Until We Burn_A Psychological Thriller Read online

  Pastor Keener shook his head. “I’m sorry, Cyrus. It’s just… you were gone for so long. The town wasn’t the same without you, and now people here… they see you as a traitor. But I understand. And I’ll do my best to get you what you need.”

  Cyrus nodded and sat back down. “Good. These people need closure.”

  “They only want to forget.” The pastor shifted for a moment, an awkward silence between them, before he made his way to the door. “Oh, by the way?”

  Cyrus turned in the chair to stare at him. “What is it?”

  “We found a note with this body. I think it… would be of interest to you.”

  The pastor pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen a couple of times. “I sent you a picture. Good luck. Stay safe. Satan truly has besieged our town this week.”

  When the front door shut, Will came running in from the kitchen. He jumped onto the couch beside Cyrus, staring intently at his phone.

  “Eager, much?” Cyrus grinned.

  “I’m curious.” Will fidgeted, tapping on the cushions. “So… did you use to live here?”

  “I did.” Cyrus held his phone up in the air, muttering something about bad Wi-Fi.

  “Why did you move away?”

  “The fire. Everything changed for me after the fire. The pastor was right, in a sense. Nobody here wants closure. They want to hide whatever happened. They’re keeping a secret from me, and from you younger generation that can’t remember it.”

  Will stared at him blankly. “Did you feel scared? Like whoever did it would strike again, or something?”

  Cyrus shook his head. “I was never scared of the arsonist. I was scared of the town in general. They went mad afterwards. Absolutely insane. I lost everything in that fire, and in the years that followed. Only recently have I gotten back on track with my life. And now I need to know who started it, fifteen years ago. Because whoever burned the church burned my whole life down with it. And I can’t remember a thing.”

  “You lost something, you said. What?”

  “Why?”

  The questions hung in the air, neither of them wanting to press farther. Instead, they both turned their attention to the phone, where the pastor’s message had finally come through. On the screen was a small sheet of paper, torn from a tiny notebook. The handwriting was sloppy, and unrecognizable, almost unreadable.

  I hope you didn’t forget about me. It’s been fifteen years, fifteen long years. But I’m excited to play our game again.

  I hope you’re ready. Cyrus.

  “He knows you?” Will asked, his mouth agape.

  “He does.” Cyrus put the phone down and held his face in his hands. “I need to remember him.”

  “What… what you said about not trusting people… is that true?”

  Cyrus chuckled softly. “Not at all. I’m a normal person like you. Maybe a bit… damaged, but normal still. I just wanted the pastor off my back.”

  “So you have been spying on people? Your neighbors?”

  Cyrus raised his head a fraction to stare at Will, eye-to-eye. “Yes. Everybody in town. I’ve been watching them all.”

  “Me? Zada?”

  "Yep.”

  “Did you… were you following us Friday? I thought I saw someone in an alley, but…”

  Cyrus shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. You sure you saw something?”

  Will shrugged. “I mean, I thought, but-”

  “We need to act quickly then.” Cyrus stood up from the couch and began to pace around the room. “When can you see Zada next?”

  “Well, basically whenever. Our parents trust us and have no idae we’re together, so we can-”

  “Good. Good. Freedom is good. So would you be willing to help me? From time to time.”

  “Help you?” Will stood up as well. “With what? Both of us? How-?”

  “Yes, Will, both of you. I need your help with some… people.” Cyrus started rubbing his chin again. “Just some favors, every now and then. I’ll count it as your work for the day, so don’t worry about being too busy.”

  “Oh, I’m not too busy. I’m never busy.” A smile began to spread across Will’s face. “So we’re like spy-?”

  “Don’t be a four-year old.” The older man chuckled.

  “But I can seriously help you?”

  Cyrus gave him an annoyed expression. “Yes. Occasionally.”

  “That’s… pretty cool.” Will’s grin was even wider. “When can I start?”

  “Ask Zada first. See if she’s willing to get involved.”

  “Oh, she will be.”

  Chapter 10

  Repentance

  Will approached the basketball area warily, a small patch of grass separating it from the public pool. There was a goal on each end, and a rough slab between that they called a court. An unrelenting and unwelcoming mass, the granite was the stuff of his nightmares. He stood in an awkward stance beside it, his feet resting in the soft grass. A tall tree overhead, reaching out over him, gave the court some semblance of shade. It felt like a hand trying to draw him back, away from… them.

  Nine boys were on the court. Sweaty, muscular, tanned, with the kind of looks that made any high school girl squeal with delight; they were everything he was not. Their eyes were all different shades of brown, some mysterious, others full of danger. There wasn’t anything he could do but watch.

  Zada ran up and down the court beside them, just as athletic and twice as fast. She zipped between them, finishing at the rim with a graceful yet complicated bucket, before jogging down backwards, out of breath. With a cut-off shirt, her skin slickened with sweat, Will’s eyes went immediately to her and stayed there. She was the most comfortable thing about this court, and the most attractive.

  “Nice shot,” one of the guys called, running up to give her a high-five.

  Zada glared at him and turned away to play defense. Will grinned a hair.

  “Hey Zade, your boyfriend’s here,” another teenage boy yelled, one of the biggest there. “Well, you know, besides me, hot a-”

  “He is my boyfriend.” Zada turned to him. “You are not, never will be.”

  “Ah, whatever.” He winked. “I don’t wanna be your boyfriend anyways. I just want that body.”

  Zada stepped up to him, and he smiled. With one quick movement, she jerked her knee up and landed it in his crotch, harshly. The boy doubled over on the ground, coughing, while she turned away with a satisfied chuckle.

  “That’s the only part of me you’ll get,” she called out. “See you all tomorrow. If he can play, anyways.”

  She took Will’s hand and led him away from the basketball court, towards the sidewalk. He held it tightly, not minding the sweat that ran down her arms and onto his.

  “Why do you put up with them?” he asked sheepishly. “They’re so… rude. And… I just don’t like them.”

  “I like basketball,” she said. “None of the girls here will play, so I have to play with them.”

  “But they all… look at you.”

  Zada stopped and turned to face him. “Will. Don’t worry.” She kissed him gently on the cheek. “I can deal with them. Didn’t you see? I got him pretty good, this time.”

  “This time?”

  She nodded, and began walking again, towards Main Street. “Yeah, that’s not the first time. Won’t be the last. He’ll regret it one of these days.”

  Will shook his head but didn’t say anything else. Zada wanted the subject to drop, and he didn’t want to bring it up again.

  “So where we going?” he asked awkwardly, as they turned left on Main Street.

  She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know? I was just following your lead.”

  “Oh.”

  “Why’d you come down here?” Zada asked. “You always avoid the basketball court.”

  “Because I’m sick of them! And people trying to get me to play.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I know, you told me. Many times.”

  Will felt his chest
seize up. He hated losing his temper and snapping at her, even more than when she lost it with him.

  “I came to talk to you about Mr. Streett.”

  “Your boss?”

  Will nodded. He fidgeted with his pocket and kept his eyes on the ground. “Yeah, he… has an odd request for us.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, there’s a couple favors, actually.” Will’s tone brightened. “But I get paid! And it’s gonna be really exciting, I think. Probably dangerous.”

  “Yeah, that really sounds like you,” she said with more than enough sarcasm. “What kind of stuff is this? Something illegal?”

  “What kind of person do you think he is?” Will ran a hand through his hair. “Nothing illegal, I’m sure. Just… secretive.”

  “When are we gonna find out?” she asked. “Soon?”

  “Tonight,” Will answered. “He’s gonna let me know later, and tomorrow we’ll do whatever he needs. Do you think we can go out tomorrow night?”

  “Like on a date?”

  Will grinned. “Maybe a date, or maybe a mission.”

  “We aren’t spies.” She rolled her eyes, but smirked as well. “We’re only doing dangerous, illegal things for an old guy we know nothing about.”

  “I know he pays well,” Will pointed out. “And I know it’s more exciting than anything else in this town.”

  Zada threw her arms around him desperately as they stopped outside a diner. She kissed him, and mumbled something about being sorry. Will kissed her hair and said he didn’t mind.

  From inside the building, a dark figure stared at them. There was an untouched drink on the table in front of him, and a gun holstered on his hip.

  <><><><><><>

  Trees swung in the gentle wind as Will and Zada held hands under the vast canopy. Raindrops fell down on them, broken up and dashed apart by the leaves. Glittering overhead, sparkling with the water.

  Underneath their feet, the soil was damp and patches of mud kept them alert. Tree roots sprung up randomly, while they stepped around and over any obstacles. Will kept his eyes on the trail ahead of them, casting sideways glances at Zada from time to time.

  “It’s been a while since we came out here,” he said quietly, almost a whisper.

  She smiled. “I missed it.”

  Will kicked at a puddle, spraying water in front of them. Zada kept walking, not breaking her stride.

  “What’s that area up there?” she asked, pointing to a clearing up ahead. “It’s been so long. When did our parents bring us here last?”

  “Six or seven years ago.”

  Just past the trees, a small expanse of grass appeared, with no buildings. Each blade reached almost up to their waists. Rain poured down in sheets, outside of the forest’s umbrella. There was silence beyond the trees, with no sign that life had ever existed there. A large, ancient pile of bricks sat barely visible, hidden by the grass layers and covered with dirt, years.

  “I think that’s where the church used to be, before it burnt down,” Will said. “I’m not for sure. Just guessing. Nothing else has ever been out here.”

  “You think it’s safe?”

  He shrugged. “We’ll probably get chiggers, but besides that yeah.”

  She glanced at his legs. “We both have jeans on, though. So we should be fine.”

  “We’ll see. At least I know how to get rid of them if we do become infested with tiny, flesh-eating creatures.”

  Zada grimaced. “When you put it like that…”

  Will shook his head, pulling her onwards by the hand. The boundary of the field was unnatural. One moment, there was soil underneath and trees overhead. And then, in a flash, that was replaced with waist-high grass and a leaky sky above. The forest was nothing but a memory, as Will set his eyes ahead and took high steps through the forgotten field.

  “This is like a different world out here,” Zada said.

  Will glanced around him, drinking it all in. Thirty feet to the left, he could see the road, and a small, yellow sign across it. The old church ruins lay in front of them, piles and piles of scorched bricks.

  “Nobody ever comes near here,” Will pointed out. “It’s almost like they avoid it at all costs.”

  “Have you ever been down that road?” Zada asked him.

  Will shook his head. “I’ve never been out of town. Not in my entire life.”

  “Me either, really.” Zada stuck out her tongue to catch a raindrop and laughed. Then she went on. “I’m not sure when was the last time anybody left our town.”

  “Probably fifteen years ago,” Will said.

  “I heard something really weird the other day,” Zada continued the conversation as they trekked through the field. “You know that guy who owns like everywhere in town?”

  “Dumpy?”

  She nodded. “I heard he lost his wife in the fire. And then the pastor, he almost died. The old one actually did pass away, his dad.”

  “I’m surprised you know that,” Will grinned. “I thought I was the only bookworm in town.”

  “I got it reading newspapers from back then. They have a ton at the library.”

  “Same here.”

  They reached the bricks finally, and Will ran a hand over the grimy surface. “These are so weird. I can’t believe they haven’t… broken down or something.”

  “I’m not sure what happens to bricks,” Zada said. “I’m not a science geek like you.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know either?”

  “Oh.” She chuckled. “Alright then.”

  “We used to have bricks at my home, and I’d throw them at the barn wall.” Will smiled, staring across the field into a different time. “I got in trouble once when one went through the wood. I guess it was an old barn, rotted out.”

  “Did you lose anyone in the fire?” Zada asked, ignoring his story.

  “I was only two or three,” Will said.

  “So was I. But I lost my grandpa. He was the last grandparent left. I still remember him, I think. I’m not sure if it’s memories or… dreams.”

  Will put an arm around her quietly. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve lost anybody, really. I’ve been lucky.”

  “Yeah,” she mumbled. “You have.”

  “There’s so many secrets in this town,” Will pondered. His eyes locked onto one brick in particular. There was a phrase on the side of it, scratched into the crumbling brick like with a knife or a nail. Only a few words, but enough to shake him.

  “What are you looking at, babe?”

  He shook his head and led her back away from the wreckage. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”

  Chapter 11

  Cyrus and the Future

  *Years Ago*

  “I broke up with Adam yesterday,” Ophelia said, letting her hand swing dangerously close to his as they strolled down the sidewalk together.

  “You did what?” Cyrus couldn’t contain his shock, or his excitement. “I thought… I thought you too were, like, the school’s celebrity couple?”

  Their houses were only separated by a block, now that she’d moved in with one of her best friends. As soon as she turned 18, she’d packed up, run away from her dad’s, and started sleeping on her best friend’s couch. Her friend’s mother had gone along with it, even stood up to Ophelia’s dad at one point when he came looking. There was no chance of that now, though. He was in jail. After Ophelia’s testimony, and after a few weeks of investigation by the police, he’d been arrested for sexual assault, abuse both physical and verbal, and ultimately sentenced to prison for many, many years, someplace far away. That’s how it should be.

  That night, when they took him away, her and Cyrus had stayed at the nearby park until three in the morning, just talking. She opened herself in a way he’d never seen before, admitted doing things that he could never have imagined. After some of the things she said about Adam, Cyrus had gone cold towards him. That kind of person could never be his friend, would never be.

  Bu
t, in return, he’d admitted things to her. Dark thoughts he had, and the problem with alcohol, after he found some in his dad’s bedroom one night. He could usually get it across town at the really shady bar, and so he’d developed an addiction that he was still struggling to fight off. That’s not all he said, though. The words, “I love you” rolled off his tongue at one point, in the midst of his tears, and they both sat there in quiet, neither daring to speak.

  Then she wrapped both arms around him, just like she had in the car nearly two years ago, and she kissed the side of his head, whispering in his ear. “Things are going to change soon, Cyrus. For both of us. Just trust me.”

  That was weeks earlier, and now things had certainly changed. She was single, they were closer than ever, and he knew what was coming next. But the consequences? Those were up in the air.

  “I told him I couldn’t date him anymore,” she said, her face lighting up. A shiver ran through her body, and she burst out laughing. “God, I haven’t felt this happy in… a long time.”

  “How did he take it?” Cyrus asked.

  “Pretty much as badly as possible. He almost hit me, actually. I was gonna kick him in the balls if he did, not that he has any. Any man who beats up his girlfriend or his wife is a wimp, as far as I’m concerned. And a jerk.”

  Cyrus put an arm around her shoulder, letting it hang loosely, in a way that was more friendly than romantic.

  “I’m really glad I did it.” She reached up and took his hand off her shoulder.

  He flinched, pulling it back. “Sorry, I didn’t-”

  “No, not that.” She grabbed his hand and held it, letting the connection drop to their sides. A strange sensation flew up his body and through every inch of his skin, while she seemed relatively unphased.

  “He never texted me about it,” Cyrus said thoughtfully. “I wonder if he’s mad at me. Thinks I’m stealing his girlfriend or something.”

  “Well…” Ophelia stopped, moving to stand in front of him and held both arms around his neck. “I wouldn’t mind if you stole me.”

  “You look very stealable.”