Darker Than Sin (BoyxBoy) Book 2

Chapter 15

A week later

James

He hasn't left the guest room since everything happened.

Nothing in the house was salvageable, including all of Avery's things and the altar he had in his bedroom. The fire took ages to die down and almost caused a forest fire- which didn't really make sense. They ruled it out as a kitchen accident and didn't really go any farther with it because there wasn't anything left to the house besides ruins and ashes.

We went back the next day to see everything once it died down. Avery just had this blank stare in his eyes and he wouldn't look at me... or anybody for that matter. His eyes had this darker tint in them and it looked like he didn't sleep that night.

''You can look through it if you want. We tried to go through all of it, but there really isn't anything...'' The cop said to my Papa. This cop was different from the one last night- he wasn't as sympathetic towards Avery at all. He kept looking at the three of us with this look in his eyes that screamed 'God, these guys look like Satanists!'

''This kid just lost his parents. How about you get your sorry ass over to that house and look in there for him?'' He snapped. The cop scoffed at his words, looking over to the pile of ruins with disapproval.

''I don't see any house there, sir.''

''Now how the fuck do you think that's alright to say? This is why I don't like you guys. You always have some smart shit to say-''

''Gabriel, don't worry about it. He's not worth it.'' He mumbled to him before walking over to what used to be his home. He had this expression that I never really saw from him before... It just felt cold. I can usually feel this radiating love from him for everyone around him and everything he touches, but now he just felt distant.

Like he didn't trust the world anymore.

My Papa eventually went over beside him and began digging through the piles of rubble. Avery just stood with his arms pressed firmly against his chest, like he didn't really care if they found anything or not.

''I shouldn't even let you guys do this in the first place...'' The cop mumbled to me. ''The fire only happened last night, there might be evidence in that pile.'' He said. I furrowed my eyebrows at his words, meeting eyes with his tired ones.

''Of what? They just ruled it out as a kitchen fire. They aren't coming back here to investigate.'' I said to him. He shook his head at my words, letting out a deep sigh before taking a sip of his coffee.

''No kitchen fire would make a fire that big. That fire almost set the neighbor's houses on fire and the trees, you know. Someone did that on purpose.'' He said.

''It's all rubble. I don't think there's anything in there.'' I mumbled. He shrugged his shoulders before placing his coffee down beside him, rolling up his sleeves before walking over to the pile of rubble.

''Come on. I'll look one more time in there... not like I have anything else better to do.''

The three of us went through everything while Avery watched from a distance. There wasn't really anything besides a ton of broken glass and torn-up garments that weren't wearable at all.

''Curly, go give these to Avery.'' My Papa said to me, breaking me out of the fog my head I've been in since last night. They were crystals that were covered in debris, but my Papa tried his best to clean them off in his dirty hands.