“I want to stay.” She says, looking between me and the steps that lead up to the lofts and sleeping quarters. “Please.”
“Fine.” I grumble, dramatically rolling my eyes for her to see. “At least be by the front doors in case shit goes to shit.”
“Fine.” She says, sticking out her bottom lip in a exaggerated pout. “But can I throw the match?”
“What? No.”
“Fine. You’re no fun.”
I wait until she is safely in the front of the garage by the big rolling doors with easy access to outside and the bike, then run up the steps, making as much noise as possible, calling out to my brother and the captain.
“Guys, guys. Wake up, there’s a fire in the garage.”
I holler as I take the stairs two at a time, stopping on the landing at the top and pulling my lighter out of my pocket. With a quick flick and a minute of it held under the smoke detector, the alarms in the building sound off.
It’s only a matter of seconds before they both come running out of the bunkhouse, their night clothes on, and their eyes full of sleep.
“Hey. I just got in, thank God I did. It looks like we have a fire in ladder truck number two.”
“What the fuck.” Captain says, rubbing his sleepy face and brushing past me on the steps, forgoing the pole for safety reasons. He wouldn’t want to drop ass first into a fire if there really was one down there.
Just looking at them has me disgusted, and I’m so glad that so far everything is going as per my plan. The fucking assholes.
I motion for Marcus to go before me, and follow the two of them down the stairs, right on their heels to keep them from turning back. When we reach downstairs and they see that there is indeed no fire, they both turn to me, then look out towards the front, and see Phoenix standing there, her hands on her hips, her foot tapping impatiently on the floor.
The captain remains silent, but hangs his head and sighs, but Marcus, he instantly tries to backpedal.
“Dude, we didn’t mean anything by it. You have to believe us, we…”
“Shut the fuck up.” I growl at him, stepping towards him, lowering my gaze, darkening my glare at him.
He’s made fun of me for years telling me I’m a psychopath, and now he’s going to get to see that it is indeed true.
“We…I…”
“I said shut the fuck up!” I bark out, stepping forward again, making him back up closer to the middle of the vast room.
I can smell the gasoline on the floor and it’s drying enough that it’ll be more volatile than when it was a liquid pooling on the concrete. It’s not the wet part of the chemical that’s flammable, in fact if you drop a match in fuel, it’ll just go out. It’s the vapors that are combustible, and I can see the wheels turning in both their heads when they notice the odor.
“You’re not really gonna do this are you?” Captain finally says, running his hand over his balding head, looking at the floor then back up to me. “You’re gonna burn this place down because we lied to you?”
“I’m gonna burn it and you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Marcus spits at me, crossing his arms defiantly, but making his way towards our boss. “You don’t have the fucking balls.”
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Wow, that’s a good one.
“He does.” Phoenix says from her place by the doors. Her voice is level and calm and I couldn’t be prouder of her.
“I do dare, and I do have the balls. Much bigger balls than you could imagine.” I snicker, pulling my lighter back out and rolling the flint under my thumb. “I thought about slitting your throats like I did that guy in the park, but that was just so messy, and then you’d have to burn all the way to destroy the evidence of murder. So I’m just going to have to burn you to death, you know like the girls in the catacombs and tunnels.”
“That’s you?” The captain asks, moving to step towards me but backing right back up when I wave the lighter back and forth.
“Yep.” I say, popping the “P” and rocking back and forth on my heels. “But it’s your fault. I was upset that I thought my angel had died. You lied to me.”
“It was for your own good.”
“You fucking lied to me!” I scream, my voice echoing through the large garage making them both jump. “I thought she was dead. You lied to me!”
