When The Smoke Clears

“Was it you?” 

She remained silent

“Hey! I asked you a question, did you do it or not?”

Malia’s body stiffened, staring off into the distance, more silence followed.

“It had to have been you. No one else had access to the house except for you. Why? Why’d you, do it?”

Her gaze remained unbothered, like for that split second, she was deaf, and the words spoken around her were not registering in her mind. But with each second of silence that passed, only made Emily’s anger grow. With a quick scoff and look of disgust Emily took a long stride towards Malia determined to get what looked to be a more physical response to her questions. But by Malia’s reflexes anticipating the movement, she got up from the ground first and backed away quickly, now forcing direct eye contact with Emily. The two stopped, now in a head on stance. Malia’s eyes remained on Emily until the sound of branches cracking in the distance made them shift to the rest of the group joining them. 

“Hey! What are you guys doing up here? I thought you were staying in the house” A voice bounced off the trees

Without breaking the glaring stare, Emily responded with a mockingly sharp tone. “There is no house Ryan”

The steps approaching came to a stop finally meeting them. “What? No house, what do you mean no house? The house is up there Em”

Emily shook her head. “Go ahead, see for yourself it’s probably still up in flames thanks to master arsonist over here”

All eyes landed on Malia, still stunned with silence. Just then another voice took the floor. 

“What are you talking about, what arson? The house is,” With a pause in his sentence Dominic looked up beyond the groups’ heads to see smoke above the tree line. His movement made the rest of them look up in synchrony. After a long pause of silence Dominic continued his sentence this time with more of a monotone voice. 

“How did this happen?” A sarcastic chuckle spewed from Emily, making all eyes land on her.

“Oh, just go ahead and ask Malia guys, I’m sure she would love to tell you how she destroyed our only chance of survival out here, right Malia” With everyone’s gaze now burning into Malia’s exterior she began to feel the effects of all that had just occurred. But before she could muster up the courage to finally speak, Dominic took a step towards her first.

“Malia, are you hurt anywhere? Were you guys inside when it caught on fire?” He grabbed her elbow with a cautious yet tender grasp. Malia looked up at him with scared, doe eyes that were on the verge of tears. Once again, before being able to speak for herself Malia was cut short again this time by a very aggravated Emily.

“Are you kidding me Dominic, you're going to make sure she is ok after she was the one who lit up the house! That was probably the only house that we have found for how many miles of being in the middle of nowhere. The sun is about to go down, animals are going to start coming out”

“You don’t know that Malia caused the fire” Dominic projected in a defensive tone.

“She doesn’t exactly seem to be denying the thought, is she Dominic? No one else could have started it. I left her alone there for two seconds to try and look for supplies and she managed to burn our only source of shelter and safety for the night. But instead of saying literally anything all she does is sit there not saying a single damn word to defend herself or even explain what happened so what else are we supposed to think huh?” Emily was practically screaming now, Ryan tried to comfort her but to no avail.

The air in Malia’s lungs was tense and heavy, she couldn’t determine if her lightheadedness was due to the smoke from the fire, or from their lack of food. The sternness of Dominic’s strong grip on her shoulders seemed to be calming her enough to finally speak.

“I didn’t, I didn’t start the fire” Malia spoke in almost a whisper. 

“Oh!” Emily started “So she speaks, thank you so much for finally joining us Malia”

“Shut up and let her speak Emily” Dominic was getting annoyed. “Tell me what happened hm?” Dominic's eyes made Malia feel safe. He comforted her while brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

“We weren’t alone in there, in the house” Malia words felt like they were getting trapped in her throat, making it harder to talk without tears gathering. A look of concern began to grow in Dominic’s gaze.

“I told you we shouldn’t have split up in there Em, you said you wanted to look for a shed to see if there was wood to burn and disappeared. I was in the house alone. Then I heard footsteps, I thought it was you, or the guys but it wasn’t. There was a man in there and I.” Her words got caught in her throat and she couldn’t get them out without dropping to the ground in tears, which was the last thing Malia wanted. She wanted them to know what happened, but she didn’t want them to see her cry. Everyone’s mood had completely changed after hearing the distress in Malia’s voice. Dominic’s gentle grasp turned into a more protective grip on her shoulders as he turned Malia’s body to face his. His voice was tempered, and his eyes studied her expression as if he was trying to see what Malia saw by staring aggressively into her gaze.

“A man? What did he do, did he try to hurt you” Dominic tried to keep his calm, but he couldn’t help but think that it was his fault for leaving her alone. He shouldn’t have left her alone.

“Was the man the owner of the house, Malia?” Ryan asked as if for some reason it mattered now. Malia took a deep breath before trying to answer again.

“He didn’t look like he lived there, and he looked just as startled as I was to see anyone there. He was messy, as if he had been lost out here too. I tried to talk to him, but he was coming towards me with a lighter in his hands, and the kitchen. It had already smelled like gas when I went in there which means he or someone must have turned on the stove and left it on. I tried to run or call for Em but no one else was there. I ran out the house, but when I turned around, he wasn’t behind me. Then I heard a loud noise from the kitchen and saw the flames. By the time I saw Emily, I just knew we needed to run before the house blew up with us near it.” Malia could no longer fight the urge to cry. Her tears felt so warm as they streamed down her cold cheek. She was practically shaking either from fear or from the cold. Dominic pulled her close now an even stronger embrace. 

“I’m sorry, I should have never left you alone,” Dominic admitted. 

Emily’s face turned red, tears beginning to cloud her vision as the new reality of their situation settled into her thoughts. A short pause passed and before long a gust of wind seemed to spark an idea in Ryan.

“Ok, ok maybe this isn’t as terrible right, I mean look” Ryan staggered while pointing to the sky where the group could now very visibly see the cloud of smoke. 

“Maybe someone will see the smoke from the house and have to come check it out, they’ll find us here, we just have to wait it out right.” Ryan stammered looking around trying to get some slight ounce of agreement from one of them. 

“That's true, we should stay close to this area in case someone comes to the house but far enough away to not be in danger of the fire.” Dominic declared while still coddling Malia tightly. Malia hearing everything remained silent once again, she couldn’t stop thinking about the man. Where did he go? Was he in the house still? Was he able to get out? Was he lost too? Were they all bound to end up like him? Was he even still alive?

So many thoughts paired with so little energy was beginning to make her head ache. It was in all of their best interests to just wait it out. Wait for someone to find them and wait for a miracle to happen. Afraid to move too far, they settled comfortably to an area not far from where they could still see smoke. As the sun descended from the sky, the night’s darkness soon joined them along with the cold wind that sang through the trees. Hours of silence passed, Malia still in the arms of Dominic who occasionally tried to whisper in her to try and get some sleep. But how could she, when each time she heard the sound of a leaf hitting the ground, or a branch breaking in the distance it made her jump. Until finally she heard a different kind of noise, one that didn’t sound like something a forest would make. Her head shot up in the direction of lights through the trees. Malia couldn’t contain her emotion when the fluorescent lights seemed to be getting closer towards them.

“Dom, Dom, Dominic get up” Malia staggered while patting him, waking the rest of the group.

Her breath hitched, and a tear streamed down her cold cheek once again this time with an exhausted smirk on her face secretly thanking the man who started the fire and ultimately ended their suffering.