Friday, September 29th 2017

I'm in the living room watching my favorite movies with the family when I get Anaya's text. At first, I ignore it. It's been a while since the family and I had a nice, peaceful Friday in, and I'm  determined to enjoy it.

On the screen, Lucas is trying to help his mom climb up the tree when my phone vibrates again. Knowing Anaya, she more than likely will start spamming me unless I answer now.

A little annoyed, I pull out my phone and look at her message.

Anaya: hey

Anaya: have u talked with any of the ppl from ur articles?

Me: Hey yourself. And no, not yet.

Anaya: Why not?

Me: Been busy.

Anaya: u suck @ lying

Even though I'm sure it's not possible, I sometimes believe that Anaya was gifted with telepathic powers at birth. My reasoning is simple: there's no way a simple human could know so much about another, especially if using phones.

Me: I'm scared.

I don't have to explain why I'm scared. Without saying more, Anaya is bound to know that I fear what the person on the other end might be like. Just like the saying that not everyone breathing is living, the world has taught me that not everyone smiling is kind. With this knowledge in mind, the tricky part is deciding who's the friend and who's the foe without getting burned. Despite my hardest attempts, I've always managed to get burned.

Anaya: don't be. I'll happily have a 'chat' with any asshole that thinks he/she can disrespect u

Me: Can't you just call them for me? I'll do more research on Tyrel.

Anaya: no can do babe. this is your fight to fight i'm just the armor

"Hija pequeña, put your phone away."

I snap my head up and meet Robert's dark eyes in the dim light. He's looking at my phone expectantly while Jace snickers to himself, happy not to be the one getting lectured for once.

"Okay, let me say bye."

Robert nods and goes back to watching the movie. Jace on the other hand leans in and whispers, "busted." To which I respond with gently elbowing him in the side before allowing my fingers to fly across the screen in a quick text.

Me: Fine. I'll call some random stranger tonight.

Me: I gotta go. Movie night.

I advert my eyes back to the screen, but my attention is long gone. The constant reminder of what's to happen when The Impossible ends pinching at my mind like a horrible itch. Eventually, during the saddest point of the movie, I empathy drowns my body and for a while I'm allowed to forget my enviable future. The movie ends not long after. Jay's face is streaked with dried up tears as she untangle herself from me. Somewhere during the part where the Dad finds Simon, Jay grabbed me to shield herself from the images on the screen. Soon after she was hugging me in joy when the other son, Tom, was found. Though her fruity perfume was a bit suffocating, I'll admit it was nice to be embraced by her.

With my limbs now free, I do a little stretch before giving Beatrice what I anticipate to be a quick hug goodnight, but in a twist of events turns out to much longer. Robert wraps his arms around Beatrice's waist, dragging her-and me inevitable as I'm in her arms-towards himself. Unlike Jay who waits for Beatrice to pull her in, Jace, always the attention seeker, wastes no time joining in. He dramatically flails his body into us. He not only succeeds on getting all the attention thrown onto him, but he also brings us all to the ground.

A loud ooof followed by giggles and curses bounces off the living room walls. At first, we all just lay on the ground, all in our own little worlds yet at the same time relishing being together in this tangled mess. Beatrice is the first to get up, pulling Jay and I into her arms once she's sitting. I wrap one of my arms around her midsection and the other around Jace, bring him into the dysfunctional yet somehow perfect hug as Jay wraps her arms around her father.

"I love you guys, you know that?" Beatrice whispers, squeezing my shoulder gently.

A small smile edges it's way onto my lips and I lean into Beatrice, enjoying her warmth. For the first time since I've met her, I don't analyze her words or sink into my mind in an effort to twist them. I don't compare her to any other foster mom I've had in the past either. I just enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity.

__________

A few hours later, and everyone's scattered. Robert and Beatrice are in their room watching another movie, Jay left to spend the night at Whit's house with King, Jace is hanging at Finn's place, and I'm in my room pacing. My phone is hot in between my hands with Malcom Howard's phone number on the screen. Anaya's expecting face is glowering at me through my laptop from where it sits on my bed. Trying not to look at her with every step I take is an easy thing, but toning out her 'encouragement' is another.

"Come on, Jacqueline." She groans, looking exasperated. I have the right of mind to tell her that I'm the one who has to talk to a complete stranger, not her, but I hold myself and settle on glaring into her green eyes. "Just call him."

I close my eyes and look to God for guidance. I know that the call is unavoidable, but I find comfort in knowing that the God is with me. Repeatedly telling myself that no matter how hard they try, the person on the other end can only do emotion damage also helps.

I open my eyes and push the green call button on my phone. Anaya cheers sarcastically, but I pay no attention to her as the ring sound envelops my room. With each passing second my heart beat accelerates, and my palms get sweater. On the fourth ring I'm so close hyperventilating that I know I must sit down or I'll faint.

My butt has barely touched soft covers of my bed when the ringing stops, and a deep male voice sounds out. "Hello?"

I look to Anaya for help, but all she does is give me an expectant look to which I answer with a squeak, "Hi..."

"Wrong number?" The man on the other end asks.

I take a deep cooking breath in, and imagine myself as this big, strong woman who can do anything. When I speak my voice isn't one of the weak, scared Jacqueline I know, but instead the strong, stable woman I want to be. "I don't think so. Is this Malcom Howard?"

"It is he, can I help you?"

"Maybe, but it's a long story."

"I've got time."

"Alright." That said, I start explaining my fascination with my family history. Going all the way back to 2014 when I first stumbled on article about my parents and made it my life's goal to uncover how they died, I tell Malcom about all the articles I've read about that fateful night. I tell him about the conclusions I've made, the people Anaya's talked with, the things that Tyrel said, but most importantly what Whit clarified.

At the end of my long rant, I'm out of breath and a little light headed from talking so much, but Malcom seems to be just fine. For most of my talk he just uttered a few 'umhumm's' to let me know he was still following along.

"Why are so interested in the Hathways?"

I've told the lie so many times that I don't even have to think twice before it falls out of my lips. "Their story is a mystery barely solved. Very little is known to the public of how the events played out that fateful night. I guess you could say my fascination comes from how suspicious I find this."

Malcom is quiet for a moment. I take the time to silently ask Anaya if I'm doing okay. Her reply is a simply smile as she scopes more ice cream into her mouth.

"How do you expect me to help you?"

"Anything you know is helpful."

"The fire was no freak of nature. It started in the basement, a small group of people have seen enough evidence to prove that. Tyrel Author might have been psycho, but some of his facts were on point. Teresa King is a power tyrant, that's a well known fact. How far she'd go for said power is another thing. Even with that in mind, I personally don't think she would kill a whole family just to climb higher on the ladder."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Eliana and David owned Hathway and Partners. Teresa was a partner. By eliminating them, the major power source would be out of the way."

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Hey people:) Thank you so much for reading. Please vote, comment and share if you liked this chapter.

I know things were a bit boring, but hey! At least I wrote something?

This book is ending within the next ten chapters. I'm pretty sure you guys can guess who was behind the fire by now, so there's nothing more to tell.

I know this book is been a crap coaster, but that was mostly because I had no plot in mind. I have one in mind now and I'll work hard to meet it when I edit in six months.

Love ya all, Liv~

DP: Feb.23.18
WC: 1515