Back to the House

Early the next morning, Fred and I went back to where our house was. By this time, there was no crowd forming around and the fire was obviously contained. The barrier was still in place to prevent people from accessing the building. Fred talked to one of the guards and we were allowed to go back to our house and see what damage had taken place.

As we took the stairs, my heartbeat increased significantly. For a second I thought the heart was going to come out of the chest! The door was still unlocked just as we had left it. The room was pitch black. The fire had raged half of the sitting area. My favorite couch was burnt beyond recognition. The glass table in the middle of the room was partially burnt also. Electronics and some wall hangings were also not spared. We walked to the bedroom and to our surprise, everything was perfect. The fire had not affected the rest of the house. I went to the closet, picked one of my blouses and sniffed it. Although it smelled of smoke, I could feel my perfume still. I held it tight towards the right side of my face before Fred held my hands and hugged me. We held each other for about five minutes before letting go.

“I am happy the house was not all consumed by the fire. We have to look for somewhere else to live now.” He said moving towards the bed. “The fire has left the house in a bad state nevertheless.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I am hoping we found a house as soon as possible. Living with Mike and Ann is straining them as they have a kid.”

“They haven’t complained, have they?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“It’s good then we get a house before they do. I couldn’t sleep the whole night. The baby kept on crying.” I said.

“He did?” Fred asked looking surprised.

“You didn’t hear? He cried for almost an hour or so.”

He shook his head.

“Guess Ann was right. You guys never hear a thing when you are asleep.” I said.

Fred leaned on me and laughed a little.

“Let’s go down and see what we can do about it.” He said.

Together we descended down the stairs.

Fred was called again by one of the guards. I took this moment and called my mum. I told her about the unfortunate events and what we were looking forward to do. She was so shocked and kept on asking if I was okay. Despite my efforts to assure her everything was alright, she insisted on coming to see us.

“I just talked to dad. He has offered us one of his apartments so that we can stay over there.” Fred said as he walked back.

I didn’t know what to say. It was so thoughtful of him but I was also a bit worried on accepting his offer. His apartments were located on the other side of town. It was far from where we lived and would take more than an hour to arrive to work. It was going to be a big adjustment.

“What do you think?” I asked Fred who was scratching his head as if he was thinking about something.

“I’ m not really sure. His offer seems to help us at the moment.”

“I guess.” I said slowly. “Can we talk more about this at the coffee shop. I’m hungry.”