Charli
Page 5
going up quickly in a ball of flames. Since you ruined my fun and have been dogging me, it seems appropriate to me, what do you think, Mr. Big shot?” He laughed as he continued splashing the gasoline on the walls.
Sam had passed out again and was lying on the floor, which was a good thing. I knew that we would probably die from smoke inhalation before the flames got us. I believe that was his plan and why he kept the gasoline away from us. I had to get my hands free if there was to be any chance of survival. He walked back to Sam and began to unbuckle his belt. I thought Oh my God he is still planning to rape her! I began furiously struggling with the ropes, when off in the distance a siren was heard.
“I told you they were coming!” I shouted at him. He pulled his trousers back up and pulled a lighter from his pocket. He lite a few rags he had doused and threw them at the walls. The flames shot up the walls very rapidly. He ran out of the house. I worked one hand a little loose but was already beginning to cough from the smoke. I rocked the chair until it fell over. The air at the floor was a little better and I continued to struggle against the rope. I was beginning to tire and the rope seemed not to respond any further. I was running out of air and my strength was being drained. I thought, Sam and I are going to die here in the same house where my dear Charli died. That angered me and gave me a short burst of energy with which to struggle on, I started fighting harder. Soon the smoke was getting to me. I stopped and was spending too much energy choking. I could feel the intensity of the flames and things began to fall around me. I was done, I could no longer fight against the smoke, and I began to pray that the end come quickly. I could no longer hear Sam coughing. I figured she had already succumbed to the smoke, now so thick I couldn’t even see her. Just as I was about to go under, I felt the ropes loosen. Was I hallucinating? Then I heard Charli saying,
“Get up Jake, get up now!
I did as she commanded and began to crawl toward Sam.
“That’s right Jake, get Sam out, she is still alive!”
As I moved toward her, I heard her begin to cough.
“Sam, crawl toward the light!”
Some how the sliding glass door had opened and the smoke began to billow out of it and breathing near the floor became a little easier.
I could hear Charli saying,
“Keep moving, don’t give up you’ll be ok, I love you both, you can’t die here. Keep moving toward the door, you almost there!
I could feel someone pushing me it had to be Charli.
Then Sam collapsed again so I turned around and dragged her the rest of the way. Finally the door was in reach. I thought we were free, but just at that moment a section of the roof fell and pinned me to the ground, I couldn’t move it and Sam was still out. Could we have come this far only to die so close to freedom? Then I witnessed a miracle, the section of roof too heavy for me to lift seemed to rise up by itself.
“You’re free Jake, save my sister!”
It was Charli. By the grace of God and her great determination, she had stayed around to save us from a horrible death. It was a miracle, how else would you describe it? I got Sam up and as we reached my car, we heard sirens again. This time a trio of fire trucks, plus an ambulance and a police car came speeding up to the house now engulfed in flames. I quickly got Sam into my car and ran over to the ambulance for a blanket to cover her naked body. I asked a female EMT to come over and check her out. Except for some scrapes where I dragged her across the floor, she was fine. I was fine. The police took our report and that brought about the quick apprehension of Mr. Cunningham. We never said, but we knew we both owed our lives to Charli.
Sam joined the sheriff’s office in our town and relocated here a month after the trial, said she had to keep an eye on me for my own protection.
The Irony
Eventually Sam and I would compare notes. It seems that Sam had heard Charli too, telling her to wake up and get out. Sam told me it was as if Charli blew air into her lungs and she began to cough just as I reached her.
We also found out later that a police car responding to a fender bender was the cause of the siren. That fender bender was what caused Cunningham to stop what he intended and run. We wondered if Charli created that as well.
Oh and as for Mr. Cunningham, seems he suffered a little more irony. It seems he and his car was found about a mile down the road. He was in such a hurry to get away; he lost control of his car on a shape curve and hit a tree. I heard that the air bag in the car saved his life, but the steering column broke on impact and sliced off his penis. Now that’s irony. Our description of the car caused Mr. Cunningham to be placed under guard as he recuperated from his injuries.
Sam and I were both testified for the prosecution at his trial. When all was said and done the Judge sentenced him to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Wonder how he will fare in a maximum-security prison with a bunch of men who haven’t seen anything like a woman in many a year. Whose bitch will he turn out to be? Talk about getting a dose of your own medicine.
Sam and I would see Charli just one more time. It happened on the second anniversary of her death. Sam and I became very close friends and I think she loved me, I know I was in love with her. We never spoke of it or acted on it out of respect for Charli. We had been to Charli’s gravesite with flowers that morning and then went to my house for lunch. We sat in the living room that afternoon watching a football game. My Miami Dolphins were taking it to Sam’s Cincinnati Bengal’s, when all of a sudden the screen began to crackle and the picture was gone. We looked at each other in awe and both said at the same time,
“What the hell!” and then laughed at the coincidence.
“Sam, Jake it’s me Charli.” Came the voice from within the TV set.
We both turned to the screen in amazement.
“I want you to listen carefully to me. I will never see or talk to you again in this life, but I can tell you I will see you again. Sam I never spent as much time with you as I should have and I regret that, but I love you dearly. Jake, I was never what you wanted in a woman although I know you loved me as I did you. The two of you are perfect for each other. I know that you both love each other deeply and you have avoided it out of respect and love for me.”
Sam’s face turned red as though a great secret had been revealed and I could feel my body get hot from a kind of embarrassment as well. Charli continued,
“Now I am in a place where I know this to be true and you two need each other! I implore you to live that which you both feel. You are the two most important people in my life and all I want is for you to be happy. Please don’t hurt me by denying what you feel for each other out of some lofty but misguided sense of loyalty. Let me know that you will love each other as a man and a woman should love each other as God has ordained it. I won’t be able to see you after today, so promise me, both of you that you will open your hearts to one another and let nature do the rest.”
“I will see you both in the next life. I love you both, be happy and God bless you!”
Sam and I looked at each other and smiled. Then we turned back to the TV and said together,
“We promise!”
At that moment the TV screen returned to the game just as the announcer said,
“Well that was the best play of the game!”
We looked at each other and laughed, saying,
“He’s right about that!” and we kissed the kiss that had been pent up inside us both for so long.
The End…
or just a beginning....
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