Fire - Betrayal (14 page)

So, I
turned my attention back to the movie.

All of a s
udden, a deafening KABOOM sounded. There was an explosion in the kitchen, blowing out the windows and starting a fire. I was totally stunned, and shocked, and in a panic. We started to get up to run, when two more explosions went off upstairs.

We
ran to the front door, the closest and easiest exit, but it had been sealed from the outside.  The look of horror was mirrored on our faces.  We were about to be incinerated alive in the burning house, a horrendous death.

I knew that t
here was only one way to escape, and I also knew that I should not use it myself.  But this was a life and death situation, and, I must save the Terreans, even if I could not save myself.

I
quickly ushered them through to Grandy’s drawing room in the thickening smoke, the heat of the fire becoming unbearable. I opened up the floor door to the portal, and indicated for them to climb down into it. They were stunned, but quickly disappeared into the safety of black space. Jack stopped and motioned frantically for me to come too.

“No, I am not a Terrean.  I cannot go to your world.  It is forbidden…..”
I said between desperate gasps of breath, and fits of coughing as the smoke filled my lungs. Dizziness started to overtake me.

Then another massive bomb went off. 
I fell to the floor, belting my head as I went down. The head pain seared through me as I now lay on the wooden floor in the fiery house, defenseless, as the burning walls tumbled around me, as smoke heavily suffused the room, strangling out every last bit of oxygen that my lungs so badly needed to survive.

Ben’s face flashed before my eyes,the love of my life, the reason for my being. Then the reality of Saturday hit me like a blow to the gut. The day of my marriage to the man whom I loved so deeply forever, would never come.

I was crippled by a pain in my heart before the blackness overtook my sight, until I was aware of the nothingness of unconsciousness. Death was upon me.

The Love of His Life

The purr of the engine could not subdue my energy
or excitement as my heart pounded loudly in anticipation of seeing my beautiful Cate again. The car journey to her house seemed like it would never end. 

I
couldn’t wait to see her.  I couldn’t wait until Saturday came – the day when I would marry the love of my life, when she would finally become my wife.

I
couldn’t wait.

I couldn’t wait to feel her lips on mine again. I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms again and feel her feminine body against mine. I couldn’t wait to smell her sweet scent that awakened every part of my being.

I couldn’t wait to finally become one with her, to finally give in to my desires and seal my deep forever love with her.

I couldn’t wait.

I slowed the car to a crawl as I saw the red flashing lights in Cate’s street. There were fire engines everywhere.  I couldn’t park at Cate’s house as the road had been blocked, so I got out of the car and walked.

My
heart started pounding as I got closer to Cate’s house. I started to run to her house, but it felt as if I was in slow motion, panic rising fast in my chest.

I stopped
at Katie’s Gate, frozen, unbelieving what was seeing before me eyes.

Smoke was
thickly rising from the ashes, although the flames had all been extinguished. My heart was beating erratically.

Cate, where was Cate?

I dialed her cell phone – no answer, not even a ring, just nothing.

I
dialed her parent’s house.

“Hi, can I speak to my beautiful
Cate please?” I asked, my speech fast, urgent.

“Ben, hello, our soon to be son-in-law! 
Cate’s not here.”

I
rang everyone I thought that may know where Cate was – and nobody had seen her or heard from her.

I paced to and fro, sick with sorry,
breathing shallowly, my heart beating extremely fast. I pushed through Katie’s Gate to go to the house.  I was sure that she would be there with the firefighters discussing the unbelievable event that had occurred here.

I
started to run toward the black ruins, but then was yelled at by a fire fighter.

I
ignored the voice telling me to stop, and continued running getting closer to the ashes of the house. But found myself being violently pinned to the ground by strong fire fighters.

“
CATE ……CATE ! ! ! ! “  I yelled, and then began sobbing.

“Sir, you need to go home.  We will contact relatives if we find anything. 
Cate may not even have been here when the house caught fire.  Sir, you need to go home. You need to go home,” instructed the fire officer.

I
stared at what was left of Cate’s house in disbelief, shaking my head, saying her name over and over. Slowly, I managed to get to my feet and staggered back to the car, my chest heaving in great emotional sobs. I sat in the car, staring out of the windscreen, emotionless.

I
did not go home.  I wanted to be there when Cate arrived back at her house.

I wanted to believe that she was still alive.

I wanted to believe that she would come running to me and into my arms so that I could hold her for eternity.

I wanted her to be alive…..breathing….smiling…..talking……looking into my eyes with passion….I wanted her, with me.

As the last of the fire trucks left the scene, I moved my car down in front of Cate’s house.  I sat there for a while, and then decided to sit just inside Katie’s Gate, and wait on the seat.

To wait for Cate.

I watched as the fire investigation bureau arrived and searched the remains of the house for clues as to how it caught fire.  I watched as they collected many samples in the ashes.  I heard them discussing the prospect of bombs being let off in the house.

Then
I saw one fire officer lift up a heart shaped locket on a gold chain.

C
ate’s locket.

She wore it everywhere and never took it off.

It was Cate’s locket.

Her Grandy Katie had left it for her and it meant the world to her.

It was Cate’s locket
…..

She would never have taken it off and left it in the house.

It was Cate’s locket
…..

But still, I waited for Cate to return to her house.  I didn’t want to believe that something had happened to her in the house fire.  She was about to marry me, so that we could be together, forever.  I was sure that she would turn up in her car any moment now, after hearing the news of the fire.  And I would be there to hold her, to comfort her.

And t
hen my eyes followed the fire officers.  They stood at a mangled melted piece of metal.  I recognized it as Cate’s car.  The fire had been so intense that it had melted the rubber over the wheel hubs, and blacked the paint work.

Then the realization set in. 
Cate wasn’t going to return home.

Cate wasn’t going to return home…

My heart started to ache.

Cate, the one and only love of my life…..

I could never love another woman as I loved her…...

I
started rocking myself where I was sitting, clutching at the tearing pain in my chest. And I continued to watch the fire officers in their investigation of the house fire.  They painstakingly sorted through piece after piece of anything that was left.

One of the fire officers collected
a very small undamaged portion of Cate’s wedding dress that had survived the fire.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
.

My heart was fracturing.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
…..

I whispered her name over and over and over again.  I couldn’t live without her.  Tears poured down my face, and I couldn’t control the shaking of my body.  My heart was in agony.  This couldn’t be happening.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate….Not my Cate
….

We were about to get married.  She was about to become my wife.

I had waited for her for such a long time…….

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
...

The world was silent as I felt the light touch of someone’s hand on my shoulder.  I looked up in hope that it would be Cate, my beautiful Cate……..

But it was a paramedic, speaking gently to
me, offering me comfort, asking where I lived.  They rang my parents, who came at once, and took me home.  They too were in a state of shock.

I
lay in my bed.  I did not talk.  I did not eat.  I just stared out the window, crying, and rocking, and holding the pain and emptiness in my chest.

She
was gone, forever.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
………

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
…….

My world would never be the same again.  My life would never be the same again.

I
slept for three days continuously from the emotional exhaustion.

And w
hen I finally woke, I was angry, and full of rage, which then turned to sorrow again.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
…..

I knew who had done this to her.  I knew what they were after.  And I was going to make sure that they never got their hands on it. I left the house in bitterness and haste.  I would not let Cate’s death be in vain.

I
went straight to the charred remains of the house and to The Magnificent Tree in the backyard.  I looked at it, and then fell to the ground, sobbing.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
….

After a while, I composed myself, and thought through a plan of action, carefully.

I
was going to destroy The Magnificent Tree.

I
recalled the night two weeks ago when I quickly sprinted down the street, and out of sight of Cate.  I was chasing two men in black clothing who were running towards a black car that was waiting a block away.

As
I caught up within metres of the two men, I saw that they had an oval opal seed from The Magnificent Tree.  They retreated to the safety of their black car.  But I continued running at them, slamming into their car and thumping my fist into the bonnet, denting it.

The men in black, in the black government car drove off at a great speed. 
I watched them, puffing, my hands behind my head, fuming at their cowardly, underhanded deceit.  I knew there was trouble brewing. But not of this proportion.

I
knew that the men in black would return after the opal seeds, so I was going to make damn sure that they would never get the seeds again. I had a deeper knowledge of this tree than they did, and quickly found all of the opal seeds that The Magnificent Tree had created.

I
picked all of the fruit off the tree and placed it in the baskets for the homeless people.  Many of whom had come to pay homage to Cate, and expressed their sincere sorrow and sadness at Cate’s passing, offering their sympathies to me.

I
sincerely apologized that this would be the last of The Magnificent Tree’s fruit, and wished them all the best for the future, as our tears of sorrow fell heavily to the earth.

I
returned to The Magnificent Tree, and picked up an axe, and started hacking into it with every fibre of my being, letting out the anger and absolute rage I felt with Cate’s death, chopping it up into pieces until The Magnificent Tree was no more, and until I was emotionally drained.  Then I sat and cried again, holding the ache in my chest, rocking to and fro.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
….

I organized the pieces of The Magnificent Tree into little groups, and set small fires to them, destroying every last bit of evidence that The Magnificent Tree had ever existed.

Then, at last,
I picked up the bag of opal seeds and returned home, ravenous for food.

My
personality had changed. I was about to fight for justice.