Crimson Flame

eight

The intense heat of the sun soaks deeply into my skin, making a thin layer of sweat coat my back and forehead.

With my eyes closed, I can easily hear all of the sounds of nature surrounding me. From the sound of the wind swaying the trees to the birds chirping in the far distance. The smell of the flowers surrounding the pond on the far side of my property fills my senses, making me relax from all the stress of earlier.

I sit myself up on my elbows and look down at the blue pond, the rings from my ducks swimming around rippling across the water. There are three ducks that always stick around and it's gotten to the point where I see them so much that I feed them and treat them like my babies.

I've even named them all.

They all look very different from each other so the process of naming them was actually very easy. I honestly named them the first names that came to mind.

Bean, Rocky, and Aflac.

Of the three ducks, there is only one white duck. I don't think I had a choice but to name him Aflac. It was just too funny and the timing was perfect. I still laugh about it from time to time. Millie thought I was a fucking idiot for weeks for naming him Aflac but I couldn't help it.

Then there's Bean who is just so fucking cute.

She's the only one that will come up to me whenever she sees me. Sometimes she'll even climb in my lap and just sleep on my thigh. The reason I named her Bean is because of the three of them, Bean happens to be the smallest. She's so sweet and the name Bean just felt like a perfect fit.

Lastly, there's Rocky.

Rocky is honestly pretty self-explanatory. Rocky isn't the brightest of the three considering he likes to just peck at rocks whenever he sees one.

I stare at the three of them as they swim mindlessly around the pond for a little bit. I brought some leftover bread for them to share but I'll wait until they're done having fun to feed them.

My amethyst-colored bathing suit looks very bright on my tanned skin. I can start to see the deeper tan lines starting to form on my hips from laying out in the sun a little too long but it doesn't burn so there's no reason why I shouldn't stay out here a little longer.

Just as I'm about to stand to go swim in the pond, my phone starts blaring making me jump.

I lean over, rolling onto my side to grab my phone. I look at the screen and quickly recognize that Harry is calling me. He's probably worried about where I went.

When I left, he was working out and I got bored and wanted to lay out here so I got one of my dirt bikes and rode out here. I've been down here for about an hour but he was probably just too focused on working out to even hear that I left.

I am surprised that he didn't hear me packing some snacks though. I made quite a mess in the kitchen and the door leading down to the gym was wide open so I don't know how he wasn't interrupted.

I press the green button and put the phone on speaker before laying down so I can rest it on my stomach.

"What's up?" I ask him as I put my sunglasses back on. The sun is very bright right now and my eyesight is bad enough already.

"Where did you go? I've searched almost the entire house looking for you." Harry says back to me. I can tell by the sound of his voice that he's trying to cover up his stress and worry but he's doing a pretty bad job at it.

"I'm just at the pond," I say sweetly to him. "You should come."

I hear Harry chuckle through the phone making me raise an eyebrow. I can only wonder what was so funny to him.