CHAPTER 6
1131 Words
(Everything crashes at once: the scandal, the family betrayal, and the near-fatal aftermath of the fire.)
The fire department stayed long into the night, but there was nothing left to save. The barn crumbled into itself like a dying animal, the flames eventually hissing into blackened ruin. Only smoke remained — smoke and the sickening knowledge that someone had wanted this.
Someone had wanted them.
Mara and Anna stayed pressed close, their arms wrapped around each other as the crowd dispersed. Some people stared at them with smug satisfaction, others with open disgust, but a few — very few — wore strangely conflicted expressions, like maybe the fire had pushed something human awake inside them.
But not enough.
Not nearly enough.
When the last truck pulled away, Mara turned to Anna and whispered, “Come home with me tonight. My parents won’t turn you away.”
Anna nodded wordlessly — exhausted, shaken, but grounded by Mara’s steady arms. Together they walked back to the Taylor home, smoke still clinging to their hair, ash on their clothes like a ghostly fingerprint of the night’s terror.
Mara’s mother met them at the door.
She took one look at Anna’s swollen cheek, at her trembling hands, at the soot on her face — and her expression hardened not with judgment but fury.
“Your father did that?” she asked softly.
Anna’s voice cracked. “Yes.”
Mrs. Taylor inhaled sharply — a sharp, decisive breath that carried the weight of a woman who had seen enough of the town’s cruelty to recognize it instantly.
“You’re staying here,” she said. “No matter what anyone says.”
For the first time that night, Anna finally broke — tears spilling down her face as she hugged Mara’s mother the way a child clings to safety.
Mara wrapped her arms around them both.
For a brief, fragile moment, it felt like they had a family.
---
But the peace didn’t last.
Morning hit like a fist.
A pounding on the front door shook the entire house awake.
Mara’s father opened it — and there stood Anna’s parents.
Her mother was sobbing; her father looked like a man carved from granite. The moment he saw Anna standing behind Mara, his nostrils flared like a bull about to charge.
“Get your things,” he barked. “You’re coming home.”
Anna flinched. Mara moved in front of her.
“She’s not going with you,” Mara said, heart hammering but voice steady.
Anna’s father sneered. “This is a family matter. Stay out of it.”
“No,” Anna whispered, stepping out from behind Mara. “This is my life. My choice.”
Her father’s face twisted with rage. “Your choice? You’re a child!”
“I’m seventeen,” Anna said firmly. “And I’m not going to some church retreat so strangers can electrocute the ‘sin’ out of me.”
Her father lunged forward.
Mara’s father blocked him with a hand to his chest. “Not in my house.”
Anna’s father shoved his hand away. “You think you can hide her from us? This whole town is talking. They know what she is.”
Mara snapped. “She’s a girl in love! That’s it!”
Anna’s mother finally spoke through tears. “Please… just come home, Anna. We can figure this out quietly.”
Anna stepped back, trembling. “No. You already chose quiet over me my whole life. I’m done being your shame.”
Her father surged forward again — but Mrs. Taylor stepped in this time.
“If you touch her again,” she said coldly, “I’ll call the police myself.”
Something snapped in Anna’s father’s eyes — something dark and broken.
“This isn’t over,” he hissed. “And when she burns for this, it’s on your conscience, not mine.”
He turned and stormed off. Anna’s mother hesitated one second longer — eyes haunted — then followed him.
The door slammed.
Anna crumpled. Mara caught her.
---
The day spiraled further.
The town f*******: group erupted again.
Someone posted footage from the fire — taken from far away — but the caption twisted reality:
> “Girls seen RUNNING from the barn minutes before it burned. Draw your own conclusions.”
The comments poured in like poison.
> They set it on fire themselves.
Crying for attention.
Lesbians destroy everything they touch.
Maybe it’s a sign from God.
This wouldn’t have happened if they were normal.
Mara slammed the phone down, shaking. “They’re trying to blame us.”
Anna curled against her on the bed, tears silent. “They can blame us for the fire. They can blame us for the sky falling. I just don’t want them to take you from me.”
“They won’t,” Mara said fiercely. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Anna buried her face in Mara’s neck. “Promise?”
“With my whole heart.”
Anna’s fingers slid into Mara’s hair as if clinging to the only solid thing left in her collapsing world. Their faces were so close Mara could feel Anna’s shaky exhale brushing her lips.
“Can I stay here forever?” Anna whispered.
“You can stay wherever I am,” Mara answered — and kissed her.
A deep kiss, trembling with fear and fiery with love. Anna melted into her, desperation making everything feel searing and urgent.
But even that moment of fragile intimacy couldn’t hold.
A sudden knock echoed downstairs.
Mara stiffened. “What now?”
Mrs. Taylor called up the stairs, “Girls? You should see this.”
They rushed down.
A police cruiser sat outside.
The officer stepped inside, removing his hat. “We received a report that Anna Campbell is being harbored here against her father’s wishes.”
Anna’s breath hitched. Mara grabbed her hand.
“She’s here willingly,” Mara said.
The officer looked conflicted — like he hated being here but had no choice. “If she’s in danger at home, you can file a protection request. But without it… legally, she must return to her parents until the court says otherwise.”
Anna’s knees buckled. Mara pulled her close.
“No,” Anna whispered. “Please. Please don’t send me back there.”
The officer hesitated — then sighed. “You have until tomorrow at noon to file. After that… I’ll have to bring her home myself.”
Anna’s father had forced the law into the crossfire.
The officer left.
Silence swallowed the room whole.
Anna turned to Mara, voice breaking. “What do we do?”
Mara squeezed her hand.
“We fight.”
But inside, she felt the world cracking at the seams.
Tomorrow at noon, everything would change.
- Writer
