Chapter 4

Im watching tv when I hear a knock at the door. I wonder who that could be, my mother isn’t due until next week and it would surprise me if she came early given her busy schedule.

I head over to the small wood door and look through the glass hole to see who’s there.

I recognize the man standing outside, he’s the one who saved me the other night, Ben.

I open the door. Ben is dressed in regular clothing, jeans, and a t-shirt. Without the fire suit on I can see Ben has a lot of muscle in his arms. Stop thinking about his arms.

I wonder what he is doing here.

“Hello” I greet him.

“Hello, I am sorry to intrude.” Ben begins, “but I was worried about you out here all alone especially after the fire and just wanted to see how you were doing.”

It’s been a while since anyone’s come to visit me. “Do you want to come in?” I ask.

“I would love too” he said his green eye lighting up a bit.

I think it’s sweet he’s been thinking about me.

I move over to let him through the door. My place only has two rooms. The first room is split into a small living area with a couch with a tv and the other half has a small kitchen with a table and appliances. The second room is a bedroom with a walk off bathroom, there’s a hidden basement where we keep our witchy stuff.

“This is cozy” he said looking around.

“Yeah, it’s alright” I answer it took me a while to appreciate this place. “So, what brings you over here?”

“You’ve made me curious” he admitted.

“About what?” I said nervously.

“I don’t believe your story about how the fire started the other night” he began “that wasn’t an electrical fire.”

“How do you know?” I asked putting my hands on my hips.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve put out many fires, including real electrical fires” he said, “and that’s not what they look like.”

He was starting at me so intently it was starting to make me nervous.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you the truth” I said looking away. Not like I could tell him anyways.

“Try me” he answered taking a step closer to me.

I have never told anyone outside of my family about my secret. I am not sure if I was being isolated for months, but I felt as though I could trust him. I am not sure if it was smoke inhalation or isolation but I decided to tell him the truth.

“I started it by accident and this is going to sound crazy” I started “I have powers, and I can light fires. I haven’t learned how to control it yet.”

For a while Ben just started blankly at me. I am not sure if he believed me or thought I was a nut case.

“Really?” He said finally.

He was hard to read.

“Yes, it’s why I am out here.” I continued “I am dangerous, and I have to stay away from others.”

“You don’t look very dangerous to me” he said.

“Well, that fire was caused by me and that was dangerous” I said, “do you believe me?”

“I believe that you are either telling the truth, or you are completely insane.” He joked.

“Which one is it” I asked. He was starting to make me nervous.

“Are you a witch?” He asked not answering my question.

“Yes” I answered not sure if that was smart.

“And your power is controlling fire?” He questioned.

“You don’t seem that alarmed” I asked beginning to get frustrated. Did he know about witches?

“What if I told you, you aren’t the first witch I have met.” He revealed.

That explained all the questions and why he was suspicious of me in the first place. He knew an already knew about the existence of witches. Another witch must have trusted him enough to tell him their secret.

What if Ben was also a witch and he wasn’t telling me the truth?

“Who else have you met that is a witch?” I asked. It’s possible I knew the person. The witch community is quite small.

“I can’t tell you that, it’s not my secret to tell” he said, “I have something for you in my truck.”

In a small way it made me feel better that he was keeping this secret. It’s a bad sign when someone tells you other peoples secrets. It means they mostly likely won’t keep the things you tell them secret.

We head outside and Ben looks at the shed that is tilting like it’s about to fall over.

“That doesn’t look good” he said.

“No, it’s not. Someone is coming to fix it” I told him.

“I can help you fix the shed” Ben said walking to his truck.

“Really?” I asked following him.

“I’ll order the supplies, and you call me when they come in” he told me.

I give him my cellphone, and he saved his number under my contacts.

He reaches into his truck and pulls out a jar and gives it to me.

“What is this?” I asked.

Inside the jar there was lavender, sage and a black rock. It looks like some kind of spell.

“This will help you control your powers” he told me.

“How do you know about power controlling spells?” I asked. Who was this guy?

“I can’t tell you all my secrets at once” he smiled.

“So far you have told me none of your secrets” I said sarcastically.

“You have to be patient” he said.

“How do I know I can trust you?” I said beginning to think telling him my secret might have been a mistake. Great another thing my mom can be disappointed in me for.

“You don’t have much of a choice now do you” he smiled.

“I guess you’re right” I said rolling my eyes, I had no choice but to trust him now.

“Where are you from?” He asked.

“A small town called Pembroke, what about you?”

“I am from a small town called; Vulcan it’s in Alberta” he told me.

“Wow you’re a long way from home” I said.

“Sometimes not far enough” he said looking away.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“It’s a long story and I should get going” he told me.

Of course, just as I was starting to find things out about him, he decides to leave.

“I’ll call you when the supplies get here” I told him.

“Perfect, I can’t wait” he said and gets in his truck. Before he leaves, he smiles at me one last time.