Page 64 of Last Girls Alive

Looking up, I saw my mother. Her face was pale, more than normal, and she looked sweaty even though it wasn’t hot outside.

“What’s wrong, Ma?”

“What do you think you’re doing?” she screamed.

“I… I’m making you a birthday cake like we talked about.”

“I don’t want any stinking birthday cake. I want my stuff. Don’t you understand?” She showed me the inside of her arms which were dotted with horrible purple needle marks.

“What stuff, Ma? I can help you find it.”

“You can’t help with nuthin’.”

She snatched the bowl out of my hands and threw it on the floor. It bounced and the batter splattered out, making a dark mess.

I started to cry.

“You were always such a baby and will always be a baby…” She grabbed her packet of cigarettes and forcefully slammed them against her fist until one came free. With a shaky hand, she raised the cigarette to her lips and slowly pressed the lighter. She couldn’t light it. Rage spilled over and she threw a plate against the wall. She finally got the cigarette lit, and that’s when she tripped on the rug and fell onto a huge pile of newspapers and magazines piled against the wall.

“Ma, you okay?” I managed to say.

“You little shit, you did this!”

I went to her to try and help her up when I noticed a small fire had ignited. I stopped dead.

“Help me up!” she screeched.

I stood completely still, frozen like a statue.

The flame flickered and grew slowly at first—then exponentially, reaching all around with fiery tentacles.

“You did this! Help! Help me you worthless piece of…”

I stood and watched the flames spread until, what felt like seconds later, the entire room was a burning inferno. The heat was overwhelming. Everything in the room was lapped up by the fire. The walls melted. The drapes blackened.

Mom stopped screaming and rolled into a ball.

I slowly left the room and went to my bedroom and closed the door…

Thirty

Saturday 0910 hours

Katie ran a hard three miles up the Battle Ridge Trail with Cisco at her side. She’d had another great night’s sleep of solid restfulness and felt better about her decision of opening up to Chad. Their relationship had improved from that moment and made her realize that she had been holding on too tight, keeping everything inside.

She was going to meet McGaven at the Twin Rifle Trail around 9 a.m. Wanting to smooth things over with him, she thought that the best thing to do was go for a run. She was a few minutes late, but knew that McGaven wouldn’t mind.

Katie laughed at Cisco’s springy footwork when he saw a squirrel run past and climb up a tree. The area was mostly deserted because of the cooler weather and fewer tourists visiting the area.

She slowed her pace to a light jog as she neared the entrance to the Twin Rifle Trail. She saw McGaven immediately. He was stretching and loosening up for the run as he waited for her.

Cisco ran on ahead and greeted McGaven, jumping around him.

“Hey, didn’t expect to see you, buddy,” he said, petting the dog.

Katie walked up to McGaven. “Hi,” she said.

“Hey.”