Free Finding Serenity by Eden Butler

stack of documents and caused a small fire in the office. Workers were able to extinguish the fire before any real damage was caused, but we are still investigating the incident.”
    Red and blue lights from several police cruisers paint across the screen and the camera scans to the building, a non-descript, brown structure with a small group of bystanders looking past yellow police tape. When the camera pans left, Vaughn bolts upright as Mollie and her friend Layla stand near the cruiser, blankets thrown over their shoulders.
    “Shit,” he says, darting into his room to grab his cell off the bedside table. He’s already dialed Mollie’s number by the time he returns to the kitchen.
    Viv is at his side, her eyes veering from the screen to the phone in Vaughn’s hand. “Is that her?”
    “Yep.” When Mollie’s recorded voice picks up, Vaughn immediately disconnects the call and re-dials. “Come on, pick up the damn phone.” He doesn’t understand why his hands have suddenly started to shake or why his heart is pumping somewhere around his Adam’s apple. “Shit, Mollie. Answer, dammit.”
     

     
    Sayo is crying. Mollie tries to console her, telling her it’s fine, that she and Layla aren’t hurt in the slightest, but the elegant beauty can’t seem to help herself. The constant flash of the police cruiser’s light, the mild smell of smoke and the loud calls of firemen bustling around the sidewalk has their friend reverting back twelve years before to the fire that killed her grandparents.
    “You shouldn’t be here, honey,” Mollie tells a sniffling Sayo.
    “It’s stupid, I know,” Sayo says. “I’m looking at you both, but shit, my hands won’t stop shaking.” Mollie takes the useless blanket off her shoulders and covers Sayo’s thin body.
    “It’s not stupid,” she tells her. “That’s a messed up thing you saw when you were a kid. Shit like that sticks with you.” Sayo nods and makes quick swipes at her wet face before Mollie tips her chin up. “Hey, seriously, why don’t you let Autumn and Declan take you home? We’re fine, sweetie.”
    When Sayo doesn’t move, just darts her eyes back toward the fire truck, Mollie nods Layla toward them. Her best friend grabs Sayo’s hand. “It’s fine. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. Mollie and I were coming back from a—” she takes a moment to meet Mollie’s eyes and understands that warning of a frown to mean she shouldn’t mention what they did to Donovan’s car. “An errand. I still had an hour left on my shift and we were just sitting around watching the clock when the window broke and the bottle landed on a stack of financial aid apps. Mollie was the one who grabbed the fire extinguisher.” Layla shows Sayo her hands, palms up. “See? Not a scratch on me.” She pulls Mollie’s wrist forward and pushes back her best friend’s sleeves. “Molls is fine too. No big.”
    “I know,” Sayo says. “I know,” she whispers to herself. Then, she inhales, straightens her shoulders. “I heard the sirens and saw the fire truck and just lost it. I knew you were working today,” this she says to Layla, “and when the truck stopped in front of the building, I just thought… well—”
    Sayo’s explanation is interrupted by Declan and Autumn’s approach. Mollie smiles as the Irishman scans the perimeter of the scene, looking for something that he keeps to himself. For all her independence and need to take care of herself, Mollie is grateful for her friends’ presence. Declan is their protector, whether they like it or not. Tonight, she doesn’t mind so much.
    “Walter says to hang back a bit,” Declan says, as Autumn comforts Sayo with an arm around her shoulders.
    “What for?” Mollie doesn’t know what Layla’s boyfriend could possibly want now. He’d been first on the scene, his immediate frown had Mollie on edge and his attitude about her being there during the fire only solidified her opinion that Walter was a jerk.