501

Rain walked around in front of Ben and saw the haunted look in his eye. “Are you ok Ben?”
“It’s my fault they died.” Ben’s throat was tight, his words barely a whisper.
“Who?”
“The boys in the foster home.”
“How did they die?”
“In the fire.”
“Did you set the fire?” Rain asked gently.
“No.”
“How is it your fault?”
“I was trying to be a hero,” Ben’s expression twisted.
“But you didn’t set the fire.”
“NO! I- I was trying to protect the girls from him. Protect Louisa.”
Rain felt a chill that had nothing to do with the rain pouring down on them. She knew where this was going. She’d been on the other side. “The house father.”
Ben nodded shakily. “Mr. Leparre,” he forced out between his teeth.
“He abused the girls?”
Ben nodded again. His eyes never left the waters. “Louisa was… his favorite. I had to stop him.”
“How old were you?” Rain asked, rigidly controlling the quaver in her voice.
“Fifteen.”
“What did you do?”
Ben swallowed. It was so painful to talk about, like a knife in his guts. But she said only the first time. If he could get it out…
“I was in the girl’s room at the top of the stairs on the second floor. I was standing guard, facing the door, waiting for him to try to slip in.”
Rain felt her skin crawling and she wanted to scream at him to stop but she bit her lip.
“It was an old house. Floors creaked a lot. The Leparre’s were doing some upgrades. Electrical. New baseboard heaters.”
Ben jolted as the image of flames rushed through his mind.
“I- I heard him coming up the stairs. The creak. I braced myself against the door to keep it closed. The doors didn’t lock.”
Rain was shaking now but she remained quiet as she watched Ben.
“He tried to open the door but I was holding the knob tight and bracing the door. The girls… they were… whimpering in fear. He was a big man.”
Rain’s teeth chattered but she clamped her jaw tight. Ben glanced at her but she nodded and gave him a smile.
“He growled ‘Let me in’ but I shouted ‘No!’ and he knew then it was me. He’d hit me before. He got mad and started pounding on the door. I wouldn’t let him in. I- I laughed.”
Ben sucked in a deep breath as his eyes clenched shut. His chest hurt so much. He rubbed at it.
“He woke everyone up. Then there was a huge roaring boom. The roaring went on and on and the people in the outer hall were screaming.”
“People?” Rain jolted.
“The boys he’d woken from the other bedroom. They were in the hall when the fire broke out on the main floor. They screamed. God.” Ben put his face in his hands and shook.
Rain wanted to touch Ben. Comfort him. But his confession wasn’t done.
“What happened, Ben?”
“They pushed against the door, screaming to get in. The roaring suddenly got louder. I could hear the flames racing up the stairs. The girls were screaming, clawing at me to let them in. I couldn’t… I held the door, frozen in fear. The windows were nailed shut to prevent runaways. Nancy, the oldest, she broke the glass with an end table and got them outside onto the porch roof. They had to jump out over the flames into the snow on the front lawn to escape. The boys… they- they stopped screaming. Mr. Leparre stopped screaming. I couldn’t hold the door anymore. The knob burned my hand. I climbed out the window and the porch roof collapsed as I ran across it. I found out later Nancy pulled me clear.”
Ben heaved a deep breath.
“You saved the girls.”
His head whipped to look at her in bewilderment. Didn’t she hear? “I killed the four boys and Mr. Leparre!” he yelled.
“They died. That’s truly tragic. But if the door had been opened the flames would have reached the rest of you. You know that, right?” Rain said calmly and Ben’s eyes lost a little bit of their desperation.
“Didn’t your actions actually give the girls time to escape? It’s true, that time wasn’t free. It cost the lives of the others. Honestly, the circumstances had evolved so far beyond your original intentions they no longer mattered. There were just two options available at the time, save some or none. Which one do you believe was the right choice?”
Ben’s mouth worked as he stared into the compassionate eyes of the small woman next to him. She stepped forward and hugged him, his cheek resting against her stomach as his arms went around her. She ran her fingers through his hair as he shook, silent tears lost in the rain.
They remained like that until Ben’s body calmed and his grip on her loosened. He pulled back to look up at her. She smiled down at him.
“Let’s go someplace dry, ok?” she smiled.
Ben just nodded and stood. He took another look at the ocean and filled his lungs with the fresh air. His mind still shied away from the images of that night but the pain that accompanied them, the guilt and the self-loathing, didn’t rip through him with the intensity it once had. His chest wasn’t hurting any longer. He smiled gratefully at Rain and took her hand. They made their way back, neither saying anything.
The resort was up ahead and Rain went up the path first as Ben stopped to scrape the mud from his feet.
Rain stopped by the shower to rinse the sand from her sandals.
“FUHKN BETCH!”
Rain looked up and caught a slap on her cheek knocking her back onto her ass on the path. She looked up in surprise as a dark shape stepped out onto the path to tower over her.
“Gnnna cut yrr fFFUHKN CUNT up!” the shadowed figure grunted.
“Night?” Rain gasped as she finally saw his swollen face. He had sores or bites on his face and arms which were badly swollen. She shrieked when she saw the knife in his hand. He reached back to slash her but his arm stopped when Ben grabbed his wrist and squeezed.
“AAAAAAIIIIIIEEE!!!” Night screamed in agony as bones snapped in his wrist. The knife dropped to the ground.
Rain looked at Ben and saw his eyes had gone cold, his expression blank. He yanked Night back and grabbed his throat in his other hand lifting the man off his feet to slam him up against the stone wall of the shower. Night tried to break the grip but Ben just slammed him against the wall few more times until Night began to choke out.
“BEN! Let him go! BEN!” Rain grabbed his arm and his face turned to look at her. She saw his eyes begin to show some recognition. Then he saw the mark on her cheek. He looked back at Night and threw him across the path to land in a pile on the grass of the lawn. Rain grabbed Ben’s arm to keep him from going after the man once more. She looked up into his eyes and saw he was blinking.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
“No, let’s get out of this rain. He’s not worth the trouble.” Rain said as she tugged on his arm.
Ben let himself be led away. They walked up the path and into the open lobby. They were dripping on the tile floor. One of the ladies working the front desk approached them with some towels.
“Thank you very much!” Ben said as he accepted the towel. The two ladies still behind the desk were grinning at him. Rain took one as well and they dried their hair.
From under the towel Ben heard the front desk clerks scream. He yanked the towel down and spun towards the pathway just as Night leapt up the three short steps with the knife in his left hand. Ben grabbed Rain and leapt backwards as Night swung the knife at her in a wide slashing arc which tore through the edge of the towel, barely missing her face.
With a high pitched squeak Night’s shoes lost their grip on the wet ceramic tiles and his feet shot out from under him. His legs went up as his torso went down and his head struck the edge of the top step. With a dull, wet crack sound Night’s body twitched and a tremor went through his muscles before he went still.
Rain was gasping as she was pinned up against Ben’s chest in his arms with her towel wrapped around her head. She’d heard the screams and she was terrified but she couldn’t see anything. She heard shouting and more screams, running feet, then Ben gently carried her for a few steps and set her down on her feet. She yanked the towel off when he finally released her and looked around frantically. Ben’s expression was grim. She looked back and saw Night’s still body on the tiles. A male staff member was checking for a pulse but the shocked look on his face told her the man on the floor was dead. She saw his left arm outstretched and the knife still tucked into two of his fingers. She looked down at the towel in her hands and saw its new jagged rip. Her eyes went wide and she looked back at Ben. He just looked away to watch the front desk clerks who were on the phone. Presumably with the police.
“Wha- what happened, Ben?” she whispered, afraid of his answer.
Ben’s eyes returned to hers and she was pinned in place by their intensity. “He jumped at us swinging the damn knife. He slipped when he missed and hit his head on the steps. I never touched him.”
He then sat down on one of the couches in the lobby and wrapped his towel over his shoulders to wait. He knew how the process worked. He’d wait for the police to show.
Dream and La’Shia were descending the stairs with the rest of his group when they caught sight of Night on the floor. Dream yelled and raced down the stairs to run across the lobby. He gave Ben an odd look then rushed towards the body. The male clerk tried to keep him away but Dream shoved him aside and dropped down beside Night.
La’Shia reached the couch where Ben sat and they watched in shock as Dream started going through Night’s pockets. Killah arrived with his date and they also stopped and watched the frantic searching.