Trent
Screams and shouts from the outside pull me out of a dead sleep. I jolt up in bed at the same time that Kelly and Owen do. More yelling from outside, makes me and Owen jump out of bed, putting our jeans on.
With no shoes or shirts on, he and I make a mad dash to the door to see what’s going on. When I open the door, heat surges past me and hits Owen. “Fucking hell!” I shout as I see a fire in the stables. As I run down the stairs with Owen in hot pursuit, the building explodes, sending us backward onto the ground.
When I regain my composure, I turn to Owen and help him up. “Go see if there are any animals running around loose and I’ll check the stable!”
The roar of the flames lapping at the timbers makes it difficult to get any closer. Going into emergency mode, I shout at the foreman and ask if the cops and fire department have been contacted.
No sooner than I ask, I hear the sirens screaming in the distance. Looking up to the field, I see Owen trying to get the horses to calm down. The acrid smell of rubber and gasoline mingle in the air above me almost knocking me out.
Kelly comes out from the homestead on the phone with her chief. Scanning the area for other animals, I find that the pigs have been spooked and are all together in the back of the barn across the way. Appearing that the pigs are safe and uninjured by the explosion, I run to help Owen gain control of the spooked horses.
My bare feet pound the dirt below as I pick up speed racing to get the one horse running toward the back of the ranch, afraid of anything that gets near him. As I close in on him, I click my tongue and he rears up on his hind legs.
Owen takes the other two to the barn holding the pigs and comes back with a lasso. Handing it to me, he bends over trying to catch his breath from sprinting around. I start twirling the rope and as I get closer, Owen starts hushing the frightened beast. “Shhh, it’s okay,” he says with his hands up. “It’s alright fella.”
The horse’s eyes dart to and from in a panic as he takes off between me and Owen. But not before I get the rope around his neck. The sprint of the horse pulls me down on the ground and drags me a few feet before Owen can help me rein him in.
Once the horse is brought under control, I turn to Owen, “Thanks, man.” Out of breath we slap each other’s back, sweat dripping in streams down our bodies. As we walk the horse back, the fire truck pulls in the drive with three squad cars hot on its trail.
The fireman take control as the police push everyone away from the burning stable. Water is now flying into the face of the flames, bringing them slowly under control. White smoke appears as the heat of the flame winds down.
Black smoke still billows out of the back of the barn, going up into the air like the signals sent from them so long ago. Breathlessly, I sit on the bottom stair of the steps leading into the house. I witness the flames licking the roof of Owen’s place, setting it ablaze as well.
“Good thing you were with us tonight,” I tell a sweaty and devastated Owen.
Kelly sits next to me and pulls Owen silently down next to her on the step. All three of us sit there in a stupor, helpless now that we’ve secured the animals' safety and made sure that no one else got hurt during the explosion.
While the fire department continues to try and douse the flames, the officers dispatched begin to ask questions of those of us standing around. One set of policemen walk over to us and open a notepad. They nod their heads toward Kelly, in respect of her presence.
“Can you tell me in your own words, what happened?” asks a cop with a name badge that reads ‘O’Leary.’
I wipe some sweat from my brow and look up into the officer's face. Shaking my head, I begin with, “I was asleep in bed,” I stop and look at Kelly and Owen, deciding whether or not to include them in my bed. I decide to keep that under wraps for now and continue. “I was abruptly awakened by screams and shouts. I came outside to this.” I wave my hands around encapsulating the ranch itself.
“Judging by the way you look,” O’Leary looks at Owen, “You were in bed as well?”
Owen is basically stuffing himself inside his shell, anxious and afraid of the scene unfolding before him. He can only muster a slow nod to answer the officer’s question.
As the officer motions for Kelly to step away with him, I realize my feet are cut and bruised from all of the running around. My chest is scraped and streaks of blood mix with the mud from the field. I scoot closer to Owen, wrapping an arm around him.
“It’s gonna be okay, man,” I say, trying to choke back tears and the rising emotions of anger and wrath. Owen looks at me blankly, “It really will be alright.”
Kelly returns and kneels down before us. “I gave him my notes on this situation and they’re going to look around once the threat of fire is removed.”
I watch as my stable burns mostly to the ground before the fire is completely taken over. Owen’s homestead is without a roof and the nearby trees are singed black from the heat and frames.
Shaking my head, I drop it into my hands, feeling the weight of the ranchers looking to me for answers. I decide that later this morning, I’ll need to explain the real reasons why Kelly is here to them.
Kelly sits between me and Owen again, placing her arms around our shoulders. Even though no one and no animal is hurt, my heart feels the incredible devastation laying before my eyes.
A single tear rolls down my cheek as I think to myself, this is it. I’m going to lose my shit.