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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Following the attempted murder of Jarod’s sister, Emily, Jarod himself disappeared completely from the Centre’s radar. Five years have now passed, and still there was no sign of Jarod. The Centre knew that finding him would be impossible without the valuable clues he sent them, but they still kept up the pretense of the hunt. Miss Parker still led a team and she knew that it was only a farce, something to keep her hooked in. The team had changed, Broots and Sydney were gone, and now there were two new people. Broots had been moved to another Centre location somewhere out in Montana. Miss Parker missed him and his crazy shirts and wished that she could at least talk with him and ask how he was. Of course the Centre wouldn’t allow that, no time for sentimental pish posh.
Sydney was still around somewhat. He just wandered in and out of the building whenever he felt like it, and the Centre let him because what harm could an old man be? Parker felt sorry for him, he had slowly gone downhill since Jarod’s disappearance. Now he was only an empty shell of his former self, and that was something that Parker could just not deal with. So she hardly ever spoke with him, only to say hello whenever she passed him in the hall. On rare days he would walk by and grab her arm with a surprisingly strong grip and speak to her as if they were back in the past, in the height of the Jarod search. These episodes rarely happened and Parker was glad because they gave her uneasy feelings of her inadequacy to help him. Eventually Sydney disappeared altogether.
Lyle had been around for the most part. Still bothering Parker immensely and still causing havoc in the world in general. But then he suddenly disappeared about two months before the beginning of this episode. Not altogether, he just never came in physically. Lyle kept in contact with the Centre’s location in Delaware via the computer systems and Internet.
So here Parker was five years older and maybe, if it was possible, one more ulcer to add to her collection. Her new office was in a prominent place- a corner. Here was the Ice Queen’s lair and only her team dared to enter. Just because Jarod was taken out of the picture didn’t mean that Miss Parker was useless. In fact she had skills that the Centre found valuable, like babysitting.
Miss Parker had always prided herself on being tough and able to rise above the worst that life could throw at her. Throw at her it did, in the form of two children. Not her own, in fact they weren’t even blood related but Centre related. This was her team, specializing in making her life a living hell. Alexander and Beatrice were the two children assigned to Miss Parker when the Centre realized that Jarod was gone for good after the first year of silence and no leads. The children were twins and were “orphaned” then given to the Centre. They were in turn given to Parker, to live with and to raise. Basically she was to be their surrogate mother. They were 13 years old, and already grown up way past their years. The Centre assigned Parker to this particular “project” because they believed with Parker’s experience she could train or lead them to become pretenders. It had worked with or without Parker’s help.
Now she stood in her own private bathroom connecting to her spacious office looking into a mirror, reflecting on her life during the past five years. The face looking back was not her own. The great looks were still there, in fact she hadn’t changed at all. However, there was a coldness in her eyes that had seeped into the rest of her features. The coldness having grown from her experiences with her wards.
With the banging of her office door being burst open, she snapped back to the present and growled out a warning to whoever dared to enter without knocking. The response was a hushed silence and Parker knew that Beatrice had entered. Upon entering her office, Parker saw that the ever-immaculate Beatrice was standing with her eyes closed and her lips moving silently as if talking to herself. Parker knew better.
“Stop praying Beatrice, I’m not going to kill you and feed you to the devil.” Parker said in an exasperated voice. Just then the door burst open yet again, admitting Alexander, or Alex, as he preferred. Beatrice looked offended, but both Alex and Parker ignored her.
“Speak of the devil.” Parker said to herself quietly. “What do you two want? Allowances for bibles and drugs?” Beatrice gasped but Alex only smiled a crooked grin that most would consider charming but which Parker only found to be disturbing. Some would find that Parker’s attitude is harsh but when considering whom she was dealing with no one would question her.
Beatrice looked like an angel. Blonde, blue eyed and coloring so light that she just emanated white. She was a bit tall for her age, but she looked so much older than 17 that people rarely saw that oddity. Alexander, on the other hand, had dark black hair and dark brown eyes. He was tall too, but he was also well built. He was strong and fit and would have done excellent in sports, if only they didn’t interfere with his crime life.
From day one with them, Parker knew that they were two totally different personalities. Beatrice was always the good one, whereas Alex was the bad one. Not just good and bad but to the extreme. When Beatrice would be in a church praying, Alex would be off making a drug deal or planning a bank robbery. Parker came to know the local police station better than her own home. Thanks to the Centre and their long reaching influence, Alex had no record.
The same could be said about the local church. When Beatrice had first showed signs of religion, she needed supervision when going to church. But by the time Beatrice was 14, Parker was fed up with the whole church scene. She didn’t mind people and their religion, but Beatrice was a fanatic to the point of condemning everyone to hell.
Alex was something else entirely. He would openly mock Beatrice and then turn right around and smoke pot with his cronies. The first couple of years he had been a normal cranky pre-teen. Then about two years ago, at about the same time that Beatrice found God, Alex found crime. But he never worked alone; he always had his cronies by his side. There were five in all, Alex obviously being the leader. And with Parker being too busy, or quite frankly not caring, to notice his friends had christened her house as their lair. The group had grown up in the business fast. Parker soon came to realize this and so only allowed them over for two nights a week. She did this hoping that they wouldn’t have so much time to think about doing dirty deeds, and to get the hell out of her house. Alex had been furious, however the group had continued to thrive under his leadership and he now had a very loyal following among his chosen disciples as he called them.
The relationship between the three of them became somewhat of a war. Alex never giving Beatrice a break, Beatrice never quit praying for Alex, which annoyed him to no end. And Parker came to be alarmed by Alex. He was only 17 whereas she was 40, but there was something about him that made her skin crawl. It actually reminded Miss Parker of Mr. Lyle, her twisted brother.
Lyle had also been around to help raise the twins and Alex had formed a special bond and loyalty to Lyle to which Parker could offer no explanation. That is until he disappeared, leaving Alex angry and hurt.
Whenever Alex and Parker were alone Alex would leer at her and she had enough experience with men to know that it was not innocent leering. So consequently she avoided him as much as possible. This was not her typical way of handling unruly men, but she just didn’t want to deal with him. He however made it a point to be with her as much as possible. Parker soon became paranoid, and it had risen in the last couple of weeks to such a high extent that she was actually scared to be alone with him.
So here they were, all three of them together. This hadn’t happened for almost over six months now, all three not being able to stand all of the company at once. Alex couldn’t stand being with his sister, Beatrice not liking to be outside of her church, and Parker just down right hated being with Alex. Beatrice stood standing while Alex leaned casually against the desk. Parker stood with her hands on her hips ready to do battle.
“What’s the special occasion that we’re all together again?” Parker decided to cut right down to the core so that she could get out of there. She had a date with a younger man and was not keen on missing it.
Alex seemed to pick up on this. He seemed to know everything that she was going to do before she even knew that she was going to do it. “Another hot date tonight Parker?” He said this while looking at her with a strange gleam in his eye.
“Yes, and if you two don’t mind I would hate to miss it.” Parker said bluntly.
Alex responded quickly and heatedly, “I would hate for you to miss it too.” Parker had to fight to keep her skin from crawling under his intense scrutiny. She had a feeling that his heated response could not mean well for anyone involved.
“Well, if it’s jealousy you’re feeling, don’t. I’m way out of your league Alexander.” Alex stood suddenly and his hands clenched and unclenched. This statement held two barbs for Alex. The first, being that she called him Alexander, which he hated. The second was her obvious shut down.
It took a moment for him to calm down and then Alex coolly explained why he had called Beatrice to Parker’s office. “Beatrice, I want to know who our parents are.”
Beatrice looked at him like one looking at an insane person- with pity. “Alex, you know that we’re orphans. How can we find our parents if they are dead?” Parker had to admit it to herself; Beatrice had a good point.
“What you both fail to realize is that I have reason to believe that our parents are still alive. And before you ask me how I know, I have a whole network of informants gathering information. I’ve been onto this for about three months now. Of course I didn’t want to tell you anything.” This was directed at Beatrice. Alex went on, “I didn’t want to get your hopes up only to have them fall.”
This should have sent warning bells off in Parker’s mind, but she was too busy watching the time. She just wanted to get this over with. So she agreed that they should continue looking, which basically meant that they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Parker had other plans, like getting to the restaurant on time.
“Alex, are you sure you want to do this?” Beatrice asked softly, almost afraid of his rebuke. She wasn’t afraid of Alex like Parker was, but she still did not like to be the butt of his sarcasm and jokes.
Alex inwardly sighed. Why did she have to ask so many goddamn questions? “Of course I’m sure sis. I just thought I should tell you now that I know for sure that our parents are in fact alive. Now, we can all go about our lives.”
Parker was already out the door and thinking of her hot little item sure to be waiting at the restaurant. His name was John, and he was blonde and muscularly lean, with the personality of Jarod. At first she was apprehensive about the whole relationship, but she soon came to be attached to him. It was a strange bond, but the two of them just clicked. But this didn’t mean that she planned on having a long lasting relationship with him, it just meant some good times.
***
Alex watched Miss Parker drive off and thought about how he would like more than anything to be the one she was driving toward. His fists clenched and he reached for his cell phone. He flipped it open and dialed a number.
“It’s me, listen carefully and do exactly as I say. I’ll meet you in a half hour at the Centre.” With that he proceeded to explain what he wanted done. It didn’t need to be done but he wanted it done. When Alex wanted something done, it got done.
He was standing at the parking garage entrance for about five minutes after the conversation when he was interrupted.
“What are you waiting for?” It was Beatrice, and she looked immaculate as ever. Alex had to physically restrain himself from harming her. If she wasn’t praying for him, she was prying into his business.
“No need to worry yourself, I’m just thinking about things. Why don’t you go on home, I have some unfinished business here.”
Beatrice knew enough about Alex not to ask what his unfinished business was. Beatrice had always felt that her brother hated her, but for what she didn’t know. Eventually she knew what her calling was, and Alex found his. Her theory was that Alex hated her because she had chosen the right path, and he had yet to find his right path.
She said, “Fine, but don’t stay out too late. Parker will get worried, and we don’t want that.” With that Alex nodded and Beatrice walked over to her humble black town car and got in.
“No, we don’t.” Alex whispered to himself as Beatrice pulled out. He then proceeded to his own not so humble Porsche. That was another thing that separated the two, they each had chosen their own cars. Beatrice went for the common car, but Alex had chosen one that would tell the world of his success and power.
***
Miss Parker walked through her front door around 11 PM, and not in a very good mood. Her date had not made it to the restaurant, either on purpose or unintentionally. She had called his house and his cell phone at least twice, but she was prepared to call again. She was walking toward the kitchen and pulling her phone out when someone spoke.
“Who are you calling?” Parker jumped a little and whirled to face one of Alex’s buddies. Jake or Jack or Jeff, something with a J.
“Look Jake-,” she started.
“It’s Jack.” He interrupted bluntly.
“Jack.” Parker said with indifference. “You can’t just go around my house this late at night jumping out of the shadows. Where’s Alex?” At this Jack looked behind his shoulder and three more people came down the stairs. The leader was none other than Alex, looking rather smug about something. Parker raised her eyebrows in silent opposition to him having friends over this late.
“They were all just leaving.” Again with the smugness. Her feet and back were starting to hurt, and all she wanted to do was have a hot bath. “Besides, it’s a Friday night, which means that this is our designated night. You’re the one who set the rules, and I only expect to have them followed.”
Parker saw a challenge when it presented itself to her. And she had met every challenge that she had been faced with. “And I expect that you and your friends,” she put extra emphasis on the word friends, “find something better to do than haunt my stairway. Yes, you’re right, I do set the rules. Should I set more rules if necessar-“ She would have finished but that Alex started to speak.
“Ok, everyone out. Our business for the night is done.” He never took his eyes off of Miss Parker. His friends left rather quickly, and before she knew it, Parker was alone with Alex. Something that she wanted to avoid.
“Never interrupt me again Alexander. Especially in front of people, and more so in my own house.” She expected that to be the end of it, but Alex thought otherwise.
“You should never interrupt me either. Not only is it showing my people subordination, but I don’t appreciate the blatant disregard to my stature.” Alex had started talking with an unusual amount of fervor in his voice, but ended softly. He had made his way over to Miss Parker, and now he stood right in front of her.
Snorting at the observation of his ‘so called’ stature, she then brushed past him to sit on the couch. All she could think of now was a hot bath and getting these shoes off. She failed to realize that the den was almost in complete darkness, the only light coming from the light above the kitchen sink in the other room.
Alex walked up to her and bent down to his knees. He reached for her feet and Parker tensed. He took her foot gently in his hands and slid the shoe off easily. With the second one off, Alex looked up into her eyes and she noticed that he actually had rather nice eyes. Parker came to when she comprehended what she was thinking. She stood abruptly and was stopped by his moving in front of her.
“You look beat, let me draw you a bath.”
Draw her a bath? Parker was stunned by his turn of behavior. Just what was he planning? Alex didn’t wait for an answer, he turned around and started up the stairs. He turned around one more time.
“Why home so early? I hope nothing happened to your date.” He said this with a bit of malice in his voice. Parker was looking straight ahead, but her head snapped to where Alex stood on the stairs. Her eyes narrowed and then her thoughts careened out of control with all of the possibilities of what could have really happened tonight. Alex disappeared up the steps while Parker concluded that while Alex was bad, he couldn’t have done what she was thinking.
Parker walked around closing up the house and turning lights off then climbed the steps slowly almost dreading her bath now. She entered her bedroom to the sound of the bathwater running. Alex walked out of the bathroom just as she was walking over to her closet to grab a robe and pajamas.
He stopped her. “I already have them in there for you. The tub is just about filled, let me go check.” He was acting so different, actually civil. Maybe she had pegged him wrong. But then again, just because he was acting good for the past few minutes didn’t pardon the last four years. Parker was still arguing with herself when Alex reappeared and announced that the bath was ready.
Parker walked into the bathroom and smiled. She had the bathroom remodeled and now it was spacious and airy, yet had a feeling of coziness. The color of the room was a nice textured, light copper tone, with just a hint of pink. The tub was big enough to hold two people, just the way that Parker liked it. Big enough for two, but the only one allowed in it was herself. A window that allowed her to view the stars at night and enjoy the sunshine during the day had replaced the ceiling above the tub.
Parker hadn’t realized that Alex followed her, and she started to unbutton her shirt. Before she got far her body jolted when his hands touched her arms from behind. She whirled to him and caught just a glimpse of desire in his eyes. It was gone and she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination.
“I’m quite fine undressing myself, in fact I would appreciate you leaving me alone now.” She said it gently, but when he just stood there, she had to resort to pushing him lightly out the door.
Once closed she leaned against the door and breathed in a sigh of relief. Soon undressed, Parker then slid into the bath. The water was a bit hot, but she soon got used to it. How long she was sitting there, Parker didn’t know.
Alex had stood on the other side of the door and waited a good ten minutes before opening it to view Miss Parker. The bubbles covered everything up to her collarbone, but he still couldn’t quite catch his breath. For the past year or so all he could think about was what it would be like to be intimate with Parker. Alex had started to develop a minor crush you could call it, but soon grew to be a fatal attraction. Now here he stood watching her in the bath and knew that tonight was the night. He walked in and headed toward the tub. Parker looked so relaxed he almost hated interrupting her but he couldn’t help himself.
Miss Parker almost shot straight up when she noticed that Alex was standing above her. Good thing she didn’t, the bubbles could only cover so much.
“What are you doing here?” She asked brusquely. To Alex, it sounded sultry and inviting.
“I just thought-“ his words came out as squeaks, and he coughed and started again. This time more smoothly. “I just thought that I could come and gather your dirty clothes, perhaps even put your hair up since you probably don’t want it getting wet.”
Parker strongly disagreed, she didn’t mind her hair getting wet if that was the price of getting him out of the room. However she didn’t trust herself to speak, so she just sat there licking her lips nervously. Alex gathered up Parker’s clothes then stepped out of the bathroom to deposit them into the dirty hamper. While he was gone, Parker looked around for a towel but found none within reaching distance. Alex walked back into the room looking for all the world like a man who had gotten exactly what he wanted. Walking straight up behind her Alex bent down and knelt. The moment was soon becoming awkward for Parker, so she decided to make small talk.
“Is Beatrice home?” Alex said no, she had gone out on some little errand, but would probably be gone all night. “How do you know she’ll be gone all night?” Parker asked apprehensively.
“Well, I’m the one who sent her on the errand. I told her that there was a lead on our parents, but it’s pretty much a dud.” He finished tying her hair up and then took her hair and let it fall over his hands. Parker couldn’t believe what was happening. Alex had sent Beatrice on a wild goose chase only to leave them alone in the house. She was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore Alex finally had her hair up in a bun. He started to rub her neck lightly, and things were getting almost out of hand.
“There, now your hair won’t get wet. Have a nice bath.” Alex stood up and started toward the door but turned once more to face Miss Parker. “Oh and by the way, your pajamas and towel are right over on the counter there.” Alex pointed toward the counter about four feet away from the tub, and then he was finally gone. Parker breathed a sigh of relief to have him out of the way. She enjoyed the bath for another twenty minutes or so, then got out and walked to get her pajamas.
Parker sighed heavily when she noticed which pajamas he had gotten out for her. Alex had picked out one of her sexy negligees. She definitely felt awkward now. At first, she was going to just go pick out another pair of pajamas, but then she changed her mind. What harm could sexy pajamas do? Once she was in the pajamas, she undid her hair and walked into her bedroom. The lights were all off, but she didn’t mind. She knew her room well enough to not have to flip the lights on just to get into bed.
Parker was just snuggling down into the comfortable bed when an arm came to encircle her waist. She jumped and gave a small shriek of surprise, all the while reaching for her gun in the nightstand next to her.
“Whoa now, let’s not get too hasty.” It was Alex! In her bed while she in her negligee.
“What the hell are you doing? Get out right now, in fact you should never have come in here.” Parker was so angry and frustrated that she totally lost control of her emotions and she yelled rather loudly. She forgot about her gun and the safety it could offer.
“Like I said, let’s not get hasty. I know that I shocked you but let me stay. At least for tonight, then we’ll see how everything goes.” Alex started to cuddle up to her, then he completely lay atop the length of her body. She was sandwiched between the mattress and his body.
“I said to get out. I don’t want to hurt you but I will if I have to.” Parker said this with as much power as she could muster. She was out of breath, Alex having crushed her with his weight. The situation was something that Parker had to end in all haste, but she didn’t want to get him too mad for fear of his retribution.
“I just want to be with you tonight. Is that too much to ask?” While saying this Alex’s hands started to wander. Parker almost gagged when he reached the gentle swell of her breasts. She slapped him away, and tried to push him off of her.
“Yes, it’s too much to ask. First of all, I can’t believe you would do this. And secondly, I told you that I was out of your league. You’re a minor remember? Now please get off of me before I get violent.” Parker saw her words reach him, then his body tensed. She could sense the struggle within him. Get off of her, or do what he had obviously come to do.
He must have reached a decision because he rolled off of her and then stood up next to the bed on the opposite side of where Parker was lying still in shock.
“Fine, if that’s the way you want to play, I’m all game Parker.” After saying this, Alex walked past the bed and out into the hallway.
Parker was left in confusion. Wasn’t he the one who intruded upon her sanctuary? Than why was he acting so angry? She had the feeling he was up to no good.
***
Parker didn’t sleep long before she heard the fire alarms go off. She jumped out of bed and ran to the hallway. She couldn’t see the fire, so she assumed that the alarms just went off. But just to make sure she walked to the top of the stairs and started walking down. Just then she heard sirens and fire trucks pull up to her house. She raced down the rest of the stairs and towards the front door.
Throwing open the door, Parker stood there in front of maybe ten or fifteen firemen. She realized that she was still dressed in her negligee. After a few wayward glances from the men, the fireman in front directed Parker out into the street.
“Do you know how many people are still inside ma’am?” He asked quickly.
“One other, a male.” Parker was used to answering questions fast and to the point. She was still in shock, so she didn’t feel all of the neighbors’ curious stares. Several of the wives had to direct their husbands’ eyes away from the scantily clad Parker standing out on the curb.
“Good, with the fire as it is now I don’t know how quickly we can get in and out.” The man left having felt he had sufficiently explained the situation. Parker, however, felt that his explanation was missing something. Soon Alex was walking out the front door, led by a fireman. They seemed to be sharing a joke or something, but when they noticed that Parker was watching, they sobered up and walked over to the nearest fire truck. She was instantly angry, not just because her house was currently being consumed by fire, but because Alex seemed to be enjoying himself.
Parker walked up to them and asked Alex, “Are you sure that Beatrice is gone for the night?”
Alex ignored her question. “Why are you running around nearly naked? It’s disgusting. Are you so desperate for men?” He asked maliciously. Parker was unaffected by the remark about her clothing, but what was he getting at? He was the one who gave her to wear what she was wearing.
“I’m not the desperate one. I remember someone picking these specifically out for me.” Parker responded quickly. Before he had the chance to talk back, she asked, “Is Beatrice really gone all night?”
Alex seemed to ponder this for a moment, then responded. “I can’t be sure now that I think of it.” Parker gave him a scathing look. A scream ripped through the air, and it was coming from inside the house. Parker looked at Alex in disbelief then turned and ran toward the house.
Alex, realizing what Miss Parker was going to do, ran after her. He grabbed her shoulders and swung her to face him. “You can’t go in there, it’s too dangerous. You’ll likely be burned or smothered to death.”
“You didn’t think about that when you left Beatrice inside.” Parker viciously tore his hands off of her and kept running toward the house. Looking back at it, she could see that running into a blazing house wasn’t the smartest idea, but what other choice did she have?
Upon reaching the house she gasped at the heat emanating from the inferno, but the next scream brought courage and she bravely burst through the door and stood among her burning home. With no time to think she raced on ahead toward the stairs. They were completely ablaze, but her mind running quickly on survival, she ran to the back of the house where there was another stairway. This one had yet to be touched, so she leapt up the stairs at least three at a time. Upon reaching the landing, Parker ran toward Beatrice’s room. When she finally reached it, she quickly scanned the room and found it empty.
“Parker! Parker, where are you?” Parker swung around in time to see Alex running down the hallway. He reached her side out of breath but looking extremely pleased with himself for having made it this far.
“Where’s Beatrice?” Having to scream over the roar of the fire, Parker brought in a lung full of smoke and started to cough violently. Alex put one arm around her waist and dragged her into his side.
“She’s already out, now it’s our turn! Let’s go before the roof collapses on us.” Alex was shouting and by the time he was done, he was also coughing, but not as violently as Parker.
Having learned he had already lie about Beatrice, Parker didn’t exactly trust him to tell the truth this time. But he was right; they needed to get out of there now. She nodded to show her compliance, and the two started to make their way back down the stairs. Miss Parker led, and Alex followed. Suddenly the wall to the right started to cave in, and the flames were soon licking up the wallpaper.
“Stay to the left!” Alex yelled over her shoulder.
Thanks for the observation, Parker thought wryly. One of the steps was weak and when Parker stepped on it, it bent a little. Before she could turn around and warn Alex, he had already stepped on it, causing the step to cave. She reached out to him and caught him before his whole leg could be swallowed up by the flames reaching out from underneath them. Alex was able to avoid major injury, but Miss Parker had to catch her self on the metal railing that was still intact on the wall. The railing was on the side of the stairway that was engulfed in flames, resulting in Parker burning her left hand severely. She nearly fainted from the pain, but Alex kept her going.
However, the front of the house was just as bad, or worse. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, it was obvious that they were never going to get out the same way that they came in. Through the haze of pain, Parker tried to think of what to do next. She quickly thought of the window above the kitchen sink.
“Alex. Alex! Look, there at the window.’ Here she pointed wildly at the window. “The only way that we can get out is through the window.” Miss Parker had to scream, resulting in her breathing in more of the smoke, but Alex got the message. He ran over to the sink and picked up a flower vase standing just beside the window and hurled it through the glass. It shattered outward, so there was less chance of them getting cut up too bad.
“You first.” Alex mouthed, because there was too much smoke to risk actually breathing it in. Parker nodded, then ran and jumped up onto the counter. Her left hand had already started to blister, but then she cut it against the shards of glass still attached to the window frame. The pain was almost unbearable; nevertheless she put it aside and concentrated on surviving. They were so close to escape that the pain seemed like a small price to pay for clean, fresh air.
Parker jumped down onto her feet, tucked and rolled and landed squarely on her back. Next came Alex just as the kitchen cabinets started to burst into insidious flames. Parker looked over to him and noticed that he had blood coming from his left leg. The people outside of the house were all gawking at the burning house, and then one of them finally saw Alex and Parker sprawled on the ground. Both were coughing violently and trying to stand. Parker eventually gave up, the pain in her hand was so intense and relentless it was nearly knocking her out.
Three or four firemen raced over to them, picked them up onto stretchers and carried them over to the ambulances. After several minutes of breathing in the blessed oxygen from the tank, Miss Parker was ready for heavy medication. However she didn’t want to go to the hospital, and that’s just what she told them too.
“Look, I’m fine. All I need is some aloe cream, gauze and a big drink of something strong.” Parker was interrupted by Alex having a coughing fit. She turned to the medical physician appointed to her and asked, “How is he? His leg was bleeding, is it as bad as it looked?”
The physician answered that no, it was just some loose glass. “He’s doing well for what you two just went through. But we should get you to a hospital for that burn. It looks pretty severe.”
“Fine, if it means that you’ll stop fussing over me.” Parker had another coughing fit. She was irritated and tired. “How long will this coughing go on?”
“It depends on how much you breathed in. Considering how long you two were in there, I bet it will take a few days.” The physician answered, then moved toward the front of the ambulance. Parker felt that not everything was right, like the help wasn’t much help and didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. She thought it was the trauma of what she just went through.
Eyes going wide, Parker remembered that the whole reason she went into that inferno was to save Beatrice, and she had forgotten completely about her.
“Alex, have you seen Beatrice?” Alex shook his head no, then began talking once again to the physician next to him. They seemed to know each other well, and Parker noticed this, but was too busy worrying about Beatrice.
She stood up and started to walk away. Her physician yelled that she should get some rest and not to move around, but Parker kept walking anyway. Wobbling around the yard, she noticed how many people were there, including all the media. They in turn noticed her and immediately started to hound her with questions. She realized that she must look a mess, with soot and ash covering her entire scantily clad body. But Parker ignored them all and finally caught sight of Beatrice. She nearly collapsed with relief. Beatrice looked over and caught Miss Parker’s eyes, then started to run toward her, while Miss Parker was wobbling pathetically toward her. They met and hugged each other fiercely.
“I don’t ever want you to scare me like that again. Damn it, I was afraid for you.” Parker practically yelled.
Beatrice ignored the fact that Parker had sworn. “I’m so sorry, but when I smelled the smoke I panicked. The next thing I knew I was being carried away by some fireman.” Beatrice looked so innocent and contrite that Parker felt bad about kind of yelling at her. “Did you really run in there to save me?” Beatrice asked earnestly.
“Of course I did, you’re my ward and I have to protect you.” Seeing that this wasn’t exactly what Beatrice wanted to hear Miss Parker had to tell her why she really went in there. “Besides, I love you too much to let you burn in my house.” After that Beatrice looked almost shocked, then she smiled and Parker felt that it was all worth it.
The two women started to walk toward the ambulance once again. Beatrice greeted Alex with warmth and concern, but Alex only met Beatrice with a cold stare.
“I see you managed to escape without a trace of dirt on you.” Alex said maliciously. Alex himself was covered in black ash, the same as Parker. But Beatrice only looked on him with something akin to love, and then turned to Parker and demanded that she go see a doctor for her burned hand. Alex snorted.
“Since when do you boss her around? I didn’t see you risking your white neck to save anyone’s life.” Alex said this while standing up to his full height.
“That is enough Alexander.” Parker couldn’t believe what he was saying to poor Beatrice. “We both risked our necks. It was nobody’s fault that she was rescued from injury, in fact I’m quite glad that she escaped unscathed. As for your behavior,” here she had to stop because of another coughing fit. She continued, “I find it very hard to believe that after what happened in there you would have the decency to be civil to your own sister.” Parker ended fiercely and Alex wasted no time in answering.
“The only reason I went in there was to save you, Parker. You would have died in there, so you had best remember that. Beatrice, I need to talk to Parker alone, please leave us.” Alex looked at Beatrice and motioned for her to leave. Parker went into another coughing fit.
Parker looked at Alex defiantly, ready to do battle. He however, took her injured hand and held it gently up to inspect. “You really should have that looked at. I’m sorry that I caused you to hurt yourself.”
“It’s fine. Besides it wasn’t your fault.” With that Parker turned on her heel and climbed into the ambulance. Alex stood outside pondering what Parker had just said. The ambulance driver came up to talk to him.
“Aren’t you coming Alex?” he asked.
“No, Carl. I’ve got some errands to do.” Alex said despondently then started to have another violent coughing fit.
Parker was wondering if Beatrice was even out of the house tonight or was Alex just saying that to make her feel vulnerable. Just as the ambulance doors were closing, Parker heard the driver and Alex addressing one another by their first names. She started to wonder how in the hell Alex knew who the driver was. And why had all of the firemen and women looked so damn familiar?
Sydney was still around somewhat. He just wandered in and out of the building whenever he felt like it, and the Centre let him because what harm could an old man be? Parker felt sorry for him, he had slowly gone downhill since Jarod’s disappearance. Now he was only an empty shell of his former self, and that was something that Parker could just not deal with. So she hardly ever spoke with him, only to say hello whenever she passed him in the hall. On rare days he would walk by and grab her arm with a surprisingly strong grip and speak to her as if they were back in the past, in the height of the Jarod search. These episodes rarely happened and Parker was glad because they gave her uneasy feelings of her inadequacy to help him. Eventually Sydney disappeared altogether.
Lyle had been around for the most part. Still bothering Parker immensely and still causing havoc in the world in general. But then he suddenly disappeared about two months before the beginning of this episode. Not altogether, he just never came in physically. Lyle kept in contact with the Centre’s location in Delaware via the computer systems and Internet.
So here Parker was five years older and maybe, if it was possible, one more ulcer to add to her collection. Her new office was in a prominent place- a corner. Here was the Ice Queen’s lair and only her team dared to enter. Just because Jarod was taken out of the picture didn’t mean that Miss Parker was useless. In fact she had skills that the Centre found valuable, like babysitting.
Miss Parker had always prided herself on being tough and able to rise above the worst that life could throw at her. Throw at her it did, in the form of two children. Not her own, in fact they weren’t even blood related but Centre related. This was her team, specializing in making her life a living hell. Alexander and Beatrice were the two children assigned to Miss Parker when the Centre realized that Jarod was gone for good after the first year of silence and no leads. The children were twins and were “orphaned” then given to the Centre. They were in turn given to Parker, to live with and to raise. Basically she was to be their surrogate mother. They were 13 years old, and already grown up way past their years. The Centre assigned Parker to this particular “project” because they believed with Parker’s experience she could train or lead them to become pretenders. It had worked with or without Parker’s help.
Now she stood in her own private bathroom connecting to her spacious office looking into a mirror, reflecting on her life during the past five years. The face looking back was not her own. The great looks were still there, in fact she hadn’t changed at all. However, there was a coldness in her eyes that had seeped into the rest of her features. The coldness having grown from her experiences with her wards.
With the banging of her office door being burst open, she snapped back to the present and growled out a warning to whoever dared to enter without knocking. The response was a hushed silence and Parker knew that Beatrice had entered. Upon entering her office, Parker saw that the ever-immaculate Beatrice was standing with her eyes closed and her lips moving silently as if talking to herself. Parker knew better.
“Stop praying Beatrice, I’m not going to kill you and feed you to the devil.” Parker said in an exasperated voice. Just then the door burst open yet again, admitting Alexander, or Alex, as he preferred. Beatrice looked offended, but both Alex and Parker ignored her.
“Speak of the devil.” Parker said to herself quietly. “What do you two want? Allowances for bibles and drugs?” Beatrice gasped but Alex only smiled a crooked grin that most would consider charming but which Parker only found to be disturbing. Some would find that Parker’s attitude is harsh but when considering whom she was dealing with no one would question her.
Beatrice looked like an angel. Blonde, blue eyed and coloring so light that she just emanated white. She was a bit tall for her age, but she looked so much older than 17 that people rarely saw that oddity. Alexander, on the other hand, had dark black hair and dark brown eyes. He was tall too, but he was also well built. He was strong and fit and would have done excellent in sports, if only they didn’t interfere with his crime life.
From day one with them, Parker knew that they were two totally different personalities. Beatrice was always the good one, whereas Alex was the bad one. Not just good and bad but to the extreme. When Beatrice would be in a church praying, Alex would be off making a drug deal or planning a bank robbery. Parker came to know the local police station better than her own home. Thanks to the Centre and their long reaching influence, Alex had no record.
The same could be said about the local church. When Beatrice had first showed signs of religion, she needed supervision when going to church. But by the time Beatrice was 14, Parker was fed up with the whole church scene. She didn’t mind people and their religion, but Beatrice was a fanatic to the point of condemning everyone to hell.
Alex was something else entirely. He would openly mock Beatrice and then turn right around and smoke pot with his cronies. The first couple of years he had been a normal cranky pre-teen. Then about two years ago, at about the same time that Beatrice found God, Alex found crime. But he never worked alone; he always had his cronies by his side. There were five in all, Alex obviously being the leader. And with Parker being too busy, or quite frankly not caring, to notice his friends had christened her house as their lair. The group had grown up in the business fast. Parker soon came to realize this and so only allowed them over for two nights a week. She did this hoping that they wouldn’t have so much time to think about doing dirty deeds, and to get the hell out of her house. Alex had been furious, however the group had continued to thrive under his leadership and he now had a very loyal following among his chosen disciples as he called them.
The relationship between the three of them became somewhat of a war. Alex never giving Beatrice a break, Beatrice never quit praying for Alex, which annoyed him to no end. And Parker came to be alarmed by Alex. He was only 17 whereas she was 40, but there was something about him that made her skin crawl. It actually reminded Miss Parker of Mr. Lyle, her twisted brother.
Lyle had also been around to help raise the twins and Alex had formed a special bond and loyalty to Lyle to which Parker could offer no explanation. That is until he disappeared, leaving Alex angry and hurt.
Whenever Alex and Parker were alone Alex would leer at her and she had enough experience with men to know that it was not innocent leering. So consequently she avoided him as much as possible. This was not her typical way of handling unruly men, but she just didn’t want to deal with him. He however made it a point to be with her as much as possible. Parker soon became paranoid, and it had risen in the last couple of weeks to such a high extent that she was actually scared to be alone with him.
So here they were, all three of them together. This hadn’t happened for almost over six months now, all three not being able to stand all of the company at once. Alex couldn’t stand being with his sister, Beatrice not liking to be outside of her church, and Parker just down right hated being with Alex. Beatrice stood standing while Alex leaned casually against the desk. Parker stood with her hands on her hips ready to do battle.
“What’s the special occasion that we’re all together again?” Parker decided to cut right down to the core so that she could get out of there. She had a date with a younger man and was not keen on missing it.
Alex seemed to pick up on this. He seemed to know everything that she was going to do before she even knew that she was going to do it. “Another hot date tonight Parker?” He said this while looking at her with a strange gleam in his eye.
“Yes, and if you two don’t mind I would hate to miss it.” Parker said bluntly.
Alex responded quickly and heatedly, “I would hate for you to miss it too.” Parker had to fight to keep her skin from crawling under his intense scrutiny. She had a feeling that his heated response could not mean well for anyone involved.
“Well, if it’s jealousy you’re feeling, don’t. I’m way out of your league Alexander.” Alex stood suddenly and his hands clenched and unclenched. This statement held two barbs for Alex. The first, being that she called him Alexander, which he hated. The second was her obvious shut down.
It took a moment for him to calm down and then Alex coolly explained why he had called Beatrice to Parker’s office. “Beatrice, I want to know who our parents are.”
Beatrice looked at him like one looking at an insane person- with pity. “Alex, you know that we’re orphans. How can we find our parents if they are dead?” Parker had to admit it to herself; Beatrice had a good point.
“What you both fail to realize is that I have reason to believe that our parents are still alive. And before you ask me how I know, I have a whole network of informants gathering information. I’ve been onto this for about three months now. Of course I didn’t want to tell you anything.” This was directed at Beatrice. Alex went on, “I didn’t want to get your hopes up only to have them fall.”
This should have sent warning bells off in Parker’s mind, but she was too busy watching the time. She just wanted to get this over with. So she agreed that they should continue looking, which basically meant that they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Parker had other plans, like getting to the restaurant on time.
“Alex, are you sure you want to do this?” Beatrice asked softly, almost afraid of his rebuke. She wasn’t afraid of Alex like Parker was, but she still did not like to be the butt of his sarcasm and jokes.
Alex inwardly sighed. Why did she have to ask so many goddamn questions? “Of course I’m sure sis. I just thought I should tell you now that I know for sure that our parents are in fact alive. Now, we can all go about our lives.”
Parker was already out the door and thinking of her hot little item sure to be waiting at the restaurant. His name was John, and he was blonde and muscularly lean, with the personality of Jarod. At first she was apprehensive about the whole relationship, but she soon came to be attached to him. It was a strange bond, but the two of them just clicked. But this didn’t mean that she planned on having a long lasting relationship with him, it just meant some good times.
***
Alex watched Miss Parker drive off and thought about how he would like more than anything to be the one she was driving toward. His fists clenched and he reached for his cell phone. He flipped it open and dialed a number.
“It’s me, listen carefully and do exactly as I say. I’ll meet you in a half hour at the Centre.” With that he proceeded to explain what he wanted done. It didn’t need to be done but he wanted it done. When Alex wanted something done, it got done.
He was standing at the parking garage entrance for about five minutes after the conversation when he was interrupted.
“What are you waiting for?” It was Beatrice, and she looked immaculate as ever. Alex had to physically restrain himself from harming her. If she wasn’t praying for him, she was prying into his business.
“No need to worry yourself, I’m just thinking about things. Why don’t you go on home, I have some unfinished business here.”
Beatrice knew enough about Alex not to ask what his unfinished business was. Beatrice had always felt that her brother hated her, but for what she didn’t know. Eventually she knew what her calling was, and Alex found his. Her theory was that Alex hated her because she had chosen the right path, and he had yet to find his right path.
She said, “Fine, but don’t stay out too late. Parker will get worried, and we don’t want that.” With that Alex nodded and Beatrice walked over to her humble black town car and got in.
“No, we don’t.” Alex whispered to himself as Beatrice pulled out. He then proceeded to his own not so humble Porsche. That was another thing that separated the two, they each had chosen their own cars. Beatrice went for the common car, but Alex had chosen one that would tell the world of his success and power.
***
Miss Parker walked through her front door around 11 PM, and not in a very good mood. Her date had not made it to the restaurant, either on purpose or unintentionally. She had called his house and his cell phone at least twice, but she was prepared to call again. She was walking toward the kitchen and pulling her phone out when someone spoke.
“Who are you calling?” Parker jumped a little and whirled to face one of Alex’s buddies. Jake or Jack or Jeff, something with a J.
“Look Jake-,” she started.
“It’s Jack.” He interrupted bluntly.
“Jack.” Parker said with indifference. “You can’t just go around my house this late at night jumping out of the shadows. Where’s Alex?” At this Jack looked behind his shoulder and three more people came down the stairs. The leader was none other than Alex, looking rather smug about something. Parker raised her eyebrows in silent opposition to him having friends over this late.
“They were all just leaving.” Again with the smugness. Her feet and back were starting to hurt, and all she wanted to do was have a hot bath. “Besides, it’s a Friday night, which means that this is our designated night. You’re the one who set the rules, and I only expect to have them followed.”
Parker saw a challenge when it presented itself to her. And she had met every challenge that she had been faced with. “And I expect that you and your friends,” she put extra emphasis on the word friends, “find something better to do than haunt my stairway. Yes, you’re right, I do set the rules. Should I set more rules if necessar-“ She would have finished but that Alex started to speak.
“Ok, everyone out. Our business for the night is done.” He never took his eyes off of Miss Parker. His friends left rather quickly, and before she knew it, Parker was alone with Alex. Something that she wanted to avoid.
“Never interrupt me again Alexander. Especially in front of people, and more so in my own house.” She expected that to be the end of it, but Alex thought otherwise.
“You should never interrupt me either. Not only is it showing my people subordination, but I don’t appreciate the blatant disregard to my stature.” Alex had started talking with an unusual amount of fervor in his voice, but ended softly. He had made his way over to Miss Parker, and now he stood right in front of her.
Snorting at the observation of his ‘so called’ stature, she then brushed past him to sit on the couch. All she could think of now was a hot bath and getting these shoes off. She failed to realize that the den was almost in complete darkness, the only light coming from the light above the kitchen sink in the other room.
Alex walked up to her and bent down to his knees. He reached for her feet and Parker tensed. He took her foot gently in his hands and slid the shoe off easily. With the second one off, Alex looked up into her eyes and she noticed that he actually had rather nice eyes. Parker came to when she comprehended what she was thinking. She stood abruptly and was stopped by his moving in front of her.
“You look beat, let me draw you a bath.”
Draw her a bath? Parker was stunned by his turn of behavior. Just what was he planning? Alex didn’t wait for an answer, he turned around and started up the stairs. He turned around one more time.
“Why home so early? I hope nothing happened to your date.” He said this with a bit of malice in his voice. Parker was looking straight ahead, but her head snapped to where Alex stood on the stairs. Her eyes narrowed and then her thoughts careened out of control with all of the possibilities of what could have really happened tonight. Alex disappeared up the steps while Parker concluded that while Alex was bad, he couldn’t have done what she was thinking.
Parker walked around closing up the house and turning lights off then climbed the steps slowly almost dreading her bath now. She entered her bedroom to the sound of the bathwater running. Alex walked out of the bathroom just as she was walking over to her closet to grab a robe and pajamas.
He stopped her. “I already have them in there for you. The tub is just about filled, let me go check.” He was acting so different, actually civil. Maybe she had pegged him wrong. But then again, just because he was acting good for the past few minutes didn’t pardon the last four years. Parker was still arguing with herself when Alex reappeared and announced that the bath was ready.
Parker walked into the bathroom and smiled. She had the bathroom remodeled and now it was spacious and airy, yet had a feeling of coziness. The color of the room was a nice textured, light copper tone, with just a hint of pink. The tub was big enough to hold two people, just the way that Parker liked it. Big enough for two, but the only one allowed in it was herself. A window that allowed her to view the stars at night and enjoy the sunshine during the day had replaced the ceiling above the tub.
Parker hadn’t realized that Alex followed her, and she started to unbutton her shirt. Before she got far her body jolted when his hands touched her arms from behind. She whirled to him and caught just a glimpse of desire in his eyes. It was gone and she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination.
“I’m quite fine undressing myself, in fact I would appreciate you leaving me alone now.” She said it gently, but when he just stood there, she had to resort to pushing him lightly out the door.
Once closed she leaned against the door and breathed in a sigh of relief. Soon undressed, Parker then slid into the bath. The water was a bit hot, but she soon got used to it. How long she was sitting there, Parker didn’t know.
Alex had stood on the other side of the door and waited a good ten minutes before opening it to view Miss Parker. The bubbles covered everything up to her collarbone, but he still couldn’t quite catch his breath. For the past year or so all he could think about was what it would be like to be intimate with Parker. Alex had started to develop a minor crush you could call it, but soon grew to be a fatal attraction. Now here he stood watching her in the bath and knew that tonight was the night. He walked in and headed toward the tub. Parker looked so relaxed he almost hated interrupting her but he couldn’t help himself.
Miss Parker almost shot straight up when she noticed that Alex was standing above her. Good thing she didn’t, the bubbles could only cover so much.
“What are you doing here?” She asked brusquely. To Alex, it sounded sultry and inviting.
“I just thought-“ his words came out as squeaks, and he coughed and started again. This time more smoothly. “I just thought that I could come and gather your dirty clothes, perhaps even put your hair up since you probably don’t want it getting wet.”
Parker strongly disagreed, she didn’t mind her hair getting wet if that was the price of getting him out of the room. However she didn’t trust herself to speak, so she just sat there licking her lips nervously. Alex gathered up Parker’s clothes then stepped out of the bathroom to deposit them into the dirty hamper. While he was gone, Parker looked around for a towel but found none within reaching distance. Alex walked back into the room looking for all the world like a man who had gotten exactly what he wanted. Walking straight up behind her Alex bent down and knelt. The moment was soon becoming awkward for Parker, so she decided to make small talk.
“Is Beatrice home?” Alex said no, she had gone out on some little errand, but would probably be gone all night. “How do you know she’ll be gone all night?” Parker asked apprehensively.
“Well, I’m the one who sent her on the errand. I told her that there was a lead on our parents, but it’s pretty much a dud.” He finished tying her hair up and then took her hair and let it fall over his hands. Parker couldn’t believe what was happening. Alex had sent Beatrice on a wild goose chase only to leave them alone in the house. She was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore Alex finally had her hair up in a bun. He started to rub her neck lightly, and things were getting almost out of hand.
“There, now your hair won’t get wet. Have a nice bath.” Alex stood up and started toward the door but turned once more to face Miss Parker. “Oh and by the way, your pajamas and towel are right over on the counter there.” Alex pointed toward the counter about four feet away from the tub, and then he was finally gone. Parker breathed a sigh of relief to have him out of the way. She enjoyed the bath for another twenty minutes or so, then got out and walked to get her pajamas.
Parker sighed heavily when she noticed which pajamas he had gotten out for her. Alex had picked out one of her sexy negligees. She definitely felt awkward now. At first, she was going to just go pick out another pair of pajamas, but then she changed her mind. What harm could sexy pajamas do? Once she was in the pajamas, she undid her hair and walked into her bedroom. The lights were all off, but she didn’t mind. She knew her room well enough to not have to flip the lights on just to get into bed.
Parker was just snuggling down into the comfortable bed when an arm came to encircle her waist. She jumped and gave a small shriek of surprise, all the while reaching for her gun in the nightstand next to her.
“Whoa now, let’s not get too hasty.” It was Alex! In her bed while she in her negligee.
“What the hell are you doing? Get out right now, in fact you should never have come in here.” Parker was so angry and frustrated that she totally lost control of her emotions and she yelled rather loudly. She forgot about her gun and the safety it could offer.
“Like I said, let’s not get hasty. I know that I shocked you but let me stay. At least for tonight, then we’ll see how everything goes.” Alex started to cuddle up to her, then he completely lay atop the length of her body. She was sandwiched between the mattress and his body.
“I said to get out. I don’t want to hurt you but I will if I have to.” Parker said this with as much power as she could muster. She was out of breath, Alex having crushed her with his weight. The situation was something that Parker had to end in all haste, but she didn’t want to get him too mad for fear of his retribution.
“I just want to be with you tonight. Is that too much to ask?” While saying this Alex’s hands started to wander. Parker almost gagged when he reached the gentle swell of her breasts. She slapped him away, and tried to push him off of her.
“Yes, it’s too much to ask. First of all, I can’t believe you would do this. And secondly, I told you that I was out of your league. You’re a minor remember? Now please get off of me before I get violent.” Parker saw her words reach him, then his body tensed. She could sense the struggle within him. Get off of her, or do what he had obviously come to do.
He must have reached a decision because he rolled off of her and then stood up next to the bed on the opposite side of where Parker was lying still in shock.
“Fine, if that’s the way you want to play, I’m all game Parker.” After saying this, Alex walked past the bed and out into the hallway.
Parker was left in confusion. Wasn’t he the one who intruded upon her sanctuary? Than why was he acting so angry? She had the feeling he was up to no good.
***
Parker didn’t sleep long before she heard the fire alarms go off. She jumped out of bed and ran to the hallway. She couldn’t see the fire, so she assumed that the alarms just went off. But just to make sure she walked to the top of the stairs and started walking down. Just then she heard sirens and fire trucks pull up to her house. She raced down the rest of the stairs and towards the front door.
Throwing open the door, Parker stood there in front of maybe ten or fifteen firemen. She realized that she was still dressed in her negligee. After a few wayward glances from the men, the fireman in front directed Parker out into the street.
“Do you know how many people are still inside ma’am?” He asked quickly.
“One other, a male.” Parker was used to answering questions fast and to the point. She was still in shock, so she didn’t feel all of the neighbors’ curious stares. Several of the wives had to direct their husbands’ eyes away from the scantily clad Parker standing out on the curb.
“Good, with the fire as it is now I don’t know how quickly we can get in and out.” The man left having felt he had sufficiently explained the situation. Parker, however, felt that his explanation was missing something. Soon Alex was walking out the front door, led by a fireman. They seemed to be sharing a joke or something, but when they noticed that Parker was watching, they sobered up and walked over to the nearest fire truck. She was instantly angry, not just because her house was currently being consumed by fire, but because Alex seemed to be enjoying himself.
Parker walked up to them and asked Alex, “Are you sure that Beatrice is gone for the night?”
Alex ignored her question. “Why are you running around nearly naked? It’s disgusting. Are you so desperate for men?” He asked maliciously. Parker was unaffected by the remark about her clothing, but what was he getting at? He was the one who gave her to wear what she was wearing.
“I’m not the desperate one. I remember someone picking these specifically out for me.” Parker responded quickly. Before he had the chance to talk back, she asked, “Is Beatrice really gone all night?”
Alex seemed to ponder this for a moment, then responded. “I can’t be sure now that I think of it.” Parker gave him a scathing look. A scream ripped through the air, and it was coming from inside the house. Parker looked at Alex in disbelief then turned and ran toward the house.
Alex, realizing what Miss Parker was going to do, ran after her. He grabbed her shoulders and swung her to face him. “You can’t go in there, it’s too dangerous. You’ll likely be burned or smothered to death.”
“You didn’t think about that when you left Beatrice inside.” Parker viciously tore his hands off of her and kept running toward the house. Looking back at it, she could see that running into a blazing house wasn’t the smartest idea, but what other choice did she have?
Upon reaching the house she gasped at the heat emanating from the inferno, but the next scream brought courage and she bravely burst through the door and stood among her burning home. With no time to think she raced on ahead toward the stairs. They were completely ablaze, but her mind running quickly on survival, she ran to the back of the house where there was another stairway. This one had yet to be touched, so she leapt up the stairs at least three at a time. Upon reaching the landing, Parker ran toward Beatrice’s room. When she finally reached it, she quickly scanned the room and found it empty.
“Parker! Parker, where are you?” Parker swung around in time to see Alex running down the hallway. He reached her side out of breath but looking extremely pleased with himself for having made it this far.
“Where’s Beatrice?” Having to scream over the roar of the fire, Parker brought in a lung full of smoke and started to cough violently. Alex put one arm around her waist and dragged her into his side.
“She’s already out, now it’s our turn! Let’s go before the roof collapses on us.” Alex was shouting and by the time he was done, he was also coughing, but not as violently as Parker.
Having learned he had already lie about Beatrice, Parker didn’t exactly trust him to tell the truth this time. But he was right; they needed to get out of there now. She nodded to show her compliance, and the two started to make their way back down the stairs. Miss Parker led, and Alex followed. Suddenly the wall to the right started to cave in, and the flames were soon licking up the wallpaper.
“Stay to the left!” Alex yelled over her shoulder.
Thanks for the observation, Parker thought wryly. One of the steps was weak and when Parker stepped on it, it bent a little. Before she could turn around and warn Alex, he had already stepped on it, causing the step to cave. She reached out to him and caught him before his whole leg could be swallowed up by the flames reaching out from underneath them. Alex was able to avoid major injury, but Miss Parker had to catch her self on the metal railing that was still intact on the wall. The railing was on the side of the stairway that was engulfed in flames, resulting in Parker burning her left hand severely. She nearly fainted from the pain, but Alex kept her going.
However, the front of the house was just as bad, or worse. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, it was obvious that they were never going to get out the same way that they came in. Through the haze of pain, Parker tried to think of what to do next. She quickly thought of the window above the kitchen sink.
“Alex. Alex! Look, there at the window.’ Here she pointed wildly at the window. “The only way that we can get out is through the window.” Miss Parker had to scream, resulting in her breathing in more of the smoke, but Alex got the message. He ran over to the sink and picked up a flower vase standing just beside the window and hurled it through the glass. It shattered outward, so there was less chance of them getting cut up too bad.
“You first.” Alex mouthed, because there was too much smoke to risk actually breathing it in. Parker nodded, then ran and jumped up onto the counter. Her left hand had already started to blister, but then she cut it against the shards of glass still attached to the window frame. The pain was almost unbearable; nevertheless she put it aside and concentrated on surviving. They were so close to escape that the pain seemed like a small price to pay for clean, fresh air.
Parker jumped down onto her feet, tucked and rolled and landed squarely on her back. Next came Alex just as the kitchen cabinets started to burst into insidious flames. Parker looked over to him and noticed that he had blood coming from his left leg. The people outside of the house were all gawking at the burning house, and then one of them finally saw Alex and Parker sprawled on the ground. Both were coughing violently and trying to stand. Parker eventually gave up, the pain in her hand was so intense and relentless it was nearly knocking her out.
Three or four firemen raced over to them, picked them up onto stretchers and carried them over to the ambulances. After several minutes of breathing in the blessed oxygen from the tank, Miss Parker was ready for heavy medication. However she didn’t want to go to the hospital, and that’s just what she told them too.
“Look, I’m fine. All I need is some aloe cream, gauze and a big drink of something strong.” Parker was interrupted by Alex having a coughing fit. She turned to the medical physician appointed to her and asked, “How is he? His leg was bleeding, is it as bad as it looked?”
The physician answered that no, it was just some loose glass. “He’s doing well for what you two just went through. But we should get you to a hospital for that burn. It looks pretty severe.”
“Fine, if it means that you’ll stop fussing over me.” Parker had another coughing fit. She was irritated and tired. “How long will this coughing go on?”
“It depends on how much you breathed in. Considering how long you two were in there, I bet it will take a few days.” The physician answered, then moved toward the front of the ambulance. Parker felt that not everything was right, like the help wasn’t much help and didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. She thought it was the trauma of what she just went through.
Eyes going wide, Parker remembered that the whole reason she went into that inferno was to save Beatrice, and she had forgotten completely about her.
“Alex, have you seen Beatrice?” Alex shook his head no, then began talking once again to the physician next to him. They seemed to know each other well, and Parker noticed this, but was too busy worrying about Beatrice.
She stood up and started to walk away. Her physician yelled that she should get some rest and not to move around, but Parker kept walking anyway. Wobbling around the yard, she noticed how many people were there, including all the media. They in turn noticed her and immediately started to hound her with questions. She realized that she must look a mess, with soot and ash covering her entire scantily clad body. But Parker ignored them all and finally caught sight of Beatrice. She nearly collapsed with relief. Beatrice looked over and caught Miss Parker’s eyes, then started to run toward her, while Miss Parker was wobbling pathetically toward her. They met and hugged each other fiercely.
“I don’t ever want you to scare me like that again. Damn it, I was afraid for you.” Parker practically yelled.
Beatrice ignored the fact that Parker had sworn. “I’m so sorry, but when I smelled the smoke I panicked. The next thing I knew I was being carried away by some fireman.” Beatrice looked so innocent and contrite that Parker felt bad about kind of yelling at her. “Did you really run in there to save me?” Beatrice asked earnestly.
“Of course I did, you’re my ward and I have to protect you.” Seeing that this wasn’t exactly what Beatrice wanted to hear Miss Parker had to tell her why she really went in there. “Besides, I love you too much to let you burn in my house.” After that Beatrice looked almost shocked, then she smiled and Parker felt that it was all worth it.
The two women started to walk toward the ambulance once again. Beatrice greeted Alex with warmth and concern, but Alex only met Beatrice with a cold stare.
“I see you managed to escape without a trace of dirt on you.” Alex said maliciously. Alex himself was covered in black ash, the same as Parker. But Beatrice only looked on him with something akin to love, and then turned to Parker and demanded that she go see a doctor for her burned hand. Alex snorted.
“Since when do you boss her around? I didn’t see you risking your white neck to save anyone’s life.” Alex said this while standing up to his full height.
“That is enough Alexander.” Parker couldn’t believe what he was saying to poor Beatrice. “We both risked our necks. It was nobody’s fault that she was rescued from injury, in fact I’m quite glad that she escaped unscathed. As for your behavior,” here she had to stop because of another coughing fit. She continued, “I find it very hard to believe that after what happened in there you would have the decency to be civil to your own sister.” Parker ended fiercely and Alex wasted no time in answering.
“The only reason I went in there was to save you, Parker. You would have died in there, so you had best remember that. Beatrice, I need to talk to Parker alone, please leave us.” Alex looked at Beatrice and motioned for her to leave. Parker went into another coughing fit.
Parker looked at Alex defiantly, ready to do battle. He however, took her injured hand and held it gently up to inspect. “You really should have that looked at. I’m sorry that I caused you to hurt yourself.”
“It’s fine. Besides it wasn’t your fault.” With that Parker turned on her heel and climbed into the ambulance. Alex stood outside pondering what Parker had just said. The ambulance driver came up to talk to him.
“Aren’t you coming Alex?” he asked.
“No, Carl. I’ve got some errands to do.” Alex said despondently then started to have another violent coughing fit.
Parker was wondering if Beatrice was even out of the house tonight or was Alex just saying that to make her feel vulnerable. Just as the ambulance doors were closing, Parker heard the driver and Alex addressing one another by their first names. She started to wonder how in the hell Alex knew who the driver was. And why had all of the firemen and women looked so damn familiar?
