Southern Secrets (Southern 7)

None of us says anything while we travel toward the barn. Chelsea drives faster than she should to get us there. I look toward the blue sky and hope that the black smoke will stop, but it doesn’t stop. "What are the chances?" I say and look over at Chelsea. "That."

"Whatever it is," Chelsea says softly. "As long as no one is hurt, we can rebuild." Everyone is stuck in their own thoughts, so I focus on the black smoke in the sky.

We see the trucks all parked along the road, so Chelsea pulls over to the side of the road. We get out of the truck and hear the men yelling through the trees. We walk down the driveway filled with cars. We start feeling the heat, but we can’t see the barn yet with the trees surrounding us. But as soon as we get close enough, we see the barn, and all four of us halt with a gasp. My feet stick like glue to the grass as I look on in horror.

The red barn is engulfed in flames. The two windows on the top floor are busted out, and orange and yellow flames escape from the holes. The red paint looks like it’s melting off the wood. A fire truck is on each side of the barn with the stainless-steel ladders extended, and two firemen aim their hoses at the top of the roof to douse the flames. I see other firemen on the side at a safe distance as they extinguish the flames lower down. I hear yelling all around them as they work overtime to save what they can.

We make our way over to where the men stand. Willow goes to stand beside Quinn, her hand going into his. You can see the tears in his eyes as he pulls her close to him. Chelsea walks to Mayson, and he puts an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him. Ethan looks around and spots Emily right away, shaking his head but holding out his hand. I walk to stand beside Asher, who stands beside my father. My father looks over, and we share a look as we both look back at the barn.

The sound of yelling echoes as I feel like I’m watching the scene from out of my body. My eyes fixate on the red and yellow of the flames.

The crackling sound is so loud it makes me come out of my daze. And it all happens in slow motion as we hear more crackling sounds. I look at the firemen yelling something, and then watch as the top of the roof falls to one side, and then the middle collapses in front of our eyes. The heat of the fire rushes to us, and we have to put our hands up to shield our faces.

"Oh my God." I hear from beside me and look back at Asher, who watches the barn go up in flames.

I put my hand on his arm, but his eyes just stare straight ahead. Nothing I can say to him right now will make things better. My hand falls from his arm as I stare ahead at the barn, where I had my first kiss.

The orange flames work their way through the four walls. One of the firemen comes over to us, walking straight up to my father. "You need to step back." He puts his hand on his helmet as he listens to the scramble from his walkie-talkie. "The whole thing is going to go." He looks over at my father. "Jacob, we need you to secure the perimeter. No one in or out."

"Already on it. My guys have been called and have started closing down the roads," my father says, turning to look at us. "Guys, I need you to move away."

He comes to stand in front of me, and I don’t notice the tears running down my face. "It’s going to be okay, honey," he says and wraps his arms around me. "Everyone is safe."

"I know," I say in a whisper, and I move out of his arms because I know he has work to do.

"You going to be okay?" he asks, and I nod. He doesn’t have time to make sure I’m okay. "Ethan," he calls out to my brother. "I’m going to need help."

Ethan kisses Emily’s head and walks toward my dad. "We need to get some tape up all around."

"I can help," Asher says from beside me, and we both look at him.

"Asher," my father says softly. "Are you sure?" He looks over at the barn. "You just lost …"

"Yeah," he says, putting his hands on his hips and letting out a deep breath. "I just lost everything. Not the first time either." He looks over to the barn, his eyes squinting. "With my luck, it probably won’t be the last." He bends his head and walks away toward my father's truck, where Ethan is grabbing the yellow tape.