Red_Roses_and_Black_Dahlias_-_Macy_T

13
MEMORIES
SOFIA
The smell of burning wood and rotten memories tickled my nose. As I
stood on the sidewalk, quietly watching the house I spent a great part of my
life in go up in flames, all I felt was…numb.
So many things happened in this house. Good and bad things alike, of
course, but right then, the bad seemed incredibly more suffocating. Flashes of
blood kept appearing in my mind, tears, screams. I could almost taste them.
I couldn’t say I felt sad about this house burning. If anything, relief was
more akin to what I was feeling at the moment. It was like by burning it
somehow took all the bad memories with it. Like it was giving us a new
chance at life.
Kind of like a phoenix, we would rise from those ashes.
A few feet away from me, Maddox was talking to one of his colleagues,
trying to understand what happened and if anyone had seen anything.
This was a huge setback for the case and I could feel Maddox’
frustrations during the car ride. Valentina was still sleeping in the backseat of
his car, thank God. She hadn’t slept much last night, she had a nightmare right
after I did, only hers seemed to be much worse. Maybe it was because of her
age, maybe it was something else. All I knew was she started sobbing in her
sleep and then it was hell to wake her up. It was like she was back to that
night, vulnerable and without anyone to protect her. I’ll never forgive myself
for not staying with her then.
“I’m sorry, Sofia.” Startled from my own thoughts, I looked up into forest
green eyes.
A lot of things made Maddox desirable. He had an amazing body, a sweet
personality and a naturally assertive persona. But to me, the most addicting