Chapter 9 - Fire Was His Comfort

Back to the present.

The skies were roaring that night, sending loud thunders to the small town of Trinity Bay. There was no stopping the rain. It continued to pour like there was no tomorrow that the seas covered the beaches.

Back at the huge house in Mount Rou, Amanda had excused herself after the brief talk with Christopher saying she wanted to have a warm shower and get some sleep.

Not that she needed protection against anyone and not that she did not trust Christopher, she simply acted like a normal being and locked the door to her room.

Although Amanda was not like Trisha, who could see the goodness of one's heart, her instincts were often always right. She could tell Christopher was a good person, a little overconfident, but a good person in general.

Tired from the other night's fight, she slept soundly for three hours. However, her rest was disturbed when she heard branches breaking after one thunder to another.

She got up to the sight of darkness. Amanda reckoned the electricity had died.

She slowly got off the bed and using the tip of her finger, she lit it up like a candle.

Gradually, she scanned the room before deciding it was time to leave. She thought of escaping through the window, but it worried her to leave it open. Thus, she prepared to leave from the main door.

Taking light steps, she made her way down to the living area with her finger still lit with fire. If Martin would wake up to find her with a lighted finger, she could simply say she was earlier holding a small candle. Thankfully, there wasn't any need for that as no one was around.

She was about to make it through the hallway when she heard a loud thud sound. She instantly thought there was a thief in the house, and the hero within her could not simply ignore it.

Amanda reduced the light on her finger and quietly wandered to where the source of the sound. She made her way to the dining area where she saw the large sliding doors, fronting the table, was open. She immediately frowned. She put out her fire and rushed to shut the door close.

She realized she had stepped on a branch following a crisp breaking sound that she lit her finger once more. It was only then that she noticed pieces of wooden branches had fallen on the floor.

Following the direction of the scattered branches, she found Christopher on the floor. Her hand clenched into a fist, shutting out the light, and she rushed to his side.

"Chris! Chris! Are you alright?" Amanda easily lifted his torso and touched his neck.

He was shivering uncontrollably. Christopher was... freezing cold.

She then felt a frigid air sigh against her face. Christopher was breathing heavily as he said, "A-manda. Fire - can you - help make - fire for me."

Amanda did not notice when the lights went out. She concluded Christopher surely had a heater in his room as there was one in the guestroom, but with the power out, he must have felt his temperature drop from the cold wind and heavy rain.

"Amanda, fire - fire," he asked again, this time gripping her arms tightly.

For the past years, she had worried about hurting others because of her fire, but this man was asking for it as a relief. The fire was his comfort.

Before fixing the fireplace, Amanda hugged him tightly, giving him warmth from within her.

Christopher immediately felt comforted that he hugged her back with the same intensity. He buried his face into her neck and breathed heavily, feeling the warmth of Amanda's skin.

After sensing that he felt marginally better, she said, "Let me take you to the fireplace."

He nodded and they both slowly got up, walking back to the living room. She let him take a seat first before going back to get the wooden braches.

The pieces of wood were wet. She understood, he must have gotten it from a pile outside. Although outside of the dining area was a covered patio, the rain was too strong that the roof was not enough to keep the branches from getting wet.

She shook her said and mumbled, "How in the world was he planning to light this up?"

Returning to the living room, she stacked the branches into the fireplace and grabbed the lighter that was next to it. She took a deep breath and asked in silence, 'Just a little fire. Don't overdo it.'

Turning her back from Christopher, she pretended to use the lighter but instead, used her own fire to first dry the branches. When it was time to make them burn, she prayed again, 'Please, please… Just a little bit of fire.'

Just before doing so, she checked on Christopher. He was four meters away from her, busy brushing his hands against his arms.

Amanda once again directed her gaze to the fireplace and gave it a go. She managed to create a small fire, and it made her smile. Unfortunately, the fire was not enough to burn the wood.

She raised her hand against the small pile of branches and this time, her eyes slightly glowed in red and her hands let out a brighter fire.

It was a success! She managed to let go of a small ball of fire, just enough to fire up all the branches.

Amanda closed her eyes while letting out a heavy sigh of relief, but just as she opened her eyes again, she saw the burning flame coming towards her. She immediately stood up and moved backward.

Looking at Christopher, she said, "Why don't you sit by the fireplace. I'll get you a blanket."

"Thank you, A - Amanda," he said before getting up to walk.

She went back to the guest room and grabbed her unused blanket. She wrapped it around Christopher and remained by his side.

When Christopher was feeling better, he turned to Amanda and asked, "Don't you want to sit next to me?"

Amanda gulped. She felt her throat dry as she tried to find an excuse. Her nose wrinkled before explaining, "If you easily get cold. I easily get hot - wait that did not sound right. I mean - I easily sweat."

He laughed and turned back to fire, saying, "Okay.. If you say so… You are hot, though."