by Lauren Algeo
Brewer tried to focus on Connors’ face but his vision was blurred. He opened his eyes wide and concentrated on stopping the room from spinning. He hadn’t intended on drinking any more after the wine at dinner but he and Seok had seen Marco near the kitchen and he’d asked them to have a drink with him. The dinner party was wrapping up and Connors invited the three men to have a glass of whisky with him in the study. Brewer had gone along with them and in no time, the whisky was flowing.
The soothing liquid had gone down too easily and the little dinner he’d eaten was doing nothing to soak it up. His earlier good intentions had gone out of the window – why shouldn’t he have a drink? Daniel had gone to bed and their plan was in place for the morning. He had a right to celebrate.
If he were honest with himself, he’d needed the alcohol to take the raw edge off his nerves and give him some courage. Only now he was drunk and it no longer seemed like such a good idea. His inebriated mind was reeling with thoughts of Daniel.
Connors laughed loudly at something Marco had said and Brewer smiled on autopilot, even though the sound had hurt his ears. He planted his feet wider on the plush rug to stop himself from swaying. The other men would soon notice how bad he was if he didn’t try to act a bit more sober.
‘Look at the bright flames,’ Daniel’s voice drifted to him from a distant part of his fuzzy mind.
Brewer squinted at the glowing lamp in the corner then the dark fireplace beside him.
‘There are no flames here, little monster,’ he scoffed in his head. ‘They don’t even put the heating on, let alone light these fancy fireplaces.’
He took half a step forward to steady himself again. The four of them were standing in a rough circle in the middle of the room and Brewer longed to sink down onto one of the sofas. He caught Seok looking towards him out of the corner of his eye and attempted to nod along with the conversation. He didn’t want his observant colleague to realise how much of a state he was in and report it to the others. This was bad – he had to get outside to try and clear his head.
‘I’m just nipping out for some fresh air,’ he said, keeping the slur in his voice to a minimum.
Marco laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Can’t take this strong stuff, eh?’ he joked.
Brewer smiled thinly and hoped that his eyes weren’t too bloodshot. ‘I can take as much as you,’ he replied. ‘Pour me another and I’ll be back in a minute.’
He walked to the door as carefully as he could then half-staggered along the corridor when he was safely out of view of the study. He felt sick and dizzy, and his mouth was fuzzy. He just needed a blast of cold air and some water then he’d be fine.
Brewer burst into the dark kitchen and marched to the back door, scolding the saucepan that jumped off the counter as he passed close to it and clattered loudly to the floor. He made it to the door and stepped outside into the murky night. The air was damp and there were thick clouds masking the stars. He breathed deeply and wandered across the garden. A few minutes out here and he’d be as right as rain.
Ellen paced the corridor, waiting for Scott to appear. Surely he’d heard Daniel? She chewed anxiously on her lip and repeatedly checked the syringe in her pocket. The longer she waited, the more uneasy she felt. The rest of the house seemed quiet so she guessed the dinner party was over. If young Cara was gone then who was Daniel whispering to? Had he targeted one of the staff as they cleaned up?
Ellen’s bare feet were cold on the cool carpet and she wished she’d put on some socks or shoes.
‘See, he doesn’t want to spend any time with you.’ Daniel resumed his taunting and Ellen froze to listen carefully.
‘Everyone’s gone and he’s still down there with the team he spends all day with,’ Daniel sighed. ‘He doesn’t want you any more.’
Ellen’s blood ran cold as his words sunk in. She knew exactly who he was talking to now – his own mother. He was using Marie’s insecurities against her. Giving a voice to her fear that her husband was too busy for her. The boy had latched on to how lonely she felt. How could he do that to the woman who’d raised him?
It’s your fault, Ellen’s own internal voice whispered to her. You were the one who interrupted his fun but he blames Marie for sending him to bed early.
‘The water’s nice and warm,’ Daniel soothed. ‘You can slip in there and watch the flames rise. That will show him.’
Oh god. Ellen’s hands flew up to her mouth. This was happening now and she didn’t know what to do. Should she get help from downstairs or intervene alone? She didn’t think she could make it back to Scott’s room in time and she wasn’t even sure if he was in there. Why hadn’t he come to find her?
‘That’s it.’ Daniel’s voice rose with excitement. ‘Look at that beautiful, burning light.’
Ellen couldn’t wait any longer; she had to help that poor woman. She ran past Daniel’s room and straight to the door of the Connors’ suite. Going after the boy first wouldn’t prevent Marie from getting hurt if a fire was taking hold. She yanked open the bedroom door and prayed that Daniel wasn’t in there too.
The first thing she saw was bright light. There were dozens of lit candles lining the room and shadows danced on the walls. Marie had set one large candle down by the window and flames were licking at the bottom of the curtains. They would take hold at any moment.
There was smoke filling the room and Ellen coughed in confusion. Where was it…? She spied the burning towel poking out from behind the bed. It was singeing a hole into the carpet and had caught on to the bottom of the bedspread. The whole room was going to go up in flames.
‘Marie!’ Ellen choked out.
The door to the en suite bathroom was ajar on the other side of the room. Daniel had been talking about water – she had to be in there.
Ellen covered her nose and mouth with her hand and stepped into the room. There was a loud whoosh as the curtains caught fire and she yelped in alarm. She had to get to Marie and break Daniel’s hold over her. She ducked down low and scurried across the room as fast as she could.
Brewer covered his ears as he stumbled across the wet grass. ‘Shut up, shut up,’ he muttered.
Daniel’s voice was swirling around his mind but he couldn’t focus on the words. Something about water now? Everything was muffled. The boy had long gone upstairs and everyone had left, surely his hazy, pounding mind was playing cruel tricks on him. He shouldn’t have drunk so much.
A hedge suddenly loomed up in front of him and he realised that he’d staggered all the way across the garden to the maze. He reached out with shaky fingers and touched the prickly pine. The smell of the evergreen reminded him of that night in the Grand’s garden with Georgie.
A lump swelled in his throat at the thought of her. She would have grown in to a fine young woman. Maybe even had a job with computers, like Mitch, and be expecting a family of her own. If only he could have saved her.
‘…watch the flames. That will show him.’ Daniel’s voice cut clearly through his thoughts and dissipated the painful memories.
Brewer’s stomach plummeted as he finally registered that the boy’s voice was real. It wasn’t just a bi-product of his drunken state – Daniel was whispering to someone in the house. The fog in his brain lifted a little and Brewer swung back to face the garden. His eyes roamed over the building in the distance. Daniel had said something about flames… there.
In the middle window of the second floor there was flickering light. It looked more like candle flames but… his eyes widened with horror as the fire suddenly sprang up the side of the window as he watched. The room was on fire.
Brewer lunged towards the building and ran as fast as his wobbly legs would carry him. He’d been looking down from that very room last night and knew it was the Connors’ suite. His feet skidded on the damp grass and he pitched forward but managed to avoid falling. He knew Connors was in the study with Seok and Marco, but Marie was up there.
Oh god, Ellen. She would be somewhere close by.
He prayed that she’d managed to sleep through Daniel’s goading but in his thudding heart, he knew that wasn’t true. She would have heard the boy and gone to investigate. She would be heading right for danger and he’d been too out of it to realise. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
With a guttural cry, Brewer slammed into the wall of the house and yanked open the back door.
‘Marie!’ Ellen reached the bathroom door and pushed it fully open. The smoke was thicker already and she shielded her face as best she could.
Marie was standing beside a running bath, surrounded by more candles, and staring blankly at the swirling water. She was wearing a white dressing gown, identical to Ellen’s, and her blond hair was tied into a loose bun.
‘Marie.’ Ellen grabbed the other woman’s arm. ‘We have to get out of here!’
With the curtains and bedcovers alight, the rest of the room would be engulfed in no time. They had to get clear before the fire really took hold. Marie turned her head and gazed at Ellen with vacant eyes. She’d been completely hypnotised by Daniel’s voice.
Ellen tugged her arm in an attempt to pull her towards the bathroom door. ‘Quick! The fire’s spreading.’
Marie only blinked slowly and shrugged her off. The boy had clearly broken her. Ellen glanced behind as another roar reached her ears – something else had been swallowed up by the flames. The smoke burned in her throat and she coughed loudly but Marie seemed unaffected by it. Daniel wanted his mother to die.
Ellen gripped Marie’s shoulder tightly and began to haul her backwards. There was a brief contortion on Marie’s face and her eyes grew darker. Daniel was coming forward to see who was disrupting his playtime. Ellen clenched her jaw tightly as she dragged Marie. She couldn’t let Daniel see her, otherwise he’d latch on to her mind too and she wasn’t strong enough to fight him off while trying to get Marie to safety. He would learn everything about her and Scott in an instant.
She skidded to a halt and struck Marie hard across the face. The sudden blow sent the woman reeling to the side and her head rocked down. It was the only way to try to break the connection.
There was a gasp from Marie then a loud cough as the smoke hit her lungs. She snapped her head up and Ellen saw that her eyes were clear again. Daniel had temporarily been slapped away. There was a large, red mark on her cheek and her face was twisted into a frown of confusion.
‘What’s going…?’ Marie’s eyebrows rose dramatically as she took in the full scale of the fire behind Ellen.
She opened her mouth to scream but the sound turned into a strangled choke. The smoke was so thick that it was hard to see and Ellen could barely breathe. She frantically tried to remember everything she’d learnt in her youth about fire safety. She dropped to her knees on the hard tiles, tugging Marie down with her. Keeping low would help them.
‘Come on!’ she yelled over the crackle and snap of the flames.
She began to crawl into the bedroom with Marie on her heels. Her eyes were watering and her vision blurred. She wiped her face with the sleeve of her dressing gown then put the material over her mouth. Her one-handed crawl made slow progress but it was marginally easier to breathe. A damp towel would have been better only it was too late to go back for one.
She repeatedly checked that Marie was behind her as they made their way across the bedroom floor. The other woman was sobbing quietly but her survival instinct had kicked in and she kept moving.
Ellen could barely see the room any more so she powered on in the direction that she hoped the door was in. Someone must have smelt the smoke or heard the fire by now. There was no alarm blaring but help must be coming. She just had to get Marie out of this inferno. Through her sore, squinting eyes she could make out a darker rectangle in the wall – they were nearly to the door.
Sharp fingernails dug into Ellen’s ankle and she yelped in surprise. Her right leg was pulled backwards and she lost her balance, pitching forward onto her face. Her nose struck the floor and fresh tears sprang up in her already streaming eyes. She twisted on to her side on the floor to look at Marie. Was the other woman in trouble? Marie was still on her hands and knees, and she was grinning manically. Her eyes were fully black in the flickering light.
Ellen’s heart gave a terrified jolt. She hadn’t heard Daniel whispering over the noise of the fire yet he’d somehow taken hold of his mother again. The boy didn’t want them to leave the burning bedroom. Ellen sprang on to her knees again and tried to scurry towards the door but Marie tackled her forcefully to the ground.
The two women grappled with each other, rolling closer to the burning bed. Ellen tried to knock Marie away but the other woman had Daniel’s extra strength. She pinned Ellen onto her back with a snarl.
‘Marie, no!’ Ellen wheezed.
Her hands flapped upwards, hoping to hit or scratch Marie however the other woman brushed them away. She leant onto Ellen’s chest with all her weight and her hands closed tightly around Ellen’s throat.
‘No!’ Ellen attempted to scream the word but it gurgled on her lips.
She bucked and twisted her body but she couldn’t shake Marie off – she was too powerful. Her chest burned as she tried to inhale the smoky air and Marie’s hands squeezed harder. She was still grinning, inches from Ellen’s face.
‘That’s it.’ Daniel’s faint voice drifted to her over the rushing in her ears. ‘Tighter.’
Ellen’s attempts at striking Marie were growing weaker and her eyes searched frantically for help. Where was everyone? Why hadn’t Scott come? She scraped her hands along the carpet, looking for any kind of weapon. Her fingers hit something hard and she scrabbled to pick it up.
The object was lighter than she’d anticipated and she strained her weeping eyes to see what it was. A shoe. She was holding one of Marie’s low-heeled, court shoes. It would have to do. Her lungs were screaming for air and she didn’t know how long she could remain conscious for. She had to stop her.
Ellen drew on all her remaining strength and swung the shoe at Marie’s head with as much force as she could muster. There was a dull thud as the heel connected with Marie’s temple and her eyes rolled back in her head. Her hands released their chokehold instantly and her body sagged forward, crushing Ellen further. She gritted her teeth and pushed Marie’s body to the side. The other woman flopped to the carpet and remained still. She was still alive but the blow had temporarily knocked her out.
Ellen lay on her back, unable to move. Her body was burning with pain. The heat and smoke was everywhere and she didn’t have the energy to escape it. She settled for trying to force air into her damaged lungs instead. She would make it out in a minute; she just needed to close her eyes for a moment to get her strength back.
‘Ellen!’ Brewer lunged up the stairs two at a time.
The fear was sobering him up rapidly and a headache was already pounding at his temples.
Please let her be ok, he begged as he raced upwards.
There was commotion and yelling from below but he didn’t turn around. He knew Seok and Connors would be following – his shout of ‘Quick! Fire!’ as he’d run past the study had caught their attention but he hadn’t stopped to explain. He hoped one of them was calling a fire engine… and an ambulance. He swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat.
Brewer reached the landing and used the banister to fling himself to the right. He sprinted along the corridor towards the Connors’ suite. His breath came out in ragged gasps as he pumped his fists.
‘Ellen!’
He paused, as his brain absurdly registered that his concern only for her was strange, then he shouted again. ‘Marie!’
There was no answer from either of them. He rounded the corner and saw thick smoke billowing out from the Connors’ bedroom.
‘That’s it,’ he heard Daniel whisper. ‘Tighter.’
Oh god, what was the boy doing? Brewer ducked his head and put an arm across his mouth as he was engulfed by the choking smoke. The roar and hiss of
the fire was deafening as he reached the bedroom door. How had it spread so fast?
Brewer ran into the room without a second thought. He was adamant that Ellen was somewhere inside and he had to save her. The heat was intense and he barely had time to register the bright flames before he tripped over something on the floor and staggered to the side. The wall stopped his fall and he quickly dropped to his knees. He could hardly see through his watery eyes and he crawled forward blindly.
His groping fingers encountered white, soft fabric with hard flesh underneath. Please, no. He held back a whimper as he bent close to the body. It was Ellen. She was lying motionless on her back with her hair covering her face.
Please. Not his beautiful wife.
He frantically swept the hair away and put his ear against her lips. Through the panic, he couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not. He scooped her up in his arms and stumbled to his feet, ignoring the agonising pain in his heart. He wouldn’t let the fear drown him – she had to be ok. He just had to get her away from the suffocating fire.
Brewer cradled Ellen’s limp body to his chest and struggled back out to the corridor. He made it halfway along before his legs buckled and he sank to his knees.
‘Scott!’
‘Oh my god.’
Seok and Connors came rushing round the corner and skidded to a stop as they saw him placing Ellen on the floor. Her dressing gown was streaked with black and her face was ashen. Connors opened and closed his mouth in shock then lurched past them, towards the bedroom.
‘Marie!’ he screamed into the smoke. ‘Daniel!’
Seok raced after him but Brewer didn’t care what they were doing. He wasn’t concerned about anyone else’s safety – only his Ellen. He couldn’t lose another wife; not like this.
With trembling fingers, he checked her pulse – noticing the red marks around her throat as he did. The pulse was there, and it was strong. Her chest was slowly rising and falling. He could see it clearly now in the harsh light of the hallway. Tears of relief rolled down his cheeks and his shoulders crumpled.