When Love Is Forgotten

Thirteen: The Fire

Thirteen 

Ring, ring, ring.

Shooting up from bed due to the obnoxious ringing cell phone of Liam's, I quickly flicked on the nightstand light and shoved him in the side.

"Your phone is ringing," I told him, as he groggily rolled over towards me in bed and shielded his eyes from the light in the dark room. "It must be important, who calls at two in the morning?" I pondered, as I went to reach for his phone still ringing on his side of the bed. Unknown caller. It read, making me question whether it was worth picking up or not in the end.

"Let me take it," he huskily said, obviously still tired from just now being forced awake. Pushing himself to sit up, he combed his fingers through his already fluffed up, bed head hair and grabbed the phone from my small hand. Sliding his finger across his smooth IPhone four screen to answer the call, he replied with a hello.

"Who is it?" I asked quietly, as though he would know from not even hearing their voice yet. Shrugging, he turned it on speaker so I could hear, and listened closely as a female voice abruptly started speaking.

"Hello, this is Sophie Lemmons, head of the fire department, and I tried calling you at your work number, but no one answered so here I am. Sorry to bother you at such a late time," she said, almost seeming to be reading off of something by the way she talked.

"It's alright," Liam lied, as I knew his sleep was very important to him. "just can you tell me why you are calling?" he asked in the end, looking over to me a bit worried. It was one thing to call at an obnoxiously odd hour, but to call at such an hour saying you are head of the fire department is another.

"It seems that your restaurant, Saint Claires, has caught fire in the back. There are a crew of firefighters on their way, however, we would like you to come down to try and help us with recognizing how it started," she ended, her voice shaky in the end seemingly. Looking at Liam's worried face turn shocked within the instant, he directly responded back with panic.

"Of course, I will be down in ten minutes. Thank you for notifying," he hurried, before hanging up the phone and shoving himself out of bed. Looking down at the ended call that read unknown, I couldn't help but wonder if the girl on the other end was telling the truth.

If it was the head of the fire department, like she said it was, why would it be unknown? Liam I knew had all a caller ID for that, as well as other places that were important such as the police. Also, why would it sound so scripted, like she was reading off of something...

"Liam, don't go, I think it's a scam," I told him, as he threw on a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt, about to grab his car keys on the dresser.

"Auburn, if it was a scam they wouldn't of told me the exact name of my restaurant. And they wouldn't be calling at two in the morning," he slightly yelled, making me retract back a bit from still sitting on the bed. "I'm sorry, just stay here. I'll call you when I get there," he ended, before kissing me quick on the forehead, grabbing his keys, and rushing out of the apartment. 

Sighing, I fell back in bed and closed my eyes, still wary about everything that was going on. However, if Liam said he would call me once he got there, it meant he would call me once he got there. No buts.

Knowing sleep would be impossible even if I tried zoning everything out, I opened my eyes back up and pulled myself out of bed. Dragging my now booted up leg out of the room and over to the small, white tiled kitchen, I started up with making a pot of coffee. Something that was much needed to stay awake until Liam had called. It would be around ten minutes considering his restaurant was just a bit outside of town.

Plopping myself down onto one of the couches in the living room, I waited for the coffee to be done before slowly drinking the hot liquid and savoring each and every last drop. I was never that big of a coffee person, but the way Liam had showed me how to make it with caramel and peanuts definitely made me one.

"Ugh, come on," I whined to myself, as I picked myself up and paced back and forth in front of the kitchen, the mug of coffee in my hands. I had become much better at walking since the doctor had replaced my cast with a boot, but that was not nearly what all my thoughts were about. 

I was worried about Liam to be honest, because something deep down in me knew this wasn't right. An unknown caller, at two in the morning, being fed lines seemingly, saying they're part of the fire department just hit the wrong note in my head.

Hopelessly sighing, I placed my coffee mug onto the kitchen isle and went back into our bedroom to check the time on the alarm clock.

2: 34 A.M. It read, making me realize that it had been much more than ten minutes in which Liam had been gone considering he received the call around two exactly. Panicking slightly to myself, I rushed over to the dresser and pulled open the drawer that contained my clothes. Shoving on a small, white dress, since I couldn't go out in my pajamas obviously, I knew I needed to go make sure Liam was alright.

Grabbing my own car keys out of my winter jacket, which I no longer needed due to the warm weather, I rushed as fast as I could down the stairs and opened up the front door. However, right as I did so, I knew I had made a big mistake...