All We Know Is Falling

“Did you or your partner attempt to set fire to your own house in order to claim the insurance?”

“No! Why would I do that? Why are you asking me these questions? I had special things in there which I couldn’t even get out! Ivy nearly died!”

“Do you know anyone with anything against you?”

“No. Not that I know of.”

“Why are you claming insurance?”

“What do you mean, why? Because my whole life was in that house! I worked for years to pay off the mortgage by the time I was thirty! Why would I not want to claim insurance on my whole life, on all my personal belongings?”

“Okay, Mr Watkins, calm down.”

“Fine. Yes, I’m sorry. But you’re asking stupid questions. This is ridiculous!”

“I know, but it’s all protocol. I’m sorry.”

“Look, I wouldn’t care about the money. I’m not materialistic. But you know what? My wife, she is. My life is just based around that house. I had stuff in there that was more important than you could ever imagine! I just want something out of it. It’s not exactly easy seeing your house, its foundations and everything in it burnt to rubble and dust!”

“I know, Mr Watkins, I’m sorry.”

“Yes, I bet you are.”

Ian frowned, rubbing his forehead, thinking about what Ivy was going through. He was sure she wouldn’t be having this much trouble, because she was the innocent little lady with the cute little pout and the one who could do no damage.

“Sir, last question, now. This is very serious. Your partner, she was in the house. She would have been seriously harmed if she hadn’t been rescued by the police. Do you want to get out of a relationship with her enough to kill her?”

“I’m sorry?!”

“You heard me, do you wish any harm upon your partner?”

“No! Of course not! Even if I didn’t love her anymore, why would I try and kill her? I’m not crazy! I’m not a criminal!”

“Okay, then, Mr Watkins. There is once thing that we want o question you on?”

“Yes?”

“One thing was saved. One cabinet. Which would you want it to be?”

Your bedside table, Ian. The top drawer. The back of the top drawer.

“My bedroom cabinet.”

“And why, Mr Watkins?”

“Because I have some special things in there, that’s all.”

“Okay, well, it happened that you and your wife’s cabinets were both somehow saved. We believe they were coated with some sort of varnish that was flame proof or something. Only one drawer was saved in yours, all three in your wife’s.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Well, here are your belongings.”

He bought forth a drawer, a little burnt around the edges. In the top, there was a book, and inside that book was a photo. The photo, tucked into the book Ian was currently reading. Ian stared at it, before he felt eyes boring into the top of his head.

“Mr Watkins, are you sure you would not wish any harm to your wife? I’m not being rude, sir, but that picture seems to mean a lot to you. And the way you and your wife walked in, it didn’t seem like you even cared that you’d just shared a tragedy?”

“Look, mate,” Ian frowned at the guy, pointing slightly, leaning forward, “even if I didn’t love my wife. Even if I wished I wasn’t with her. Even if I hated her, I would never wish harm on her.”

He looked into Ian’s eyes, and obviously sensing something, smiled and nodded, mumbling that he was free to go. He wanted to storm out, but he kept it together, only picking up the photo. Ian told the guy to chuck the rest of the stuff, because it meant nothing to him. He pocketed the photo, trying not to crease it. Ivy came out holding all her stuff, crying. She mumbled that all her stuff was gone, and he said that none of my stuff had survived. An “Oh” was the only sympathy Ian got.

“I guess we need a hotel?” Ian said quietly.

“Yes. I suppose we do. What do we do Ian? What’s going to happen? I can’t live in a hotel for the rest of my life! It’s not right!”

“I know. Just don’t panic. We’ll get through it.”

“We won’t though! We don’t have any fucking savings, do we? You put them all in that bloody business!”

“Ivy, that’s going to pay out a million pounds very, very soon if everything goes right. Even if it doesn’t, I get 3 million as soon as it collapses. That’s plenty of money, Ivy.”

“But it won’t go right, because nothing goes right for us at the moment. And I don’t mean you, I don’t mean me, I mean us as a couple. Sex is crap, our love is just falling apart. It’s all falling apart.” Tears were welling in her eyes, but Ian could tell they weren’t tears for their lost love. They were tears of material business. The fact that they’d just lost their house. The fact that she had to stay in a hotel for a couple of nights.

The couple walked into the hotel that looked most classy. The concierge told them that there were no double rooms left. Only two singles.

“See, nothing wants us to be together! This is fucking hopeless,” Ivy stormed into the elevator, pressing the button for floor 6, where she was, then for floor 7 for where Ian was, “We’re even on fucking different floors!”

“Just calm down! Stop swearing for two seconds. I need to think.” Ian mumbled. Before they could speak again, the doors slid open, and Ivy managed a very sour “night” before walking out, fast and loudly. Ian leaned against the back wall of the elevator, sighing as the doors slowly closed again. He rubbed his head, and looked in the mirror. This is all giving me wrinkles already.

When he got to his room, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialled Sean’s number on auto pilot. Sean sounded tired as he answered, and then Ian remembered it was about 1 in the morning.

“This can only be Ian,” Sean said with a yawn.

“You got it.”

“What’s wrong baby?”

Ian smiled. Trust Sean to make him smile at a time like this.

“My house burnt down.”

This seemed to wake Sean up as he practically screamed, “No Way!” down the phone.

Ian got a bit tearful as he told Sean what happened with the insurance man and the photo and Ivy.

“So, what does Ivy want to happen?” Sean asked after Ian spun off the story, sounding a bit hopeful.

“I don’t even know. What’s worse is, if it means some closure to us, I know that I don’t care what happens.”