Chapter 27 Bad News
In the middle of the night, I was woken up by the sound of my phone ringing.
I picked up, and an unfamiliar voice spoke on the other end. “Hello, is this Stephanie Quinn?
“We’re the police. Your house was on fire, and your parents unfortunately didn’t make it—”
Thud. The phone slipped from my hand and dropped to the floor.
My mind went blank. I couldn’t understand a single word coming from the phone.
Hearing the noise, Mabel groggily got up. “What’s going on?”
“Hello? Hello?”
The voice on the other end kept talking. Mabel, seeing how pale I looked, quickly took the phone.
Once the call ended, she stood there in shock.
“Stephie—”
She ran over and hugged me, not knowing what to say to comfort me.
I felt like a statue–completely paralyzed, unable to move.
I didn’t even remember how I got home. Mabel had to help me out of the car.
The scene was a chaotic mess, flames lighting up the sky.
People cried and shouted, but I heard nothing. I just walked blankly towards home.
The sounds of ambulances and police sirens rang in my ears, but they felt distant, almost unreal.
I watched the distant crowd, walked through them like a zombie, and finally saw the two bodies on the ground.
Their faces were so badly burned that I couldn’t recognize them, but the rings on their hands–I knew them. They were my parents‘ rings, the ones I had personally chosen for their 30th anniversary.
“Are you Stephanie Quinn? Please see if these are your parents.”
I couldn’t hear what the police next to me were saying.
I dropped to my knees in front of the charred bodies, shaking as I reached out, wanting to touch them.
But halfway there, my hand stopped, and I couldn’t bring myself to continue.
“Dad, Mom-”
I stared at them blankly, tears falling from the corners of my eyes, one after another.
“No, this can’t be happening. You can’t die!”
Suddenly, in a frenzy, I threw myself onto their bodies, screaming at the top of my lungs.
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Chapter 27 Bad News
“Please, don’t die, don’t leave me all alone! Please, don’t go!”
My heart filled with pain that I felt like I was falling, dying.
Mabel hugged me tightly, her sobs coming in gasps. “Stephie, please don’t do this. I’m so scared!”
“How did the fire start?”
“Luckily, they found it early. Just one or two houses nearby were affected, and besides the two victims here, everyone else is fine.”
“Could it have been arson?”
People around us were talking, and the police were asking if anyone had seen any suspicious people.
That was when I heard Maverick’s name.
“There’s someone else injured here. It looks like Maverick, the son–in–law of the Quinns!”
Hearing his name snapped me out of my daze. I pushed through the crowd, rushing toward where Maverick
was.
He was lying on the ground, covered in ash.
“How could he be here in the middle of the night? Could he have started the fire?”
People were speculating, and their words only intensified the suspicions that had been growing in my mind.
I rushed to Maverick, shaking his arm with all my strength. “Maverick, wake up! Did you start the fire? Tell me, is it you? Why won’t you just leave me alone? Why?”
Grief consumed me, and the police immediately pulled me back.
“Ms. Quinn, please calm down!”
“Stephie, don’t do this!”
Everything around me was chaotic. I tried to say something, but suddenly felt dizzy and passed out.
