Chapter Fourteen

Planes flew overhead, dropping red smoke to combat the black rising from the forest. Trees went up, burning like torches, lighting the sky. Thick black smoke rose, cutting into the morning's blue sky like an evil sword, the sky losing ground to the murky haze. The flames screamed and grew larger, trying to reach the sun. Ash fell from the sky like gray rain, settling like soft snow on the burnt ground.

***

"Holly, you're the short shift, so you're on restock. Aisle three," my boss called out to me as I walked in the store. I grinned as I hung my coat in the break-room and clocked in. I didn't particularly like restocking, but I hadn't been able to get that stupid grin off my face since I met Andrew at the library.

I felt like I was keeping a wonderful secret. Like a kid who knows she got her friend the perfect birthday present, I just wanted to spill the beans to everyone. I wanted to shout it on the street that Andrew Miller and I were a couple. Every time I thought about Andrew, I f