The Music of Souls, page 27
Wondering what to do, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me, hurrying downstairs and hoping I wouldn’t bump into Andrew on my way.
Luckily, I reached my room without any awkward encounter and put on some fresh clothes before going back. I closed the door behind me and returned to Andrew’s living room. He was sitting on the couch and looked up when I entered.
“You really are something else, aren’t you?” he said and grinned.
“Why?” I asked, confused.
“Running through the house wearing nothing but a towel?” he said, and I felt the heat creeping up into my face. He had actually seen me pulling that stunt. He patted the couch right next to him.
“Come, let’s watch a movie,” he said, and I settled down next to him, feeling a bit awkward and embarrassed. Andrew didn’t seem to feel anything like that though. Being the only one so excited and nervous made me feel even more awkward.
Andrew started some kind of movie, but I couldn’t focus on what we were watching, because him playing with my hair or stroking my arm the entire time was too distracting to me. I couldn’t focus on anything else than him.
I turned my head slightly to stare at him watching the movie with great interest. After a while he realised that I was staring at him, and he smiled.
“Is there something on my face?” he asked in a low voice.
“No,” I answered.
“Why are you staring at me then?” he asked and laughed.
“I like to look at pretty things,” I said and the moment those words left my mouth I wanted to take them back. But I couldn’t so I tried to shrug it off with a grin. He looked at me open-mouthed for moment.
“Aren’t you truly something else, Ava?” he said, and he adjusted his position to tower over me, carefully holding my back so I wouldn’t fall over, and holding me close to him. Not that I was trying to move away from him. I was craving being close to him.
We were staring at each other, my heart beating so quickly in my chest. Usually it was beating this fast when I was in danger or in the middle of a panic attack, but this time it was beating with excitement and anticipation.
My body went onto auto-pilot, my hand moving to his face and caressing his cheek. His eyes seemed to get a bit darker, his gaze darting to my lips and back. It almost looked like he was fighting with himself, unsure of what to do. But whatever might have happened, it ended when my phone started ringing, disturbing the silence.
Andrew moved away from me and handed me the phone that was lying on the table. I was internally cursing anyone who dared calling me right now.
“It’s your father,” Andrew said.
“Hello,” I said, sounding unamused.
“I heard someone died at your house today,” my father said, and reality crashed down on me full-force.
“Yes. How do you know about that?” I asked, feeling numb.
“You know that I know many people. It’s not important how I knew about it. Is everyone else alright?” he asked, sounding truly concerned.
“Everything is fine, except the woman who died. Dad, I think they are trying to get me,” I said truthfully.
“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you, I will make sure of that. Just try to stay out of trouble,” he said, and I sighed. How often had I heard that sentence from so many different people this past week?
“It’s not that I am trying to get into trouble, trouble just seems to find me,” I said.
“Just do your best,” he said and terminated the call.
“Anything new?” Andrew asked.
“No, he just wants me to be careful. I really wonder what else I could do to stay out of trouble, I am barely leaving the house as it is,” I said.
“It will get better, especially after we find those criminals who are causing all of this,” he said, and I nodded.
“I hope so,” I replied and settled back on the couch. Andrew restarted the movie, but the magic between us was gone.
A week later, things had more or less gotten back to normal. We were all on edge since someone had been killed right under our noses, but we tried to deal with the situation as best we could. I was still staying at Andrew’s apartment, we never spoke about it, but I think we both needed each other’s company to handle this situation. I was happy whenever he was around and could spend time with me.
The only regretful thing was that he didn’t try to kiss me again and I felt like a very naughty person to think about that over and over again. We weren’t a couple in the first place, so why in the world did I always think about it?
We were on our way to the office when there was a huge commotion in town. Apparently, there was a fire somewhere and while we slowly edged forward in the traffic I tried to make out where the fire was coming from.
“Wait a minute,” I said and opened the car window. “Isn’t this-?”
Panicked, I opened the door, running out into the middle of the road. Luckily no one could really drive right now, so I didn’t get hit by a car. I could hear Andrew shouting after me, but I didn’t care. I had to reach the fire.
The closer I got the more I realised how right I had been with my assumption. John’s bookstore was on fire, thick clouds were darkening the sky and firefighters were busy doing battle with the flames. I pushed through the crowd of people, who were standing around staring at the fire with big eyes.
“John!” I screamed, even though I was sure he wouldn’t be able to hear me. I tried to get closer to the building, even though that was more suicidal than anything I’d done before. A firefighter ran towards me and stopped me from getting closer.
“Ma’am, you can’t get closer than this,” he said, and I tried to wriggle out of his grip.
“But John is in there!” I screamed. I could practically hear his melody bursting out of the house. It was so loud and clear in my head; he was still alive.
“We can’t go in there yet, it’s too dangerous,” the fireman said, and I tried to get away from him again.
“Ava,” Andrew said out of breath and took me by the shoulders. The firefighter let go of me.
“Andrew! John is still in there, he is still alive,” I screamed at him in panic.
“They will rescue him as soon as they can enter the house,” Andrew said promisingly, but I wasn’t sure if that would be quick enough.
“We haven’t seen anyone down in the store,” the firefighter said.
“He is upstairs,” I said pointed at the window to the right. “Please, you have to save him.” Tears were streaming down my face now. John couldn’t die yet; it wasn’t his time yet. He might be old, but he shouldn’t die in a fire.
The firefighter nodded, acknowledging what I said and moved back to his colleagues. I watched them as they were talking to each other and what felt like hours later they got a ladder from somewhere. The fire was slowly getting smaller and I was hoping it wouldn’t spread to the other floors before they could rescue John. His melody was getting quieter now and panic started to rise once again.
“He is dying, Andrew,” I said, sobbing.
“It will be fine, they will get him out,” he said, and I looked back at the scene. They were positioning the ladder at the window I’d been pointing to and then I saw the fireman climbing up the ladder, smashing the window without hesitation and entering the house. It almost looked like he did that every other weekend. My heart was beating hard in my chest, I was praying for John to be okay. The next few minutes felt like hours and when I finally could see the firefighter again, he was carrying John and I almost collapsed with relief.
When they reached the ground, paramedics immediately took care of John and I rushed towards them. Andrew followed close behind.
“John,” I screamed and saw him turning his head towards me. He had a mask covering his face and he looked really done in. But when he saw me his eyes were smiling. No one stopped me when I grabbed his hand.
“I am so glad you are alive,” I said, and he nodded, lightly squeezing my hand.
“We are taking him to the hospital,” the paramedic told me, and I stepped back so they could do their job.
I looked back at the store and felt so bad for all the books that got destroyed, all the hard work he had put into it. The fire was almost under control now and I stepped a bit closer to the entrance.
“Ava,” Andrew said and stopped me from going inside.
“Don’t you see it?” I asked and pointed into the store. He stepped a bit closer and then stiffened visibly when he saw what I meant. The wooden wall in the back of the store had the same message we’d seen twice before carved into it.
“We see you,” I whispered.
“We have to call the others,” Andrew said and dragged me away from the scene. I couldn’t believe that I almost got John killed and that made me really sick to my stomach. They would do anything to get me and it scared me to the bone.
“When will this stop?” I asked Andrew after he had called the other two.
“I don’t know, Ava. But we will protect you,” he said and pulled me into a hug. I tried to seek comfort from him, like I usually did. But I was just too scared now, so scared to lose everyone close to me. John was the first person they’d targeted who was someone close to me and he was so defenceless. They wanted to scare me, and they were succeeding.
I didn’t need protection; the people close to me needed protection. But how was I supposed to protect them if I didn’t even know who we were up against.
When Ryan and Sebastian reached us, they came with a group of police officers. The fire was out by now and the firefighters had started to clean up.
“Can you see who carved it?” I asked Sebastian, eager to know if this was the same person.
“It is the same man again,” he said, and I nodded. But it felt wrong to me. Why would that one person shoulder all these crimes in such a short period of time? Why were they so blatantly obvious about it and why weren’t they worried that they’d get caught?
But now we had high hopes of finding the man who was behind these crimes because we could now assume that they were close.
“I have to go to the hospital and see John,” I said after we’d looked at the scene closely, or at least at the areas we were allowed to look at.
“Let me drive you,” Andrew said, and I was already headed for the car. We were silent all the way to the hospital. I felt nervous and tense, I just wanted to make sure John was alright.
When I saw him lying the hospital bed my heart just dropped. I felt so guilty and responsible.
“John?” I said, unsure whether he was asleep or not.
“Good to see you, Avalynn,” he said and opened his eyes.
“How are you doing?” I asked and moved a chair next to his bed so that I could sit down. Andrew stayed at some distance, probably to give us some privacy.
“I am feeling fine,” he said and smiled.
“Are you sure?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Yes, I have some light smoke poisoning, but aside from that I am all good,” he said.
“I am sorry about your store,” I said and tried my best to push back the tears.
“Oh no, that’s not your fault. It was just a fire,” he said and patted my hand. I didn’t know whether I should tell him that it was indeed my fault or whether that would just stress him out too much. So I decided to say nothing about it.
“I am so happy that you survived,” I said.
“It will take more than that to finish me off,” he said, and I laughed. I wondered if he realised how lucky he had been that the firefighter had rescued him. But it was fine, he seemed to be in good spirits considering what had happened and that was all that counted for me at the moment. His eyes were closing now, and he seemed rather tired, so Andrew and I left the hospital with a lighter heart.
Chapter 24
“Do you think he is safe there?” I asked Andrew when we returned to the car.
“I think so. I don't think they will risk doing anything to him in the hospital. They wanted to scare you and they’ve achieved that already,” Andrew answered and eyed me with concern.
“I just can't be sure what they’ll do,” I said.
“If it makes you feel better, I can speak to my boss, maybe we can arrange that they’ll check up on him. If they haven't already planned that, since all the evidence shows that it has to do with the same case,” he said, and I nodded.
“Thank you,” I said.
“No need to thank me. It's my job to make sure others are safe,” he said. Now that he mentioned safety, I remembered the firefighter who went out of his way to save John.
“Do you think we can find out who that firefighter was so I can thank him properly?” I asked.
“I suppose he was working for the local fire department. We can try our luck there,” Andrew proposed.
“You don't have to come with me though, I don't want to bother you with that,” I said.
“You never bother me. And I’d rather have you close to me than having to worry about you,” he said, and a warm feeling spread through my body. I felt happy about his words, even though I wished that his worry didn’t have to feel so real.
“Can we go there right now, or do we need to go back to the office?” I asked.
“It's fine, Sebastian and Ryan are taking care of things over there. Besides you can take this opportunity to scan the area for our suspect,” Andrew said, and I nodded. Trying to find that man hadn't even crossed my mind because my thoughts had been so busy with everything else. But he was right, I should try to do my bit for the investigation as well.
“Let’s stop at the bakery. I don’t want to arrive there empty-handed,” I said. I saw Andrew nodding. I supposed I sounded rather demanding today, but I’d decided that I was allowed to be demanding right now.
After picking up some muffins, we went to the fire department in hopes of meeting the firefighter who had rescued John. For once in my life I was actually lucky, because when we arrived there, I already saw him outside. He looked up when we drove towards him and came to a stop a short way away from him. I felt somewhat nervous now, having acted so hysterically earlier.
I got out of the car and he approached me without hesitation.
“You are the girl from the fire,” he stated, and I nodded.
“What brings you here?” he asked. He didn’t sound unfriendly, just a bit reserved.
“I wanted to thank you for rescuing the man from the burning building,” I said and handed him the muffins. He smiled slightly.
“There are probably more than enough to share with the others, too,” I added.
“Thank you. We were just doing our job though,” he said.
“I am still grateful,” I replied.
“Well, why don’t you come in and we’ll eat these together?” he asked. I heard Andrew leave the car and join us.
“Your friend can join us too,” the firefighter said with a grin.
“Oh, sure I guess,” I said and looked at Andrew. He just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t look that amused but followed us anyway.
When we entered the fire house no one else was around.
“The others are still on their break,” the fireman stated.
“I see,” I said.
“My name is Thomas,” he said and sat down on one of the chairs.
“I am Avalynn and this is Andrew,” I said. Thomas nodded and handed us a muffin each before taking one himself.
We ate in silence and it felt really awkward. I hadn’t expected that it would end up like some kind of awkward lunch.
“There is one thing I wondered about though,” Thomas said.
“And that is?” I asked.
“How come you knew exactly where the old man was?” he asked, and I could feel the colour draining from my face. How was I supposed to explain that? I couldn’t really divulge that I’d heard him.
I was still trying to find the right words when Andrew stepped in.
“He is a good friend of the family and he’d told her earlier that he wanted to take a nap. He hadn’t been feeling well. I suppose it was really just a lucky guess,” Andrew said casually. Thomas didn’t really seem that convinced but nodded anyway.
“I see,” he said and eyed me with curiosity. I felt quite uncomfortable, almost as if he could see through the lie, just like Ryan could. But he wouldn’t have the same talent, right?
“Well, thanks for sharing the muffins, but we have to go now,” Andrew said and stood up.
“Thank you for bringing them over,” Thomas said. I only now realised how curious his eye colour was. A really light grey. Interesting.
Andrew had already started towards the exit before me.
“See you then,” I said, but before I could leave the house Thomas grabbed my arm and put a piece of paper in my hand.
“You might need this,” he said, looking serious. I didn’t know what he’d handed me, but for some reason I knew that he was right.
He let go of my arm and I quickly left the building and walked back to the car.
On our way to the office the atmosphere was weirdly tense, and I didn’t really get why.
“Are you alright?” I asked Andrew.
“I am fine,” he answered.
“You seem angry,” I said, and he shook his head.
“That Thomas person just seemed a bit odd to me,” Andrew said. I tightened my hand around the paper Thomas had handed me, very curious about what was written on it. But I felt I had to wait until I was alone to check it out. Not that I wanted to hide anything, but it just felt like I should keep it to myself.
“He seemed like a nice person to me,” I said, and Andrew arched an eyebrow.
“Did you judge him by his looks or by his melody?” he asked, and I realised with a shock that I hadn’t even picked up a melody while we were there. Andrew must have noticed my reaction.
“Figures,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, still unsettled because of the missing melody. Andrew sighed.
