Consume Me Like a Fire

“Have you ever felt like a phone call that's been disconnected?” ~Shannen Doherty

Shiloh sat up in bed and looked around her new room. She moved out of her dorm as soon as they would let her and she rented an apartment in Quantico that was close to her school. She didn’t have any more classes considering she was only taking Mr. Fritz's class at the time.

She stood up and walked into her kitchen to turn on the coffee. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and then checked her cell phone. She saw a text from Spencer and smiled. It had only been a few days, but they still talked on the phone every day, if Spencer could. He still had to work after all.

Call me when you wake up :)

Shiloh read the text and poured herself a cup of coffee, drowning it with sugar, and took it into her living room. She sat down and turned on the TV with the volume on low so she could read the news headlines while she talked to Spencer.

She dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. He was in South Carolina right now so he might not be able to answer his phone.

“This is Reid.”

“Hey Spence, it’s Shiloh,” she said taking a sip of coffee.

“Oh uh good morning. I wanted to see how you were doing,” he stuttered. Shiloh couldn’t help but smile at this; she liked his nerdy side.

“I’m holding up. How’s the case going?” she asked softly. Spencer sighed and it was then that Shiloh noticed how tired he sounded. It was 10 in the morning, but she was sure he hadn’t had much sleep the night before.

“Not good. I probably won’t be back for a few more days. This guy is so unpredictable that it’s taking longer than we thought to catch him.”

“You’ll find him soon. The good guy always wins, right?” she joked with a light laugh. Spencer smiled on the other end and nodded even if she couldn’t see him.

“Lover boy, we got a lead. Let’s go!” Shiloh could hear Derek in the background.

“That’s my cue. I’ll call you later. I need to talk to you about the trial. Bye Shiloh.”

“Bye,” she whispered and hung up. The last thing she wanted to do was think about the trial. The DA wanted her to testify so it was pretty much mandatory… But Spencer had told her that he would be there for her if it went to court. She set her phone down and drank her coffee while she watched the news.

In other news, Matthew Fritz, a professor at The University of Quantico, was arrested 4 days ago for murdering 2 students and kidnapping another. He’ll be in police custody until his court hearing next week.

Shiloh was about to change the channel but stopped when Katie’s picture was placed next to Mr. Fritz’s on the screen.

It’s being said that Matthew was able to convince Katie Carlson, a student there, to kill 3 students herself. But she has been found legally insane and will be staying at Safton Asylum until found otherwise.

Shiloh swallowed the lump in her throat and turned off the TV. She felt like a chicken for not going to see Katie, but she had a good reason to. Katie killed people… for her. And that scared the shit out of her even if she tried to hide it and smile. Katie had become one of her good friends and now she’s at an asylum for murder.

Shiloh went back into her kitchen and put her cup in the sink not bothering to wash it out. She needed to sign up for her new classes at UQ. She looked at her kitchen table and saw all the medical books piled high right next to her laptop.

Recently, she hadn’t felt like going into nursing like she planned. What if she had to see more people die like Brandon and Damien? She saw so much blood and now that didn’t sound so appealing anymore.

Picking up her medical books, she took them into her bedroom and shoved them under her bed. Out of sight, out of mind. Smiling, she went back to her laptop and signed onto the school website. She wanted to do something that she always wanted to do, but thought would be a waste of time.

The culinary arts.

Shiloh signed up for several cooking classes and a business class so she could learn how to run her own business. Shiloh’s a good cook, but she let her parents convince her to be a nurse instead. She wanted to do something for herself, hell she deserved it.

Shiloh heard her phone ringing in the living room and went to go get it.

“Hello?”

“Hi Honey.” It was her mom, speak of the devil…

“Hey, Mom. What’s up?” she asked sitting down.

“I wanted to call and check on you. Are you sure you don’t want to come back home for a little bit?” Shiloh told her mom about what happened the day after everything settled down. Her mom was hysterical and begged her to come back to Illinois, but she told her mom she was fine and wanted to stay put. Her dad was just as bad, but he didn’t ask her to come to his new home in California.

“I’m fine Mom, I’m just signing up for my new classes that I’ll take in the Spring,” she said.

“Oh? And what are those? Anatomy or Clinicals?” her mom asked.

“Actually, I’m taking culinary courses.” The other end of the phone was silent and for a second, Shiloh thought she dropped her call.

“Mom?”

“You’re what?” she asked lowly.

“I don’t want to go into the health industry anymore, Mom. I want to bake; I want to have my own store—“

“You’re throwing your life away! You’re so close to finishing nursing school!” she yelled.

“MOM! It’s my life! I’ve seen more death and blood than I can handle. I don’t want to see that ever again!” she yelled right back at her mom.

“Shiloh, I didn’t mean to bring that u—“

“I have to go now. Talk to you later,” she ended the call before her mom could say anything else. Sometimes, she just wanted to scream at her mom, but she’d regret it even more if she did that…

Laying down on the couch, she closed her eyes and tried to get a cat nap in to calm her down, but her phone started ringing again. If it was her mom calling back, she wasn’t going to answer it… She was surprised when she saw Spencer’s name on the screen.

“Hey, I thought you guys got a lead,” she said instead of saying hello.

“We did. The killer slipped up and we were able to grab him before he got away this time. I’ll be back by tonight. Do you want to meet up tomorrow so we can talk about the trial?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. When and where?” she asked feeling butterflies already build up, but she tried to play it cool.

“How about the bookstore on 7th and Main?”

“I know where that is. Is noon okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

“See ya,” she said with a wide smile before hanging up. Maybe today wasn’t such a back day after all. Her mom and her had a fight, but Spencer was making it up to her by taking her out tomorrow. Granted it was a book store, but going anywhere with the man was fine with Shiloh. She just wanted to spend more time with him.