Chapter 42: There’s Someone Down There

The smoke coming from the back of the house alerted the neighbors who called the Fire Department who were onto things very quickly. They were soon barreling down the road with sirens blaring and only minutes behind Tracey Manning’s car who was also racing to the scene at the same time without him knowing a thing about what was happening

By the time the Fire Department had arrived at the house the place was well and truly ablaze. Several brave fireman attempted to entire the house but were pushed back by the acrid smoke and the heat.

Those neighbors had also alerted Max about the situation who had then alerted Jared and Gloria. All three had then arrived on the scene about forty five minutes after the Fire Department had. By the time Jared, Gloria and Max got there the fire had pretty well gutted the whole house and was showing signs of finally submitting to the flow of water coming from the fire hoses.

Within in ninety minutes of getting back all Jared, Gloria and Max found themselves looking at were the charred and smoldering ruins of what had been a lovely home. Of Tracey and Vanessa there was still no sign. Police officers had also sealed off the property so they could begin investigations into what had all the hallmarks of a deliberately lit fire.

Gloria and Max just held themselves in close to Jared’s body not knowing yet how to cry or scream or even speak about what they were witnessing. They stood like that - motionless - for a good hour or two. Eventually Jared saw one police officer call another police officer over to investigate something lying in the smoldering ashes. The second police officer made a signal to a third who then went to a squad car and produced what looked like a body bag. Max and Gloria looked away in horror at what looked like the charred remains of a human body being zipped up into that bag. That was the point that both women began to sob and sob and sob. Even Jared had tears streaming down his face unable to control the overwhelming grief that was engulfing the three of them. But once again that thing called fate was going to step in and bring about what most people just call miracles - and who knows, maybe that’s just what they really are!

As Jared, Gloria and Max stood there in the nude staring at the smoking heap before them a naked, elderly couple came up to them and said, “You three need to come inside with us. You all need some really strong tea and you need to get your eyes off this mess. Come on now. Staring at it won’t fix it. Let the firemen and the police officers do that. You three come with us.”

With that the three were ushered into the house right next door to theirs. They were given some really strong tea as promised and some really lovely hot soup with big slabs of bread to eat with it.

As Jared Reznik ate this simple yet delicious meal his mind was sent back to that time many years ago now when he had done the same thing with the help of his neighbor - Mrs Clusky. Together the two of them had brought Gloria Benson and her daughter back to life with bread and soup but now it seemed like half of all that effort had been futile. If there was any truth in what Jared was now suspecting then it looked liked that son-of-a-bitch called Blake Benson had won a terrible victory and destroyed yet another home and claimed the life of his very own daughter with it. The thought of this made Jared suddenly sick to the stomach which caused him to violently retch up everything he had just consumed. The thought of losing Vanessa like this suddenly just become too much for him and he retched and sobbed and shook uncontrollably in this home of complete strangers.

In this condition Jared found an old blanket being thrown around his shoulders. He was starting to go into shock and nudist or not it now became important for his own body heat to be preserved lest his heart go into shock too and begin fibrillating.

As Jared looked up to thank his hosts for their kindness he heard a shout go up from outside. The other two had also heard the same thing and ran immediately to the window. Outside were banks and banks of floodlights lighting up the whole burned out heap of the house next door. Jared ran to the window too then ran outside to get a better look. He ran to the front of the property to see several fireman standing around something in the pile of charred flooring.

One of the fireman was pointing between all the mess and shouting to his colleagues, “I THINK THERE’S SOMEONE DOWN THERE. AND I THINK THEY MIGHT BE STILL ALIVE! CALL THE RESCUE CHOPPER. I THINK WE ARE GOING TO NEED IT!”