Fireproof // H.S.

33. The Aftermath

"It's been a while since we've seen each other. How are you doing?"

"I've been good. Been spending a lot of time with friends and family and of course visiting my wife."

"Has the pain stopped?"

"The pain has never stopped but it's getting better. Whenever I come across something that reminds me of her, I don't break down and cry anymore. Instead, I think about the good times we've had."

"That's great. I'm glad you're getting better."

"Thank you. So how have you been? I hope you've been taking good care of her. It's weird not having her in the house anymore."

"I've been good, thanks for asking. And you should know that--" There was a sharp knock on the door.

"Come in!" Uncle Mark shouted. I could hear the door open and close.

"Hello, sorry to bother you. Can I talk to you in private, Mark?" a female voice asked. I could hear Uncle Mark getting up.

"Of course." The door opened and closed again and I could hear their steps disappear down the hallway. The room was silent for a while until I heard footsteps approaching my bed. I felt warm hands close around my right hand. One hand left to clear the hair from my face, and a moment later, lips were pressed gently to my forehead. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. Oh how I wanted to open my eyes so bad! But I waited.

"Get well soon, Violet. I love you." He squeezed my hand one last time before letting go but I didn't let that happen. I held on to his hand, to his surprise. I opened my eyes and he had the biggest smile on his face.

"Were you pretending to be asleep?" he asked playfully. I just smiled. There's no point in denying that. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm on cloud nine."

"That would be the morphine," Harry replied, laughing. I tried to sit up but Harry stopped me. "The doctor said you mustn't move. He doesn't want you causing more injury to your shoulder."

"How's my shoulder?" I asked. I wanted to rotate my shoulder to test it out but thought it was best not to.

"Good. You got lucky. The knife didn't go far before it was stopped by bone. The doctor says it could've been a lot worse. Surgery went well. You're on antibiotics and pain meds now." I cringed at the thought of the knife hitting my bone.

"How long has it been since...?" I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence.

"Only one day. I'm guessing you want to know what happened. Well Zayn and Louis are in maximum security at the York Island County jail. I was happy to hear they didn't put up a fight with the reinforcements. Drew, as you probably already know, is dead. So is Matt unfortunately." My heart felt heavy. Matt didn't make it. "Liam's okay. He just got a little bump on his head is all. A total of eight people died that night, including Matt and Drew. The bloody mess was all over the news.

"There are still a lot of questions. Some police officers were impaled by branches, some areas of the house show signs of spontaneous fire, and the front door was an interesting spectacle with the branches and all their glory." Harry grinned at me while I had a horrified look on my face.