Burned Alive by the Ones I Loved

I opened my eyes. The glaring incandescent light hanging over my head made my eyes water.

"He's awake! Mr. Aaron Bradshaw is awake!"

As soon as the words were out of the nurse's mouth, a figure rushed up to my bedside. It was my wife, Delilah Rowland.

Her hair was disheveled, her white shirt was stained with large patches of black ashes, and the backs of her hands were red, swollen, and blistered.

"Ron! You nearly scared me to death! I don't even know how Dakota and I are supposed to live without you if something terrible happened to you!"

Her voice was hoarse from crying, looking the picture of a deeply loving wife who'd almost lost her beloved husband.

Several of our neighbors had gathered outside the ward, including Jessica Wade, who'd saved me. They couldn't help wiping their tears away as they watched the "touching" scene playing out before them.

"A woman like Lila is so hard to come by. Aaron's been paralyzed waist down for five years, and she'd been caring for him for all five years without a complaint."

"She even got her hands all blistered up trying to save Aaron from the fire today too!"

"Exactly. And really, what was Aaron thinking? He's already paralyzed waist-down, and yet, he still insisted on cooking in the kitchen. He nearly killed himself doing just that!"

At that, I felt the blood in my body run cold.

Delilah had put on a very convincing act. It was so good that, if I hadn't lain in the fire and overheard everything she'd discussed with our daughter, Dakota Bradshaw, I would have thought that her acting was real and been moved to tears too.

I opened my mouth, my dry lips cracking and bleeding as I rasped, "Y-You locked the door…"

My voice was too soft and sounded just like a small, deflated hiss. However, Delilah just came closer to me and comforted me loudly, saying, "It's all fine now, Ron! The fire's been put out! You don't have to be afraid of anything anymore! I'm right here!"

"The police are here!" the nurse suddenly said.

Two uniformed policemen walked into the ward with a notebook in hand.

"Mr. Aaron Bradshaw? How are you feeling now? Can you please tell us a little more about the fire earlier?"

The younger policeman, who'd introduced himself as Officer Tom Wilkins, was very gentle and kind. I used all the strength I had in me to squeeze the words from my throat.

"It wasn't an accident… They tried to kill me… Delilah locked the door on me!"

The ward was completely silent.

Another one of our neighbors, Sean Boyer, stared at me incredulously with his jaw dropped. Even Jessica frowned hard as she looked at me.

Delilah froze at first. Then, she looked at me in shock and said, "What nonsense are you saying, Ron? I'm your wife, Delilah Rowland!"

"Officer, I think that Dad must have had some severe carbon monoxide poisoning and hallucinated things."

A cold, calm voice appeared at the door. It was Dakota.

She walked up to my bedside and nodded her head respectfully at the police officers.

"Dakota…"

I looked at her. I'd saved her life in the past, and a flicker of hope appeared in my eyes just then.

"You have to tell the police. You saw it, didn't you? You saw Mom closing and locking the door on me, didn't you?"

Dakota just looked at me calmly and said, "The heat must have gotten into you, Dad. You've lost your mind."