My Guardian, Phil // P.L

Part 15

Darby suddenly wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly. "What did the world do to deserve you?"

Phil, Max and I are in the truck. I sit next to Max in the front and Phil is in the back, sat on the middle seat. We are on our way to Darby's.

"How's she been? She sad?" Max asks.

"Her home and diner just got burned down. Of course, she's sad." I say. "But she's coping."

"Yeah, the fire's a total bummer." Max sighs as we pull up in front of the diner. It's obvious that Max isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. But he sure is the best looking.

"Understatement of the year," Phil mutters as he unclips his seat belt and it flings back into place.

"What was that, Floyd?" Max asks as he gets out of the car.

"His name's Phil," I say, correcting Max. Max just winks at me and shuts the car door. I'm starting to think that Max is maybe getting Phil's name wrong on purpose. Why? I don't know. Max might be one of the best-looking creatures on the planet but his attitude sucks. It's a shame to put such a foul mannered person in such an amazing body. It's almost a waste. But he's kind enough to help his cousin in her time of need, so I have to respect him for that.

Max pulls out the keys to the diner and unlocks the door. We all step in and can instantly smell the scent of carbon and damp wood. It feels wrong for the diner to smell so foul. I'm so used to walking in and being greeted with a cheery smile and the pleasant smell of freshly roasted coffee beans. But the foul, sickly smell of smoke fills my nose and goes straight to my brain. I feel dizzy. 

"Are you ok Samantha? You've gone really pale." Phil remarks with a worried tone. I take a deep breath, which is a bad idea considering I'm just inhaling the toxic air further into my lungs.

"I'm fine. It just smells a bit." I say as I take a step and hold my breath. So far, the diner doesn't look too damaged. But I'm afraid of going upstairs. The smell is so strong that I can't even imagine what it looks like.

Max walks past me and jumps over the counter. As he does so, he knocks a stack of menus onto the floor and they fly about, landing on the floor in sporadic places. He opens the fridge and pulls out a Mountain Dew.

"Want anything?" He asks as he scans the contents of the fridge.

"No thanks," Phil says and I shake my head in response to Max. He shrugs and opens the locked door which leads to the stairs as he opens the bottle. We make our way up and the smell of fire becomes stronger.

We walk up and see a blackened corridor. It's worse than I imagined. Every surface is covered with a thick layer of ash and soot, creating a burned distopia. You can see exactly where the flames licked the walls and ceiling as lines in a similar pattern to stretch marks or scars grow up the walls like a fungus. I feel like crying at the sight. It must've been so scary to be in this situation.

"Which one's her bedroom?" Max asks.

I walk to the room, slowly and trying to hold back emotion. I stand in the doorway of the room at the end of the corridor and the sight breaks my heart. Almost everything is destroyed. The bed, the walls, the ceiling, everything.

"Oh... Sh*t..." Max says. "Well open the wardrobe, see if any clothes survived."

I walk over to the tall wardrobe. Usually, It's a lovely brown, wooden wardrobe with white swirls painted on the doors and up the sides. But now it's just black.

I run my fingers across the door and the blackened soot comes off on my fingers. It feels like a thick dust on my fingertips as I rub my thumb and forefinger together and feel the carbon between my fingers.

I open the wardrobe, the handle's rough and my palm is now coated in soot. Luckily, the clothes all look fine. I wipe my hand on my trousers and look through the clothes. Darby has such beautiful clothes, I've always been jealous. The wardrobe holds everything from party dresses to casual attire. Darby takes a lot of pride in how she looks.

I scoop them all up and take them out of the wardrobe. "They're okay," I say to the men.

I turn around and see that only Phil is there. "Max is checking the other rooms I think." He tells me. I didn't even hear Max leave, I must've been so absorbed into my thoughts.

Phil takes some of the clothes from me after seeing me struggle and gives me a reassuring smile.

"it's so sad to see the diner like this..." I say to him with a deep sigh.

Then, there's a loud groan coming from the building. It's a painful creak that makes my stomach drop. I look around, trying to find an explanation to the noise but nothing can be seen.

"It is safe to be up here...?" I ask Phil, coming to the conclusion that he house itself is creaking loudly.

"I'm sure the firefighter said it was." Phil answers as he recalls the night of the fire.

There's yet another groan. It's louder this time and it's dragged out more. Then I hear Max running towards us. 

"I think she's gonna collapse! Get out now!" He shouts as he begins to run downstairs. With each step, the house groans more and more, filled with rage and pain. It's almost too much for my ears as the house groans and shakes. Max is holding a few cardboard boxes with things inside. Phil and I follow him, running frantically.

The top floor drops slightly as we stand in the middle of the diner. My stomach drops in that moment. I thought it was going to fall onto us.

We run for the door and just as we make it out, there's the loudest crash I've ever head and we turn around to see that the second floor has fallen down. We barely made it out.

"Oh my god... Oh my god..." I say, completely in shock. The diner is now ruined beyond repair.

"It's okay..." Max says. "It's okay, let's just go."

He puts the boxes into the bed of his truck, taking his Mountain Dew out of one of them and Phil and I put the clothes in too.

"What are we gonna tell Darby?" Phil asks.

"I'll tell her that it collapsed," Max says as he gets into the truck. Phil and I follow.

"This is horrible. She doesn't deserve this." I say, holding back tears. My words come out shakily and I'm pretty sure the men know I'm about to burst into a crying fit.

"Don't worry Samantha. She's strong. She'll find a way through this. We all will." Phil says reassuringly.

Max starts the car. "Maybe we should do something to cheer her up, take her mind off it yano?"

"Like what?" Phil asks as Max begins to drive.

"Darby's always been a social person. She finds her comfort in people. Maybe we could throw her a party?" I suggest.

"No. Too expensive. How about we take her to a club? Have a night out?" Max says as he takes a gulp from his bottle.

"That's ridiculous. She doesn't want to be surrounded by loud music and drunk people at a time like this..." Phil says.

"You don't know her like we do. Believe me, a night out will make her forget everything." Max says. "Trust me."