister were split across the entire board.

  Nicolas sat forward, his hands sliding across the oak table top. “If I remember correctly, Dean,” he began singling out his son immediately, “You were one of the ones that helped Tyler try and track Austin down, and weren’t you the one that travelled across the country with the leads we got?”

  “A lot of wasted time,” Dean said as he sat back casually in his seat. If he had it his way, he would be at home, beer in hand not thinking twice about the sister that abandoned them all.

  Growling, Nicolas leaned back to bring Austin into the group instead of closing her out. “You’re being quiet, Jane,” Nicolas motioned to his wife. “I know you’ve got a lot to say.”

  “I just don’t understand why the hell you had to leave like you did, Austin. No daughter of mine would walk away from her family. I brought you up better than that,” Jane told Austin seriously, her face was drawn and reserved, and her eyes almost bore into Austin.

  “She knows otherwise, Jane, but there was obviously some other factor that contributed to her leaving,” Nicolas said trying to be the reasonable one.

  Jane locked her sights on Austin as though she was her prey. There was nothing nice about her expression and when she spoke, there was nothing motherly about her tone, “Go on then, Austin. What reason is it?”

  “Yeah,” Sienna, Austin’s sister spoke up, “I always wanted to know why Princess Aussie felt so bad that she had to leave. You got spoiled by both mom and dad and yet you still fled here faster than anything. You had Tyler devoted to you and that wasn’t even enough.”

  Daniel, the final brother, snorted at that, “Yeah I always remembered how mom and dad always made sure Austin there had everything and then poof, she’s gone.” he exchanged a look with his brother before looking back, “I think six years is long enough to keep a secret, so why don’t you fess up and admit what was so bad that mommy and daddy couldn’t even help you with.”

  “I don’t think we need to bully it out of her,” Tom threw in defensively as he watched everyone take a dig at Austin. He had looked and seen how hard she was trying to keep her composure in check, but the tears were weighing too heavily now and soon they would not be stopped from descending. “She’s a part of this family; she’ll tell us when she’s ready.”

  “I think it’s best you leave, Austin, and let us have a family discussion,” Jane said as she stood up and took the two plates that had the food on them into the kitchen.

  “Hang on a minute, Jane,” Nicolas said in disapproval. “Austin is a part of this family and deserves to be let back in. Your prejudices can wait. She’s family and should be included.”

  “It’s fine,” Austin said as she got up and grabbed her bag. She looked around nervous all of a sudden, “I’ll see myself out. Tom, don’t rush back, okay?” She then quickly left, ignoring the calls of her name and the arguments between her parents and siblings as they erupted. She rubbed her hand across her cheek to get rid of the tears as she left into the cool evening air.

  She pulled the door closed and leaned against the white painted oak panel trying to regain some control of herself. She slowly pushed herself away from the door and headed down the steps and away from the house before anyone could come out and tempt her to stay, or make this a public hanging. She walked quickly trying to get back to Tom’s before her resolve broke again.

  So far she was losing miserably.

  Tyler was literally just about to get into his truck to leave his parents when he saw the familiar form of Austin leaving her parents house. He couldn’t hide the frown as he watched her leave the house looking completely broken – more so than she had only days ago.

  He took off after her, noticing immediately that she looked like she needed some company. “Why the long face?” Tyler asked as he joined her in her small nonchalant walk.

  Austin looked at him in shock. She hadn’t seen him as she had left and here he was by her side, “Just realizing that my presence back here has yet again kicked started World War III”

  “Wouldn’t you be past World War III if your presence has started yet another world war?” Tyler asked her jokingly, trying to lighten the tension a little.

  “Ha ha,” Austin responded and even managed a small laugh. “S
ee you didn’t lose your sarcasm in the time I’ve been gone.”

  “No, but it seems you lost that gorgeous smile,” Tyler pointed out as they walked at a slow even pace. “Where did that get to?”

  Austin toyed with the key in her hands, a nervous and subconscious move on her behalf. “I haven’t seen it in a while really so I don’t know where it got to.”

  “Maybe we should go and find it?” Tyler asked her and put his arm around her supportively. “Everything will work out, you’ll see.”

  Trying to make light of the situation, Austin laughed a little, enjoying this closeness with Tyler even if was limited. “I hope you’re right because right now my mom’s going to hate me forever,” she confessed in a sad and downtrodden tone. “I’m tearing my whole family apart just by being around, Tyler. That means nothing is ever going to be okay.”

  “You’ll see, when you least expect it to, everything will just make sense again,” Tyler told her confidently. It was more of a selfish ploy to make her stick here permanently than anything but, it was also his way of showing that whatever happened all those years ago did not affect how they were now.

  Verging on tears she turned to him and pointed over her shoulder to Tom’s house, “I’m just going to go and hide away.” She looked back at the direction they had come in and then looked back at him. “Thanks for walking back with me.”

  “Mind if I come in?” Tyler proposed instantly, “Only I have nothing else to do, and I haven’t seen you since your parents’ party Saturday and I just really want to catch up.”

  “Tyler,” Austin started worriedly. The last thing she wanted to discuss was the reasoning behind her sudden disappearance.

  He put his hands up in a show of innocence, “I won’t ask about why you left. I’ll allow you to tell me that when you need to. I just miss our chats and right now it seems you could do with a bit of friendly company.”

  Austin still remained hesitant for a moment, her heart in her throat. As much as she wanted time with Tyler, she really felt like she didn’t deserve it. On top of that, she was scared to hear about how in love he was. She still didn’t know who he was with and she hadn’t asked because she knew there would be an immediate dislike towards whoever had stolen Tyler’s heart.

  “Fine,” Austin relented and headed up the path leading the way. She quickly opened the door, running her hand along the wall to turn the light on. Without a word she headed straight through the kitchen kicking her shoes off as she went and chucking her handbag down onto the couch.

  “So what have you made of yourself in six years, Baby Girl?” Tyler asked using the old nickname he had for her as they grew up. Being one of the youngest in their class, he always teased her about being the baby. He slid onto one of the bar stools in the kitchen and watched her go to the refrigerator.

  “Would you believe me if I were to tell you it surmounts to nearly three quarters of a million dollars?” she asked him back in response as she handed him a beer and took a swig of her own.

  “No,” he replied honestly and smirked, “So what did you do? Rob a bank? Marry a millionaire?”

  Austin laughed and took a seat, “It’s all legal don’t worry.” She began and wrapped her hands around her beer and looked at him, her head resting on her own shoulder for a moment. “Do you ever wonder what life would have been like?”

  “Had you never left?” Tyler asked her. That question still stung, but he had to be honest with himself. He watched her nod and he sucked in a quick breath, “Yeah, all the time. I see our old house and I know I miss not having the chance to exact our plans on it. We had so many ideas for it and never had a chance to finalise them,” he ended with a shrug, “You?”

  Austin looked down at the lip of her bottle, “All the time,” she admitted softly. If she had to admit what she wanted to do now was to down this bottle of beer, then take Tyler’s and drink that, and finish the rest that were in the fridge. She was feeling sorry for herself again.

  “I don’t like this Austin Pearson. She’s much too quiet and lifeless than what I ever remember,” Tyler questioned her as he sat and watched how withdrawn and unlike the old Austin he remembered growing up with.

  “I’ve not taken on all four hundred and fifty Point Arena citizens. I’m waiting on that last judgement call,” Austin told him in return with a small smirk. “Once that’s tackled you won’t be able to stop me.”

  “There she is,” Tyler said and slapped his hand to the kitchen countertop. “The Austin I love,” he watched as her smile disappeared, “What did I say?”

  Austin’s eyes squinted a little as she tried to make sense of everything, “How can you even bear to be in the same room as me?”

  Tyler sighed, “Like I said it’s a lot of effort holding grudges and I could never hate you.”

  “But you should,” she admitted and reverted her eyes away from looking at him. “You should be number one on the list of getting me out of town.”

  “There’s a list?” he asked her playfully, trying to make her smile again. “I could live in the past, or I can get over things. Now that’s not to say I’m still in some state of shock that you’re back, but there are just some feelings that never really go away and there are just some things that need to be done.”

  “Like the kiss?” Austin questioned him as her mind flashed back to Saturday night at her parents.

  Tyler nodded, “Much like that kiss,” he told her and then pushed her a little. “So how did you make your fortune?” Tyler said pressing on with the subject matter. “I’m intrigued.”

  Austin knew she could dwell for a moment, or she could embrace this moment. The latter definitely seemed much more worthwhile. “The computer system at the police department, what do you think of it?”

  “Best damn system we could have,” Tyler praised quickly. “Gives us everything we need when we need it and when it crashes it fixes itself.”

  Chuckling to herself she looked at him, “That’s because I was the one that made it and I’m the one that gets an alert when it crashes.” She watched Tyler look at her with astonishing confusion. “You knew I was one of those gadget freaks thanks to Danny and when I left here I quickly learned the ways of a computer system. Binary codes, virtual pathways, hard drives, software, everything. It keep me close to him in some way, and then you,” Austin babbled on, “I got noticed and then all of a sudden I’ve got requests left, right and center to make system software for major corporations and then the money started rolling in.”

  “Right, so you haven’t had much me time?” He questioned her as he thought to how much time that must have taken up.

  “None and it’s how I like it. Makes me get away from my thoughts. You remember how dangerous those were,” she dropped in and smirked as he laughed. “I had a few days out, but I literally focused on getting enough to live.”

  “Enough to live forever on?” Tyler quipped at her.

  Smirking, she looked at him, “That wasn’t my intention. It just happened.”

  “You never have intent with anything so I believe you,” he teased her and then sat up straight. “Right I need to go use the bathroom,” Tyler said finishing off his bottle and standing. “I’ll be right back.”

  Austin knew she didn’t need to tell him where he was going. Tom had already said that he and Tyler were still close friends. So she let him go while she swirled the remainder of her beer around in the bottle.

  Hearing the door open she turned around on her seat and watched as Tom came into the room. His face was sullen, his eyes looked sorry and he didn’t take notice of the two beer bottles on the countertop that signified someone else was here.

  “You okay?” he asked her and she nodded. “It kicked off so dad sent us all home. Mom doesn’t want to see us until she’s ready apparently.”

  Looking away, Austin felt her heart sink as she felt bad for disrupting a perfect marriage like that of her parents. It was never her intention, but she never expected her mother to literally make her some
sort of abomination for coming back home.

  “Have you ever thought it’s about time you told them the truth?” Tom asked Austin, not knowing that Tyler was just coming down the stairs. “I mean, come on, maybe mom will let you back in then and all this stress and tension will just go.”

  “Yeah and dad will disown me in its place,” Austin shot back in a low tone, her voice trying to be a whisper, but she couldn’t keep it that way. “What happened is dead and buried, Tom. I made sure of that.”

  “Yeah and it really shows that,” he said and stood up and headed to kitchen. “Really shows that you’re over it by the fact that you’re home and miserable. Six years hasn’t done you any good, it just worked as a good distraction for a while. It worked until you decided you were done with running scared and alone.”

  “And you wonder why I’m miserable,” Austin muttered and watched Tyler walk through the door. “Did you want to stay for something to eat, Tyler?” She asked and she heard her brother turn around as he now realized they weren’t alone.

  Tyler felt angry all of a sudden. One of his closest friends had blatantly lied to him for the best part of six years. “Er, no thanks, Sunny. I think I best be going now.”

  She didn’t have time to react as a few words were thrown between her brother and Tyler. He left with a simple goodbye and she was more than a little confused by the emotions coursing through her body.

  ***

  Later that night when the house was quiet, Austin broke down. She broke down in the way that she had promised herself she wouldn’t do so. She was too involved that she didn’t even realise the door was opening up and her brother was fast tracking towards her to comfort her.

  “Hey,” he soothed as he rocked her slightly. “It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay,” Austin admitted, “It’s not going to be okay.” She pulled back from him momentarily. “I’m even ruining your life by being here.”