15 - Aftermath

Maia raced home. She tried phoning the house, but no one answered.

When she saw the fire truck parked outside, she feared the worst, and memories of the fire that had killed Finnegan Sawyer and the Buckshots rushed through her mind.

“No, please, no,” she chanted.

Before the limo stopped moving completely, Maia was out of the vehicle and running for the house.  She was met by a group huddled just off the front porch.

“Mommy!” Erin shouted and flung herself into Maia’s arms.

“Is everyone okay?  What happened?”  Maia asked.

According to the emergency crews, it appeared that the front door was forced and several small fires were started on the main floor, which seemed to burn themselves out.  No one could figure out why the fire alarms took so long to function, as they seemed to be working perfectly.  The police had also found a vehicle parked nearby that was registered to a Steve Cupp, but they were unable to locate him so far, either in the vicinity or at his own residence. Or in the debris from the fire.

They said the damage to the home was minimal, mostly smoke and that thankfully, no one was injured because Aashif had gotten everyone out.

But oh, David, Maia thought, looking at her son’s face. Maia wished she had never told him who his father was. 

After the police and firemen left, the family went inside. 

But when Maia went to look at the destruction, there was nothing to be found, and only a hint of smoke still lingered.  Such was the benefit of living with a genie.

“I’m so sorry, Maia,” Aashif said to her when they were alone.  “I should’ve done a better job of watching over them.”

“It’s not your fault, Aashif,” Maia told him. “You couldn’t have known. And you got everyone out safely.”

Nothing had been lost that couldn’t be replaced, and her family was safe. That was what mattered most to Maia. 

Before she went to sleep, Maia called the twins to make sure they were okay and let them know what had happened that night. 

“We’re alright, mom,” Romeo told her.  “Besides, you know dad is watching over us.”

But Maia wondered if what Aashif had once told her about the Grim Reaper was true.  Was Grim really still protecting her and her family and wanting her to succeed in the challenge he’d given her?  And for the first time, Maia began to question what the reaper might be getting out of this bargain.


Author's Note-I can't think of the word aftermath without thinking of this poem by Longfellow:

When the summer fields are mown,

When the birds are fledged and flown,

      And the dry leaves strew the path;

With the falling of the snow,

With the cawing of the crow,

Once again the fields we mow

      And gather in the aftermath.

Not the sweet, new grass with flowers

Is this harvesting of ours;

      Not the upland clover bloom;

But the rowen mixed with weeds,

Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,

Where the poppy drops its seeds

      In the silence and the gloom.