The black and twisted remnants of her life lay scattered at her feet, not trusting herself to look at them she dimly looked out into the inky black abyss lying before her and let out the tears that she had in vain been attempting to hold back. What would happen to her now? At only the age of twenty-five, she’d lost the house she’d spent years turning into a home. As her tears steadily became shouts of agony; not any less that forty-five paces away stood a man of medium build who watched in pure guilt as the young woman walked through the rubble, each step obviously becoming harder to take than the one before. Without thinking twice, he found himself holding her head to his shoulder where, after a moment’s hesitation, she resumed weeping. He looked down surprised to find her hair damp with his own tears.
“You can stay with me.” The voice did not sound vaguely like his, but even in his out-of-body state that he had spoken the words. She nodded mutely, as though unsure of her voice. Once again, without uttering a sound she allowed herself to be ushered into the car and from there into the home of a complete stranger.
“You sit here, and I will get you something to drink.” Taking in the quiet simplicity of the room, from its beige walls to the laminate flooring, she allowed her brain to thaw out in order for her to think. She noted when the man came into the room and set the cup on the coffee table and when he sat down, with one half of his face invisible to her.
“Thank you.” Her voice scratchy and barely audible, she accepted the water and was silently grateful also for the man not commenting on her red eyes.
“I know it’s not any of my business, but would you mind telling me what happened?” For while she said nothing and did nothing, he immediately accepted it as a sign that she would not be telling her story, but then she cleared her throat, she put the cup down.
“Some idiotic guy decided that the best way to get back at my father would be through me, so they burnt down my home.” Her distress was obvious in her voice tone, and he couldn’t help but feel it too.
“Were you hurt in any way?” In response she lifted her left to arm show a small burn.
“It’s just a small burn.” In an attempt to brush it off, she jerked her arm away and further injured herself by smashing her elbow against the fireplace.
“You’re hurt and it’s never just a small burn.” Abruptly he dropped her arm and walked into the kitchen. Immediately taking offence, she drew her arm around her.
“Burns aren’t contagious you know!” Scoffing slightly he extended her arm and unravelled the roll of gauze; it was then that she got the first proper look at his face.
“What happened?” She gingerly lifted her right arm and touched the right side of his face; the side concealed by burn marks. Until he finished wrapping her arm, he didn’t utter a single sound, and when he did he didn’t say much.
“A fire is what happened.” Understanding that it was not the right moment for a sarcastic reply, she once again reached out gingerly to touch his face, but he recoiled and soundlessly got off the couch.
“Come on, I’ll show you to your room.” Slowly getting up from her position, she less readily followed him up the stairs and across the hallway into a bedroom. He bid her goodnight, and without giving her a chance to reply he bounded across the hall and into his own room. Turning away from the door, she looked around the room and smiled slightly on how homely the room was.
The teal colour of the walls and the warmth that seemed to be wafting off the bed was enough to let her realize just how tired she really was. Without thinking once again, she closed both eyes and fell asleep.
In the other room, Blaise Sparrows lay awake watching the still-busy streets, with his thoughts on the woman he’d had compassion for. How could he not, after being in the same position only four years ago? With the thought of the busy day ahead of him tomorrow, his eyes drooped and he slowly fell into a comfortable stupor.
What to him felt like an hour later, he was woken by the gentle jostling of feminine hands and a soft voice repeating the words “Rise and shine Mr. Sleepy Head!” No longer able to ignore it, he opened an eye and his overly bright room came into view.
“Come on, it’s time for breakfast!” Glancing at his alarm clock, his mood did not improve the slightest.
“Who has breakfast at six-thirty in the morning?”
“It’s never too early to start the day right.” Keeping his objections to that statement under his tongue, he crudely made his way out of bed and down the stairs. What meet his eyes when he got into the kitchen surprised him.
“Do you want coffee or tea?” Still dumbfounded his only reply was to point to the coffee machine. Slowly, he found a seat at the kitchen table and watched her bound around, and suddenly remembered something important.
“Sorry, I forgot to ask you what your name was!” She stopped her humming and turned around long enough to give a look of surprise before replying.
“My name is Felicity Waters, and yours is?”
“Blaise Sparrows, but you can call me James Bond.” Her musical laughter rang out through the kitchen, but stopped abruptly when he brought a bagel to his mouth.
“Do not eat that bagel mister!”
“Why? Is there something wrong with it?”
“No, you forgot to say grace!” For a few silent moments, he stared at her as though she were crazy.
“Is that why I’m not allowed to eat my bagel,” She nodded vigorously, “but what if I was an atheist?”
“Then you would have told me so immediately after I told you to say grace, not two minutes afterwards.” After opening his mouth several times as though trying to come up with a retort, Felicity glided to where he was sitting and made the sign of the cross with his hands.
“You know today I feel like praying the ‘Our Father’, don’t you?” He felt like saying many things at that moment, but strangely enough none of them were the ‘Our Father’ prayer.
“Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name…”
“There, that didn’t kill you now did it?”
“I’m sorry, what do you do?”
“I work at a preschool, with the cutest little honeybunches in the world.” Her eyes lit up, and her smile widened.
“That is the first thing that has made sense all morning.”
“Why is that exactly?”
“Well, you preschool teachers always seem to have swallowed a bucket of sunshine, and you are by no means an exception to that.”
“How…?” The curiosity was evident on her face.
“Well, for starters you just lost your home and you’re skipping about making breakfast.” An approving smile flashed across her features.
“I try not to let small problems ruin my life.”
“But, losing your house isn’t a small problem.”
“I know, but with or without my house my life goes on. Besides a complete stranger accepted me in my darkest hour, how can I not be cheerful?” Blaise continued to stare at the redhead sitting quaintly on the counter; and couldn’t help but smile as well.
“Well, if you’re happy I’m happy.” Smiling sweetly, she walked over and put the bagel back in his hand.
“You have to eat something.” Nodding slightly as he began to eat his bagel, another important thought popped into his head.
“What time do you have to be at work by?”
“It’s Friday, so I don’t have to be at work until twelve.”
“Do you have any money with you?”
“No, but I get paid today after my shift.”
“Do you have any clothes to change into?” Her happy smile turned slightly uncomfortable as she shook her head no. Reaching into his pocket he fished out a fifty dollar bill, which she predictably declined.
“No, I’m serious think about it as a thank you for making breakfast.”
“Breakfast was a thank you for helping me.”
“I was only doing what anybody with human emotions would do.”
“Just like making breakfast.” Blaise sighed and looked straight into the electric blue eyes of the mild tempered woman in front of him. Getting up from the counter and shaking his shaggy hair away from his eyes he stood level with her, blue meeting green, and as delicately as possible put the fifty dollar bill into her hand. Eventually she sighed and picked it up.
“I’ll pay you back!”
“No you won’t, it’s a treat, so take it.” Sliding off the counter, she reached across the table and taking a pen and paper.
“I need to know what your cell number is so I can call you if I need to.”
‘Oh, it’s six four seven…”
A few hours later, at exactly 1:24 pm on a Friday Blaise was, by all means of the word, happy. So happy in fact that he after a few moments deliberation put down his sandwich and said half the “Our Father” before realizing how ridiculous he must look. He was having such a great day that even the very non-work related conversation his assistant was having didn’t faze him.
A couple blocks down, Felicity on the other hand was having a considerably not great day. Only minutes ago she’d freaked out thinking she’d lost a kid, only to find him eating sand. Now here she was grasping her mysteriously stubbed toe while sitting in the bathroom trying to recollect her thoughts.
No matter any which way she directed her stream of thought, it always ended up back on Blaise and his scarred face. Not that it scared her or anything, she wasn’t a believer in judging a book by its cover, she just wanted to know how he’d gotten it and if it caused him pain. However, after seeing his cold reaction the night before, she wasn’t about to go bounding to his office to ask him.
Gathering up her courage, she went back outside and braced herself. Today, she was finding it hard to be her cheerful self, she had guessed it most likely had to do with losing her home, but as she was trying not to think about it, this incredulous epiphany was doing her no good whatsoever. Realizing with a pang that her shift was over, she signed out and headed for the door. When she finally reached Blaise’s house, it was then she realized that she did not have a key. Fishing her cellphone out from her pocket and dialing Blaise and letting him know about her predicament, she decided that it would be a great time to go grocery shopping with part of her payroll. After buying enough groceries to feed a family of four for five days, she headed back to the house only to find nobody there. Deciding that he was probably held up somewhere, she plopped down on a porch chair and began playing video games on her phone.
By the time he was finally able to reach home it was almost eight thirty, and Felicity had fallen asleep. Careful not to wake her up he brought the groceries inside then carried her up the stairs bridal style all the while admiring the carefree expression on the sleeping beauty.
After putting her in bed, he turned suddenly tired from the day’s excursions.
“Wait!” He turned to face the sleepy red-head.
“Yes Felicity?”
“Did you get the groceries?”
“Yes.”
“Good. So then how was your day?” Chuckling to himself before heading out the door.