Caving In

Chapter 9: Fire

That night I fell asleep with a smile, my dreams filled with blissful memoires of the long night lived with Matt and Mason. My boys. I was still rolling Matt’s words around in my head, speaking them to myself softly as I showered before bed, hearing him say them again as I lay in the dark. It was amazing to know what had been going through his mind all those years ago, why he did what he did. My heart ached for him and for what he did to my son. Could I really forgive him for all that he put Mason through? For what he put me through? I hope so.

“Momma, wake up please!” Mason wailed from the foot of my bed. He sounded a million miles away. “Mommy!”

Little by little, my eyes fluttered open, scanning the darkness for my son. “What is it, Mace?” I questioned rubbing my tired eyes. I rolled over in my bed slowly, noticing how hot my room had become. The clock blinked 3:29. “Baby, its 3:30, go back to bed.”

“No Mommy! I can’t! It’s hot and I can’t see!” Mason cried helplessly.

Sitting up quickly, I reached to turn on my bedroom light, flicking it on to find my room engulfed in thick smoke. “My god,” I gasped, sucking in a mouthful of the bitter haze. I coughed and leaped from the bed, grabbing my cell phone by the lamp, “Mason, where are you?” I screamed, not being able to see anything. Where is the smoke coming from?

“Mommy, I’m by the door,” he sobbed, coughing wildly.

I quickly dropped to my knees, crawling along the carpet as they taught us in school. I found Mason curled into a ball at the foot of my bed. I hugged him closely to me, “I’m right here, baby. Shh,” I hushed, trying to clear my head of the panic. Now that I was awake I could clearly hear the smoke alarms screeching throughout the apartment. There was a fire, but where? Was it in my apartment? One of the others in the building? Deciding not to chance it, I grabbed Mason by his shoulders. “Baby, you need to listen to me. Can you hear me?”

I felt him nod, whimpering in the growing darkness. “Okay, we are going to go out the fire escape by Mommy’s window, alright? Start crawling towards the light baby boy,” I advised him, pushing him in the right direction. “Stay low, sweetie,” I shouted to him, following his silhouette. We reached the windowsill and I pushed open the glass, sucking in the fresh air. “Come here, Mason,” I ushered, grabbing him and pulling him through the window with me. I was scared out of my mind but I needed to be strong for Mason. Once we were outside the smoke filled room I was finally able to see clearly; there were fire trucks lined up along the block, firefighters rushing into the building as policemen shouted orders. Slowly we climbed the three flights of rusty metal stairs, making our way down to the cement below.

It wasn’t until a firefighter came clambering over to us, pulling Mason out of my tight grasp as he coughed that I realized I had tears streaming down my heated cheeks. “Ma’am are you alright? Is your son alright?”

I shook my head, trying to clear the smoke induced fog. “I’m fine,” I coughed. Mason squirmed out of the firefighter’s grasp, climbing in my lap and crying heavily in my neck. “Oh Mace,” I squeezed him tightly, not even trying to keep the tears away.

“Ma’am, is there anyone we can call for you?” The firefighter spoke gently, kneeling down to our level on the ground.
Without thinking, I nodded.

…

I groaned, shifting around in my bed. My cell phone was ringing extremely loudly from the bedside table. Who the hell was calling me at 4 a.m.? “Hello?” I grunted into the phone, falling back into my pillow.

“Mattie?” Albany cried.

Immediately, I sat up in bed, her voice was filled with panic and fear. “Yeah?”

Something had to be wrong with Mason, that’s why she was calling me. Something happened to my son. “Please, Matt. I need you. You were the first person I thought of, please,” she begged, crying heavily into the receiver.

“Where are you?” I questioned, bounding out of my bed and grabbing a shirt and pair of jeans off the floor. She cried out again as people began yelling in the background. “Albany, where the hell are you?”

“My apart-apartment, its gone Matt,” She wailed.

Gone, what did she mean? “Baby, where is Mason?” I grabbed my keys off the dresser and flew down the stairs, bursting out my front door as I ran to the car.

“He is right here, in my lap,” she sobbed. She sounded destroyed. What had happened?

“Alright, baby girl, I’m on my way. I’ll be there very soon, okay?” I reassured her, climbing into the Escalade and throwing it into gear.

…

What felt like a million years later I pulled on to Melody Lane, surrounded by fire trucks and police cars. Horrified bystanders watched as a fire blazed out of control in the apartment building, screaming as explosions shattered windows and shook the weak building. I pulled to the curb and quickly jumped out, searching the sea of people for Albany and Mason.

“Oh Matt, thank god you’re here!” She shouted, emerging from the crowd with Mason tucked firmly into her arms. She threw her free arm around my neck, and I hugged her tightly, Mason snuggled comfortably between us. “I was so scared,” she mumbled.

“Shh,” I whispered, kissing her head and running a hand through her hair. She took deep breaths and calmed down after a few moments. I pulled away slowly, and placed a gentle hand on her cheek. Her eyes were red and puffing from all the crying and her face looked exhausted. “Come on, Sweetie. You and Mace can stay with me,” I spoke softly, reaching around my neck to grab her free hand, guiding her to my car.

Albany climbed into the passenger seat, keeping Mason safely on her lap. I started the car and left the scene as fast as I could, trying to get them as far away from it as possible. Not looking away from the road, I reached down and grabbed Albany’s hand again, placing it on the center console with my own. Our fingers intertwined tightly as I drove, Albany began to drift off.

When we reached my house again, Mason was out like a light. “Do you want me to carry him in?” I asked Albany quietly, seeing how tired she truly was.

She sighed, nodding her head as she shifted uncomfortably in the leather. I climbed out of the Escalade and made my way to her door, opening it silently. She smiled at me faintly as I reached for Mason, taking him into my arms. He curled into my body, his head resting on my shoulder. I helped Albany down and wrapped an arm around her waist as I steered her into the house. “Where do you want me to go?” She whispered, standing in the foyer awkwardly.

I smiled down at her, “Upstairs, second door on the right.”

She clambered up the steps slowly, going into the room and switching on the light. She moved slowly onto the bed, pulling up the covers and crawling underneath them, “Here, I’ll take him,” she mumbled.

Gently, I laid Mason down next to her, tucking him into the blankets. “G’night,” I mumbled, walking to the door.

“Hey Mattie?” Albany called from the bed.

“Yeah?” I questioned, turning around to look at her.

“Thank you,” she sighed tiredly, pulling Mason into her and drifting to sleep.

I smiled, standing in the doorway for a moment longer before I switched off the light and shut the door behind me.

…

An hour later I was still lying awake, unable to put my racing mind at rest. Becoming restless, I inched out of my bed, pacing the carpeted floor. I almost lost my son today. And Albany. Oh Albany. Shaking my head quickly, I left my room, walking down the hallway. I stopped at the guest room, pressing my ear against the door slowly to listen. Met with silence, I opened the door unhurriedly, padding slowly into the room and over to the bed. Albany lay curled tightly around little Mason, sleeping soundly. I knelt down next to Mason’s side of the mattress seeing the blankets had slipped from his small body, pulling them up to his chin again as I tried memorize everything about him. The way his little eyes fluttered while he slept, the freckles sprinkled over his nose from his hours out in the sun. He was the most precious thing on the planet. I wondered then what it must have been like to hold him as a baby. Who taught him how to talk? Walk? Who potty trained him? All those things that I should have been a part of but I wasn’t. I am the worst parent on the planet.

I grabbed Mason’s little hand in my own, running my thumb over his knuckles gently, “I’m so sorry, Buddy. I should have been a better father to you growing up,” I whispered, brushing a kiss along his forehead as I spoke. “I promise, from now on, things are going to change.”

...

The next morning when I woke up, the smell of maple syrup wafted through my room. I could hear the television set from downstairs while pots and pans clunked around in the kitchen. I smiled; Albany always did love to cook.

I climbed down the stairs slowly, running a hand through my buzzed hair as I yawned. “Daddy!” Mason bellowed from his place sunken into the leather couch. He was watching cartoons as he ate a small bowl of cereal.

“Hey little man,” I chuckled, leaning over the couch to kiss his blonde hair. He looks just like I did when I was his age. He smiled up at me widely, showing a grin that was missing a few teeth. I glanced into the kitchen to find Albany hard at work on a batch of pancakes. She was swinging her hips in time with the song on the radio as she hummed, making me smile broadly. What is she doing to me? I don’t know, but I could get used to it.

She spun around on her heels to place a perfect flap jack on the plate in front of her, catching sight of my watchful gaze. She stopped suddenly, a blush creeping up her neck, “Oh, hi Matt. I didn’t realize you were awake,” she spoke softly, lowering her beautiful blue eyes to the floor.

“Just got up, actually,” I smiled at her, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a seat at the breakfast bar. She looked wonderful gliding around my kitchen. “What time is it, Al?”

“Uh, nine,” she spoke softly, checking her phone on the counter. She turned back to the stove, flipping another pancake over. There was something different about her, I realized as I watched her soft face. She looked exhausted but that was to be expected after the night she’d endured. Her eyes were still clouded with her fear and sullen from all that had happened. I wanted to wrap her into my arms and make those feelings go away the way I had done when we were kids. “Pancakes?” She asked, looking at me over her shoulder.

I nodded, smiling. She made her way around the kitchen like she’d lived here for ages. “I hope you still like OJ,” she mumbled, pushing a plate of attractive pancakes in front of me, my stomach growling uncontrollably.

“Yes, I still drink 3 cartoons a week,” I assured her, smirking when she giggled. Nothing made my heart tighten the way her laugh did. Nothing Val could do ever gauged the same reaction from my ticker. Shit, Val. What was I going to do about that whole catastrophe? Val had become a different woman in the years we’d been together. She’d picked up the pieces after I broke my own heart, gluing it back together eventually. But something had changed in her since Avenged signed to Warner Bros. She didn’t call for days, disappearing, borrowing money left and right. Thankfully that wasn’t what she was doing at the moment. She was filming a horror movie in New Jersey or something like that; I hadn’t been paying much attention the night she left. She was due home in 3 weeks. What was I going to do?

“Thank you again, Matt, for letting us stay,” Albany said, gaining her voice as she took a place in front of me. She looked up at me from underneath her long eyelashes, a smile playing on her full pink lips.

“It was my pleasure,” I stated, taking a bite of pancake. I bit back a moan as the warm food melted in my mouth, she threw in chocolate chips to the batter, I realized, scooping up another mouth full.

Albany giggled again as she noticed my eyes roll to the back of my head, I was in pure heaven. “You like?” she questioned, taking a bite of her own pancakes.

I grunted at her, taking another bite as I smirked at her, “I freakin’ miss you’re cooking, Allie.”

She grinned, looking down at her plate as she blushed again. Now that I think back to it, I was always excellent at making the blood rush to her cheeks. “Good, I’m glad you like it.”

I nodded, swallowing. We ate in silence for a while, unable to tear myself away from the delicious flap jacks. When the last bite was down and out, I looked up to find Albany watching me. She blushed and turned away. “Hey,” I said quietly, grabbing her attention as I reached across the island to take hold of her hand. “Thank you for this wonderful breakfast.”

“You’re most definitely welcome,” she smiled shyly, grabbing my plate from in front of me and hoping off the bar stool. She placed the dishes in the sink and ran water over them, washing away the left over syrup.

“Ya know, last night got me thinking,” I said quietly, standing up from my bar stool and walking over to the sink.

“Oh really?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I mean I just got you and Mason back in my life and then last night, I almost lost you,” I spoke softly, beginning to play with a fork that lay on the counter. “I can’t take you two for granted anymore. I…I can’t lose you.”

Albany’s eyes ghosted to the floor as she took a step back from our close proximity. “I need to change,” she started walking towards the stairs before she stopped, “Crap! I don’t have any clothes here… I don’t have clothes anywhere.”

I smiled at her for the millionth time this morning, “I think I can help with that.”

…

“Matt, I swear I’m going to pay you back for all of this,” I sighed, climbing into the Escalade as he buckled Mason into the backseat. “For letting us stay with you, feeding and clothing us.”

Matt chuckled as he got into the driver’s seat, “Al, you have nothing, everything you have is gone and I’m going to help replace it. Plus, your money is no good to me anyways,” he smiled over at me as he started the car.

“And what’s that supposed to mean, Sanders?” I giggled, slipping on my new flip flops as he drove.

“Oh, hey now,” he chastised playfully. “Are we seriously going to play that game, Young?”

I smiled at him, feeling lighter than air as we drove down PCH, the wind whipping my hair around wildly. We stayed like that for a while, the peaceful silence as the car’s radio play oldies rock hits before my patience ran out, “Matt seriously, how much do I owe you?”

Matt glanced at me, his face serious, “I don’t want your money, Allie,”

“Well then what do you want?

Without hesitation Matt replied, “Dinner.”

I was confused, “What?”

“I want dinner, me & you, tonight."