Fire That Burns but Never Dies

An entire week had passed since Reese and her mother moved into their new house and they were finally settled in much to both of their relief. The last of the brown cardboard boxes had been folded up and were now resting in the recycling bin at the curb of their driveway ready for pick up.

Reese hadn’t had any more nightmares and was grateful for that much. However, she had yet to hear from any of her friends and couldn’t really blame them for being put out with her, but it still put her in a dour mood nonetheless. She knew she hadn’t exactly been Friend of The Year during the months before her parents’ divorce but she figured she’d have heard from one of her friends by now. Maybe they were just happy to be rid of her angry and moping self, Reese grimaced. She didn’t doubt it.

She really didn’t like the sour taste that was left in her mouth when she thought of her friends back home and decided since she was the one to fuck up that she had to be the one to put herself out there first and sent her three closest friends, Ryan, Caroline and Danny, a simple text saying sorry once more and letting them know she missed them.

When ten minutes had passed and her phone hadn’t so much as beeped, Reese let out a long sigh and finally dragged herself out of bed. She turned when a knock sounded on her door.

“Come in,” she called as she ran her fingers through her hair trying to make it less flat against her head.

“Hey, Reese, your mom sent me to get you,” Matt said as he stepped into her room with Brian in tow.

Reese’s already sour mood worsened. “What for?”

Matt chuckled at the level of acid in his cousin’s voice which he knew wasn’t aimed at him but at Brian. Over the past week Brian and Reese could only spend about two minutes around each other before one of them said something to piss the other off. Then the barrage of insults flew back and forth until one ran out of witty comebacks. They were actually pretty evenly matched.

“She wants you to stop being a bitch and mingle with us downstairs,” Brian cut in before Matt could answer.

Reese’s glare deepened as she stared at Brian and Matt could feel the angry tension flowing between his friend and his cousin.

Reese opened her mouth to tell Brian to go fuck himself but closed it before the words could get out. Matt wasn’t expecting Reese to restrain herself and began to feel a small burgeoning hope that his need to mediate between the two of them would no longer be necessary.

“What the hell are you even doing here, Haner?” Reese asked as she crossed her arms over her chest, her voice was as flat as her expression.

Matt cast Reese a quick look and could tell that something was bothering her. He moved toward her and nudged her arm slightly but Reese didn’t acknowledge him at all.

“Just being neighborly and whatnot,” Brian said with an easy grin.

Reese snorted indelicately. “That’ll be the fucking day. Get out of my room.”

Brian chuckled. “Honey, I can’t seem to recall you complaining about my nearness the other night when you shoved your tongue down my throat,” he said arching an eyebrow at her; his face was everything that was cocky and arrogant and Reese wanted to slap the smugness off of his face.

“Please,” Reese scoffed. “It was a fucking dare. Hate to break it to you, babe, but I’ve had way better.”

“You’re hurting my feelings, sweetheart,” Brian said with a mock frown as he clutched at his chest. “You know you loved it,” he chuckled.

Reese rolled her eyes. “In your dreams. I wouldn’t have done shit with you if Matt hadn’t dared me.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Brian smiled. “You were just waiting for the perfect opportunity to get yourself a piece of this,” he gestured toward his body.

“This is your fault,” Reese whirled on Matt and pointed at him. “Now he thinks I have some sorta yen for him or something.”

Matt tried not to laugh at his cousin. If Brian and Reese hadn’t been giving him a headache he wouldn’t have dared Reese to make out with him the other night when they’d played truth or dare with Zacky, Jimmy, and their girlfriends over at Zacky’s house. Matt knew she wouldn’t back out of doing a dare no matter what she’d been dared to do. So he used her weakness against her and got a little payback at the both of them.

“Come on, ever since that first morning you two met, you’ve been hate-flirting with each other,” Matt smirked. “Besides, it was the only way I could figure to get you two to stop bickering for ten minutes.”

Reese stalked past both smirking boys and went downstairs to find her mom being the perfect hostess to her guests. Matt’s parents were there along with their younger son, Brian’s parents and his little brother.

Matt’s brother, Kyle, was playing cars with Brian’s brother, Josh. The two little boys were off in their own world racing neon colored cars across the floor, shouting and cheering with each other.

“What did you need, mom?” Reese asked as she entered the kitchen.

“Can you watch the boys? Make sure they don’t get into too much trouble?” Kelly asked, a flustered blush on her cheeks.

Reese nodded with a small smile. “Sure thing.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” Kelly said planting a quick kiss on Reese’s cheek.

Reese walked back through the kitchen into the dining room to say a quick hello to the four adults gathered there, ignoring both Matt and Brian while she made small talk as the dutiful daughter.

“Hey, squirts,” Reese said with an affectionate smile to the two boys sprawled out on the floor. “Wanna watch a movie with me?”

At their cries of yes, Reese chuckled and told them to sit on the couch to wait for her to get back with a movie. Reese raced back upstairs and quickly scanned through the DVDs on a shelf in her room. The bedside table lamp started flickering on and off quickly. With a slight frown, Reese tapped the shade until the light remained steadily on.

“Reese.” Someone whispered softly behind her.

“Yeah?” Reese asked turning around to find her room empty. “Anyone there?” She called. “Mom? Matt?”

Ignoring the shivers that ran down her spine and the feeling of being watched once again, Reese turned back to the task at hand and figured that she was just hearing things as her hands closed on the plastic casing she was looking for. Without wasting another second, she left her room and ignored the temptation to look back and see if anyone was watching her.

“Hey, guys,” Reese said with a careful smile on her face as she walked back into the living room. “I hope you like this one,” she said holding up the DVD for the two boys to see.

“CARS!” They cried in unison and wore matching grins as Reese put the disc into the player. The young boys promptly got into an argument over who got to be Lightning McQueen and who had to be Mater.

Reese went back into the kitchen and tapped her mother lightly on the shoulder.

“Yes, honey?”

“Did you call me just a few minutes ago?” Reese asked. “When I was upstairs?”

Kelly’s eyebrows dipped together as she frowned. “No, Reese. I was talking with your aunt.”

“Oh, okay,” Reese said and started to walk away. Maybe it was the wind, she told herself. Either that or I’m going crazy.

Reese plopped down on the couch next to her cousin Kyle and ruffled his hair as Lightning McQueen came on the screen. Matt and Brian joined the three shortly after and Reese ignored them, or, rather tried to ignore one certain annoying individual.

Brian was sitting on the adjacent sofa by himself and was constantly puckering his lips at Reese feeling immense satisfaction when her face became stonier and stonier by the second. He knew he was succeeding in getting underneath her skin. Brian had absolutely no idea why he took so much pleasure in annoying Reese; he only knew that he did. Maybe it was because she was game as well and managed to rile him up in ways that no other person was capable of. Either way, he was going to take his fun and continue to prod at Reese for as long as he wanted to or until he grew bored with it.

“Give it a rest, bro,” Matt said, his tone and face exasperated with Brian’s behavior. Matt had a feeling that Brian had a thing for his cousin and didn’t exactly like that. Reese was like the sister he never had and he wanted to protect her. Maybe daring Reese to make out with Brian was a bad idea, he thought to himself as he glanced between the two. He’d have to keep an eye on Brian when he was around Reese from now on.

Brian smiled once at his friend and relaxed back into the sofa. “Okay,” he said with an easy shrug and focused his attention on the movie, fully aware of the waves of anger coming from the dark blonde six feet away from him. He bit his lip to keep from laughing; Reese really was too easy sometimes.

Reese focused her thoughts solely on breathing in and out; she really didn’t want Brian to think he was getting to her even if he was. As she stared pointedly at the TV, she felt a cold breeze run along her arms and she froze in place. That damn feeling was back and she felt like someone was watching her.

Reese took inconspicuous glances around her at the four boys but none of them were looking at her. They were all watching the movie. The hair raised on the back of her neck as goose bumps rose on her skin. She was being watched, she knew it, felt it in her bones. She moved closer to Kyle on the couch and wrapped her arm around him, bringing his smaller body closer to hers. At least she wasn’t alone. For the moment anyway.



When the movie was over, so was Kelly’s little gathering. She and Reese stood in the foyer, her arm wrapped around Reese’s shoulders as she bid her guests a good night.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, sis,” Kelly said to Matt’s mom as she hugged her goodbye at the door.

“Thanks for having us over,” Matt’s dad said with a wave as he followed his wife and the Haners out onto the porch.

As soon as the front door was closed Kelly sighed and wrapped her daughter in a tight hug. “Thanks for helping today, kiddo.”

Reese’s arms were wrapped around her mom’s waist. “No problem, mom.”

Kelly pulled away from the hug with a smile. “I’m gonna go change now. My shift stars in half an hour. Will you put the leftovers away, please?”

Reese nodded as she watched her mom race upstairs to change into her scrubs so she wouldn’t be late for her shift at the hospital. Kelly was an emergency room nurse at the hospital. Like all things related to the move, Kelly lucked out with finding a job nearby rather quickly. Despite having to work the night shift for the foreseeable future, everything was turning up roses so far for the mother, daughter duo.

Reese went about doing the chore her mother had assigned and started putting away the leftovers from the barbeque they’d just had. Reese nibbled on some grilled chicken and hummed to herself as she wiped the kitchen down.

She heard footsteps on the hardwood and looked up to see her mom enter the kitchen.

“Thanks for cleaning up, sweetie,” Kelly gave Reese a grateful smile. “I have to go now, but call your father, okay? He really misses you and thinks I’m the one keeping you from returning his calls.”

Reese crossed her arms over her chest mutinously but nodded anyway. “Fine,” she sighed. “But if he makes me talk to her, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

“Be good,” Kelly sighed knowing that she wouldn’t be able to talk some sense into her daughter before she had to leave. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Night, mom,” Reese said as she walked past her mom, planting a soft kiss on her cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, kid. Lock the door after me,” Kelly said moving back through the house.

Reese locked the door after her mother and heard the car start up before the sound of the engine faded away. She turned back and looked through the empty house. She quickly walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the house phone before she ran upstairs to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Reese took a few breaths to calm her speeding heart; she was much too old to be acting like such a baby because she was home alone. There were no monsters under her bed or in her closet. Freddy Kruger wasn’t real. Nothing was out to hurt her or worse. She managed to call her dad, Tom, after the small pep talk listening to the phone ring.

As she settled herself onto her bed, her father answered the phone with a tired, “Hello.”

“Hey, dad,” she said softly.

“Reese, honey,” his tone brightened instantly. “How’re you doing? All settled in?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m sorry for not calling earlier. I was just a little busy with everything. So how are you doing?” Her voice was genuine.

Tom launched into a recap on the previous week at work, he was a high school science teacher, and told Reese how his freshman class made a mess out of a simple experiment resulting in the fire department being called. Needless to say, they won’t be doing lab work anytime soon.

“How’s school going?”

“I haven’t started yet. Apparently there was a paperwork mess up so I have to wait until sometime next week before I can start class.”

Her father made a hum of understanding before speaking again. “Your brothers miss you too, Reese. You should give them a call soon. Lindsay says hello by the way,” Tom added carefully.

Reese made a face at the woman’s name. She wasn’t too fond of the woman her father started dating only two weeks after her parents’ filed for divorce. Her parents remained on mostly civil terms where Reese was concerned, for her sake, but that didn’t mean that they separated amicably by any means.

“How is Lindsay?” Reese asked. “Still trying to figure out how the toaster works? Or is she working on the microwave now?” She couldn’t help the level of acid that dripped in her voice as she spoke. Well, she could, she just didn’t want to.

“Reese,” her father sighed, biting back his angry words. “Don’t start, okay? It’s been a long week and you finally called. I don’t want to fight with you, honey.”

Reese rolled her eyes. “Sorry, it’s been a long week for me, too. Tell her I said hello, will you?”

“Sure, sweetheart. So how’s the house? Do you like it?”

“It’s uh,” Reese paused looking for the right words before she continued speaking. “It’s pretty big for just me and mom, but I’m guessing she bought it for when the boys visit. It’s newish but it kinda creaks the way an older house would. Other than that, it’s nice. My room is huge and I have my own bathroom.

“Sometime next week, Matt and I are gonna paint it. I’m not sure what color yet, but yeah.”

“And how is Matt doing? He keeping an eye on my princess?”

Reese cringed at the pet name but kept her voice light when she answered. “Yeah, he is.” For the most part, she added mentally, when he’s not daring me to make out with his stupid friend. “His friends are cool and I like hanging out with them. He has a band you know. I haven’t heard any of their music yet though. He says I’ll like it so I’ll have to take his word on it until then, I guess.”

“That’s great, honey. I saw Ryan and Danny today at school. Have you talked to them yet?”

“I’ve texted them,” she answered and bit her lip. It wasn’t a full lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.

“Good, good, I’d hate for you to lose contact with your friends here at home.”

Reese closed her eyes when he said home, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks. The reason she’d been so moody and bitchy lately was because she was homesick. She missed the weather and being able to walk five minutes to Caroline’s house and being able to fuck around with Ryan and help him pull stupid pranks on Danny. She missed her old life

“Hey, dad,” Reese paused to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. “Um, I’m getting kinda tired so I’m gonna crash. I promise I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? Bye.” She hung up before she gave him the chance to respond.

She quickly wiped at her eyes and decided to grab a shower before going to bed. She picked out a change of clothes and went to close her curtains.

Brian was standing in the middle of his room and turned to face Reese. His eyes narrowed on Reese’s face and an uncharacteristic frown replaced the usual smirk that was on his lips whenever he looked at her.

Horrified, Reese realized that Brian could see that she was still crying. She hurriedly rubbed at her wet cheeks and wrenched the curtains closed. The last thing she needed tonight was for Brian, of all people, to see her crying. He was gonna give her hell for it next time she saw him, she just knew it. And right now she was too vulnerable to put up with anything that he would try to pull.

Reese rushed through her shower and forced all thoughts of Brian out of her head. When she was finished with her shower and dressed in her pajamas, she wandered back downstairs for a small snack of milk and cookies in hopes that she could momentarily forget her homesickness with the sugar.

She put some cookies in a bowl and grabbed a tall glass of milk. She sat down in the living room and turned the tv on. After several minutes of channel surfing, she determined that nothing good was on and settled on a cooking show.

Reese bit into the first cookie and heard the doorbell ring. She pushed herself to her feet and answered the door. She didn’t know who to expect but she didn’t expect Brian to be standing in her doorway when she pulled the door open.

“Brian? What are you doing here?” She asked stunned to see the brown eyed boy standing there staring down at her.

“Can I come in?” He asked instead.

Reese silently moved aside and let him pass her into the house. “What are you doing here, Haner?” Her surprised confusion marred her usual dismissive attitude toward him.

“Just being neighborly,” Brian said quietly.

“Well, if that’s all, feel free to leave,” Reese said sounding more like her usual self and nodded toward the door in a not so subtle hint.

“God, can you not be a bitch to me for a minute? I’m actually trying to be nice here,” Brian said.

Reese looked away from him. “Look, I know that you saw me earlier and I’d appreciate if you didn’t mention it to anyone.”

“I won’t,” Brian said slowly, “if you tell me why you were crying in the first place.”

Reese looked up at him and stared for a moment, taking in his features once more. She noticed how attractive he was and if that first morning went differently, who knows where’d they be now. Probably making out on the couch or her bed, she thought with a small smile.

“Why do you want to know?” Her voice was curious and not biting for once.

Brian squirmed uncomfortably. “You looked upset. I just thought maybe we can talk about it.”

Reese studied him for another moment. “I’m homesick and I really miss my friends,” she admitted in a whisper. “And I’m taking it out on you. I’m sorry for that and for being a mega bitch all week.”

Brian was surprised by her confession. He didn’t think Reese would tell him the truth and he found himself feeling sorry for the girl. It really couldn’t have been easy to pick up and move all the way across the country and he was making it harder for her than it already was. “It’s cool. I’ve been a jerk and deserved a lot of the things you said. I’m sorry too. Friends?” He asked and held out his hand again much like that first morning.

Reese took his hand and gripped it lightly. “Yeah, friends. Cookie?”