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I roll Ray up in the living room’s area rug then carry him into Cole’s room and drop him on the bed. I continue to clean up all traces of brain tissue and blood. I tidy up the rest of the living room and end it with fixing the Christmas tree back up to how it was. It almost looks like nothing happened in here, but I certainly know better. This was definitely not the Christmas I had imagined and certainly not a night Lana or I will ever forget.
I find Lana fast asleep on my bed. I stare at her for a moment before taking a blanket and covering her. I carefully climb up next to her, release a deep breath and close my eyes.
“Callum! Callum!” Lana awakes gasping and calling for me.
“I'm here. I'm right here,” I say reaching for her and pulling her into me. “You’re safe. I'm not letting anything happen to you ever again.” She curls further into me and I feel her body relax. Soon, she drifts back to sleep peacefully.
The sun is finally shining brightly through the crack in the curtains of my window. Lana stayed in my arms the rest of the night and for the first time in a long time I actually slept well.
“Morning,” Lana whispers in a slow sleepy voice.
I look down at her where she moved her head from my chest to my arm to get a view of me.
“Good morning.”
“Two nights in a row of sleeping in a real bed. It felt amazing,” she says.
I frown, thinking about how I've let her sleep on an old dirty mattress in the basement for months, but then I offer her a smile.
“How about we go have breakfast then get out of this cabin,” I suggest.
“Definitely! But I'm making breakfast this time,” she says sitting up in bed.
“No, no, you don't gotta do that. Just relax. You're hurt. I’ll take care of it.”
“You’ve been making me food for months Callum and you saved me last night. Please, let me do this for you.”
“Alright.”
I sit at the kitchen table observing Lana make us breakfast while dressed in my shirt and boxers. A smile never leaves my face as I watch her. Her long, wavy hair cascades down to the middle of her back and I fight the urge to run my fingers through it. She finishes cooking and we eat together and I find myself remembering how I never thought I wanted this, never thought I wanted something serious, someone permanent in my life, until her. I reach for her hand and give it a squeeze. Lana reciprocates the loving gesture and beams at me.
“I'm gonna pack up some things and then we’re leaving,” I say to Lana.
“Okay. I’ll go grab Henry.”
“No. I’ll get him. You will not step foot into that basement again,” I sternly say. She looks at me and nods. I notice the slight grin on her face as I turn from her.
I pack up most of my clothes and some other important things I may need from the house and get it all into my truck. Henry as well. I help Lana get bundled up and into the passenger side of my truck.
“There’s one more thing I need to do,” I say to her before I head back inside. I take a canister of gasoline I had and begin to pour it all over the house, especially in Cole’s room where a dead body lies and that cursed recliner in the living room. I lead a trail of gasoline out the front door and onto the porch. I suddenly hear the creak of the truck door opening and Lana’s voice as she comes running over to me.”
“Callum! What are you doing!”
“I'm burning it down, Lana.”
“No, this is your home. You can't. You don't need to do this for me.”
“It's not just for you. There’s nothing for me here anymore. There’s nothing good left in this house. It's filled with bad memories and evil. I want us to both finally be free.” Lana looks at me thoughtfully then grabs hold of my hand.
“Let’s do it together then.”
I smile then light a match and let both our hands guide it down to the gasoline. The flames erupt instantly, consuming everything it touches. We quickly move back and climb into the truck. We pause and take another moment to stare at the cabin up in flames, letting the memories burn away with it, then I drive us down the snow covered driveway, leaving our fiery nightmare behind us.
Over the next couple months Lana and I stay at her apartment. She found out pretty quickly that I had been paying her rent to not rouse suspicion during her time at the cabin, but I also did it with hopes she would one day be free and still have her home to return to. It was a good fucking thing because here we are, both living together in her apartment, with Henry of course too. I've never had a pet before. I always thought about adopting a dog, but Henry has definitely won me over.
The joy I've felt watching Lana come back to her home and seeing the light in her return is indescribable. Her olive skin is back to having a beautiful golden undertone, the dark circles under her eyes have vanished, and bruises no longer cover her body. She’s left with a few light scars though. One on her cheekbone and another just below her chin, and the scars on her back from the cigarette burns. I'm glad those are on her back where they’re not easily visible to her. They all serve as a reminder of what she survived. Although, I wish she never had to be reminded at all about what happened, what I was once a part of. She has forgiven my part in it all, but I think the guilt will always sit heavy in my chest, like an anchor weighing me down to remind me of the hand I played in her worst nightmare. All I can do now is give her all the love I have in me, but even then, it still wouldnt be enough. She deserves an infinite amount of love that not even the endless sky above could hold.
I returned to work after requesting some emergency time off due to a loss in the family and our house burning down. Cole thankfully never came back to work. I explained it away to John, saying that Cole was having a really hard time with the loss and wouldn't be returning.
