The day I realised

January 26th 2018. That date would forever be etched into my memory. 

The flames grew wilder. The sweat and tears running down my face trickled faster. The shouts and screams grew weaker. I tried to save them. I really did. The night of the fire would forever be etched into my memory.

We don’t know who started it and we don’t know the reason behind it. What I did know however was that it took out my whole family. My parents, my siblings, my grandparents. It was supposed to have been a memorable day for it was my grandpa’s 80th birthday you see. It was supposed to be a memory full of joy but now; now it was a memory full of grief. Full of sadness. We also knew what had started the fire. A clue engraved in my mind. It was a candle.

You might be wondering who “We’ are. That would be my aunt and I. The only survivors of the fire. How we both managed to escape was a nothing short of a miracle but then again what kind of miracle involves your whole family dying. Tragic isn’t it. Don’t feel sorry for me. This isn’t meant to be a tragedy after all. This is a mystery. A mystery that my aunt and I are going to solve. Together. 

The authorities did not do their job well. They simply named it as an accident and called it a day. My aunt and I on the other hand are driven by our love for our family. She inherited my grandpa’s inheritance so we have the resources to solve this for I believed this was no accident. Why do I think so? Well for starters, we don’t own any candles.

Perhaps, it was a gift from one of my grandpa’s friends for his birthday and he decided to bring it over to share with us. Perhaps. Or as my theory goes, it was placed there by an intruder of some sorts, planting fake evidence. We managed to retrieve the candle back from the authorities but the only lead we had was a label on the candle reading ‘Pine Scent’ from ‘Aaron’s Candle Empire’. However, 2 years have passed and nothing. No further clues. No further leads. No further hope. Well at least, no further hope from my aunt. I however clung onto the last bit of hope I had. 

For 2 years I searched through ‘Aaron’s Candle Empire’ records. I got myself a job there and often used my breaks to comb through records of pine scented candles bought in the last 5 years. I still had records from 2012 to go through. 2012,2011,2010. 3 years of records left for an 8 years durability candle. I still had hope. Hope. I had to find out who did this. Who killed my family. Why they killed my family. 

*Fast forward 3 months*

A few months sped by just like that. Any dash of hope I had left gone just like that. There was nothing left. In the span of 8 years, 618 people bought pine candles. I tried to find links and connect them to my family. Anything worthy of bringing to the authorities to try and get them to open the investigation. Nothing. Perhaps I was looking about this the wrong way. I wasn’t sure what to do anymore. Heck, I had been at the list of people for ages and I wasn’t even sure what the date was. I wasn’t sure about many things. Was the pine scented candle really planted as fake evidence? Was my family’s death an accident? Perhaps, a fresh perspective would do me some good. I brought out my microscope set I had received a few years back from my aunt for my birthday and swabbed a piece of the candle. Maybe, I should not have been looking at the container of the candle. Maybe, I should have been looking at the contents of the candle. 

I wiped the sample onto the slide and slid it under the microscope. If having worked at a candle empire for 2 years had taught me anything, it was how to identify Aaron’s Empire’s candles and this was definitely not an Aaron’s Empire candle. It could have been that the candle had aged but I looked up pictures of the candle from the news article of that night. They were definitely different. The texture of the candle was more gooey compared to an Aaron’s Empire candle and the colouring was slightly off. It was difficult to tell but it simply wasn’t the same. My eyes grew wide as my hands flew over the keyboard printing out pictures from that night and pictures of a real Aaron’s Candle in comparison. Grabbing my phone and sheets of evidence, I made my way to the police station, tension hanging thick in the air. My first real lead. My first big useful lead.

“…So you see, my theory is that someone must have placed a handmade candle or a candle from somewhere else into this empty Aaron’s Empire candle cup. It’s real evidence! This is proof that it was planted there and it was fake evidence. My family’s death was no accident.” I elaborated, pointing out the difference between the candles. The police officer nodded his head slowly in agreement but a stern expression still remained on his face. “Ma’am I completely understand where you’re going with this but mind you this case has been closed for 2 years and this evidence may be insufficient,” he explained. “But this means you can open the case again right?” I pondered. He nodded his head again and my heart raced with relief. Tears blurred the image of him standing up to see me out and I simply shook his hand as a form of thanks. My family. We could finally find the killer. They could finally be at peace. 

The journey home was full of thoughts running wild in my head but as soon as I unlocked the stairs and walked up the stairs my aunt’s room to tell her the good news, a sense of worry ran over me. What if they were still unable to find the killer? Perhaps, this clue was not as big as I thought it was? Pushing open my aunt’s door, I took a peep around to tell her the good news. Unfortunate as it seems, she wasn’t there. However, the top drawer of her sock cabinet was open. Pushing the door open wider, I trotted inside, extending my arm to close the drawer for her.

That was when it caught my eye. That was the day I realised. April 27th 2020. 

A single slip of paper laid torn into smaller pieces, littered over the top layer of socks. Picking them up, I realised that the paper had words on it. A few were faded but still remained illiterate. Piecing the slips together, a few words were formed. 

November 4th 2008. Aaron’s Candle Empire. Item bought : Pine candle $22.18.

It was her. She was the one who killed my family. My aunt was the one who killed my family. The only family member I had left betrayed me.