She Set the Fire Alarm, I Burned Her Whole World Down

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I had just stripped down to get in the shower when the fire alarm went off.

I grabbed a towel and bolted, and the second I burst into the living room, a crowd of people stood there with their phones aimed at me, leering.

Hahaha! There's no fire. How did you dare come running out with no clothes on?

Audrey Finch waved something in her hand. "This is a new fire-alarm toy I just bought!"

I was so humiliated I turned to teach her a lesson, but she ducked behind Tyler Gilbert and made a face at me.

"Tyler lost the game, so he let us prank you."

"Yeah, come on, sis don't be mad."

Tyler frowned at me too, annoyed. "It was just a joke. Was that worth swinging your hand at someone?"

"Get back inside already. You're an embarrassment."

...

I stood there covered in soot, my face burning with the shame of it, more than a dozen phones snapping away at me.

Worried it wasn't bright enough, they even switched on their flashes, the glare stinging my eyes until I could only shut them and stand there helpless.

Tyler's friends pointed at my body, their tone all mockery.

"Tsk tsk tsk, that figure, that body. If I were Tyler, I'd waste all the time in the world chasing her down too."

"Damn! Watching this is killing me."

"Please, you men are such dogs. A woman covered head to toe in soot and you're still worked up?"

"I think she's shameless. She didn't stop to think, just came running out to show us all that pretty body of hers."

"So she came out on her own to let every man here look at her."

"Ugh! That's disgusting!"

"See! So don't go blaming me for pranking her."

I opened my eyes to ten people ringed around me, pointing, throwing out whatever insult and jeer they pleased.

And the one who'd started it all, Audrey, kept filming, drunk on the pleasure of getting even.

Behind her, pressed close, was my husband, Tyler. The two of them practically wrapped around each other.

"Haha, Tyler, and the rest of you, you all lost!"

"Now down to business. Transfer my money back first."

Tyler reached out and smoothed a few loose strands of her hair, his eyes warm with a smile as he answered. "You, you. When it comes to pranking people, you'd rank second and no one would dare take first."

"That's on her for being so stupid. So easy to play with."

Audrey shot me a contemptuous glance, then lowered her phone and pressed the group to send the transfers.

They tapped at their phones and kept sneaking looks at my chest.

"Tsk tsk, if I'd known, I'd have cut her robe even shorter. Then we could've seen everything."

"It's your fault. Tyler wasn't stopping us at all, and you had to play the good guy and hold me back."

Every word they said reached my ears, not one syllable missed.

That was when I understood. They had used me as the bet, and the losers got to prank me, to make a spectacle of me in front of everyone.

And who else but Tyler could have cut my robe short without me ever noticing?

My heart felt like it was being cut open, the pain coming in wave after wave.

But once the pain passed, all that was left was fury, filling me up until there was nothing else.

Once the transfers hit her phone, Audrey grinned and patted their shoulders.

"Heh, thanks."

"Next time, we'll go harder."

I was so angry I walked straight over, ready to slap her.

But Tyler caught my hand in a flash and flung me aside.

The laughter around me cut off. Nobody dared make another sound.

Only Audrey stayed pleased with herself, pulling a face at me.

"Nyah, nyah, you can't hit me, you can't touch me!"

"Bet that just kills you, doesn't it!"

The anger surged back up in me, and just then the towel slipped. I grabbed at it with both hands.

Audrey seized the chance and darted forward, slapping me twice, left and right across the face.

"You can't touch me, but I sure can touch you."

I glared at her through the stinging heat on my cheeks, shaking with rage.

"Audrey, don't push your luck."

"Oh please! Weren't you the one who came at me first?"

"So you get to hit me, but I don't get to hit you back?"

If it weren't for Tyler, I would have torn her apart right there.

Maybe he thought it had gone too far. Tyler frowned and stepped in.

"Enough!"

"This is over now."

Over? I was the one who got humiliated.

Prank me and then call it over? There was no deal that sweet in this world.

Seeing my anger hadn't cooled, Tyler set his face and turned to me.

"That's enough. Stop it."

"Audrey's still young, she doesn't understand these things. You're older than her, you should know where the line is."

"Besides, she was only joking with you."

"Audrey, come here and apologize."

Seeing how serious Tyler's face was, Audrey came forward, reluctant but obedient.

"Hey! Sorry, old hag."

The whole room burst out laughing before they could stop themselves.

Audrey pushed out her lips in what she thought was a cute little pout. "She's a few years older than me, isn't she? What is she if not an old hag?"

Tyler paused, then gave a helpless little laugh and flicked her nose.

Being treated like that, I finally slapped her clean across the face.

The air went silent all at once. All I could hear was my own heart, pounding on and on in my chest.

"If your mother gave birth to you but never taught you manners, I don't mind teaching you how to behave in her place."

Tyler's hand shot up and shoved me back. He put his whole weight behind it, and with both of mine still clutching the robe closed,

I lost my balance and slammed into the coffee table beside me.

My forehead caught the corner. My lower belly hit the edge.

As I slid to the floor, the pain came with me, sharp and blinding.

I couldn't hold back a scream, and behind me the crowd, seeing me like that, roared with laughter.

"Serves her right. Knew she was barely dressed and still picked a fight!"

The one who said that was Tyler. It was not something a husband should say to his own wife, and even less was that a hand a husband should raise against her.

And Audrey, the one who'd started it all, cried out as if she were the wronged one. "Tyler, does that old hag know my parents are divorced? Is that why she said that about me?"

"I was only making one small little joke. Did she have to take it that far and drag my mom into it?"

Tyler pulled her into his arms and soothed her, like he was coaxing a child.

Wave after wave of pain rolled through my lower belly, nearly more than I could bear.

Something was wrong. This felt like a miscarriage.

Tyler turned his head and shouted at me, "Are you going to lie there playing dead for sympathy?"

"Get up and apologize to Audrey."

His eyes were dead set on making me apologize.

But I couldn't get up at all. My whole body was trembling.

If he still cared about me even a little, he would have noticed how white my face had gone.

When I felt the warmth begin to slide down, I knew for certain I'd lost the baby.

I hadn't even known I was going to be a mother, and already I was losing it forever.

When they saw the red spreading under me, everyone froze.

"Damn, this went way too far."

"If Tyler hadn't shoved her, how could she..."

Maybe they felt the rest was too cruel to say, so the words stopped there.

Tyler let go of Audrey, thrown into a panic of his own.

Seeing Tyler care only about me, Audrey started crying again.

"Tyler, Eve, I'm sorry."

"This is all my fault. I never should have suggested the prank game."

With that, she bolted out the door.

Then came a fall down the stairs and her wretched scream.

Tyler went rigid, and the hand that had been a breath away from touching me pulled back.

"Audrey!"

He straightened up and left me nothing but one line: "I'm going to check on Audrey first."

A few steps out, he turned back to look at me. "Don't blame me for leaving you now. If you hadn't hit her first, none of this would have happened."

"Her parents are divorced, she basically lives alone, and you went and rubbed salt in her wound."

"You two!"

He looked at his friends.

"Help me get her to the hospital."

And with that, his figure disappeared from my sight.

I couldn't help a bitter, hollow laugh.

Tyler Gilbert, oh, Tyler Gilbert. He'd probably forgotten.

My parents died in the sea long ago, saving his family.

Their bodies were never even recovered, left to drift out there as lost, homeless ghosts.

I remembered how he'd knelt at the shore back then, facing me, swearing through his tears.

"Eve, don't be afraid!"

"From now on I'll take care of you the way your parents would have. I'll be the sky over you, protect you for the rest of your life, and never let you suffer."

The words were still there in my memory, but the man who swore them had changed long ago.

My vision blurred with tears. My head slowly sank against the floor. It was cold, without the smallest bit of warmth.

I never once imagined that the man who said he'd never let me suffer even a little would be the one to hand me more suffering than I could count.

I was only sixteen when I lost my mother and father. I'd told him clearly, if there was no love, then don't marry me.

He said there was love, and there was responsibility too. Both.

I had only just turned eighteen when I married him.

Audrey Finch's voice drifted over. "Go. I don't want you looking after me!"

"She's hurt worse than I am. You should go back and take care of her."

"This isn't serious? The skin's peeled right off my foot."

"You love looking pretty so much, how could you ever stand this?"

In the end, he lifted her into his arms and hurried off to the hospital.

And forgot that behind him, his wife had just miscarried, and needed a hospital too.

Why couldn't he take us both? I closed my eyes and shed my last tear for him.

Because Audrey Finch had once said she didn't like sharing a car with me.

Tyler Gilbert remembered that. The only thing he couldn't remember was what I liked.

"Eve, let me get you to the hospital."

Someone helped me up. The pain was so bad I couldn't walk.

Blood had soaked the bathrobe red, and he flinched back like it disgusted him.

"We'd better just call an ambulance!"

"Tyler, honestly. His wife's in this state and he doesn't even call an ambulance before he leaves."

"Can't you tell yet? There's only room for Audrey Finch in his world. Why would he ever remember Eve Henson?"

"Then from now on we'd better stick close to Audrey Finch, so Tyler treats us well!"

My awareness slipped away, and I closed my eyes and sank into unconsciousness.

When I opened them again, two days had passed.

The room was quiet enough to hear nothing but my own breathing. I was thirsty, desperate for water, and found there was none.

I lifted my head toward the nightstand. Someone had brought my bag over, I didn't know who.

I took out my phone, wanting to call someone, and realized I had no one to call.

A man who clearly saw his wife miscarry and still ran to another woman without a second thought. Calling him would be pointless.

I opened my messages and found a group chat where people were passing around the photos of my humiliation from two days ago.

Dozens of pictures, every one of my movements caught from a different angle.

The chat had gone wild.

"Damn! That body is unreal."

"Please. So she's got a couple extra pounds up top, and you men all lose it over that?"

"If you ask me, she's a real slut, running out without a stitch on."

"Ha, that's our Audrey for you. She actually talked Tyler into pranking her."

"..."

Every word, every line, blaming me, shaming me, leaving me nowhere to turn.

I wasn't the one in the wrong. Why should I be the one everyone pointed at and picked apart?

Taking my photos without my consent and posting them to humiliate me, that was a violation of my image rights.

I gripped the phone hard and dialed a string of numbers.

Only after I'd filed the police report did I leave the hospital.

I got home, and the moment I opened the door, someone yanked me inside in the roughest way possible.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Audrey just used a few of your photos to have a laugh in a chat. And you call the cops to have her arrested?"

"Drop the case, now!"

Fresh out of surgery, I was weak, without any strength to struggle.

"Let go of me!"

Tyler Gilbert flung me down to the floor, out of all patience.

The pain twisted my face, and it took me a long while to climb back up.

But he wasn't done with me.

"Tsk. So now you've learned to play pitiful and beg for sympathy. Let me tell you, I'm not buying it."

"What you should do right now is call the police and drop the charges."

"Audrey's still young. A record like this would ruin the rest of her life."

I straightened up and met his eyes.

"If it had been me who set her up, took the ugly photos, and posted them in the group to make everyone laugh at her, what would you do to me, Tyler?"

My question caught him off guard.

No answer, was it? I turned to walk away. I'd barely taken a few steps when his voice came after me, threatening, warning.

"If you don't want your parents' ashes smashed, you'd better drop the charges right now."

I froze. I hadn't thought he would go this far for Audrey.

I'd told myself I wouldn't let it hurt anymore, and still something closed around my heart and squeezed until I could hardly breathe.

For him to say it meant he would do it.

"Tyler, my mom and dad died in the sea saving your whole family!"

He said nothing. His eyes stayed red the whole time.

A moment later he pulled out his phone, and the fear got to me first. I called and dropped the charges before he could move.

The air around us went silent. In the end I was the one who broke it.

"I'll send the divorce papers to your email. Remember to sign them."

He whipped his head around and stared at me, stunned. He hadn't expected me to ask for a divorce.

"Eve, you need to understand. Leave me, and you'll have nothing. You'll have nowhere to go."

I didn't care anymore. I turned and went inside.

I sat in the room the whole afternoon, and once the sky went dark, I got up to shower.

Halfway through, the fire alarm went off again.

I already knew someone had come to mess with me, so I kept washing, calm and unhurried.

After a while smoke drifted into the bathroom, the alarm shrieking on and on, and outside came the running and the panicked screaming. I threw on a robe and rushed out.

There was lubricant spread across the floor, and I went flying.

"Ha, this idiot fell for it again."

"Pay up."

"Damn, Eve, you're dumber than a pig. Same trick, twice."

I looked at the pack of them, humiliated and furious. Audrey glared back at me, smug.

"What are you staring at, you old hag?"

"This is what you get for calling the cops on me. Report it again and Tyler will smash your parents' graves."

"Whoa, then we've got nothing to be scared of either."

Every one of them, all of them, was picking on me for being an orphan. If Tyler hadn't given the nod, how would any of them dare?

"That's enough. All of it stops here. Get out, every one of you."

Tyler had come in, holding the lobster Audrey loved most.

Audrey walked over and reached out to take it. I grabbed something and threw it at Tyler.

"Tyler, all of you will pay for this."

I hurt my leg, and limped back into the room.

Tyler watched my defeated back, then turned a cold stare on all of them.

They left in a hurry. Tyler didn't come find me. He was certain I wouldn't dare leave him.

Audrey wanted to stay the night, and he agreed.

When she came out of the shower, she went further and demanded that Tyler dry her hair himself.

It was obviously meant to humiliate me. After I'd packed my things and stepped out, talk came drifting from the next room.

"Tyler, I'm carrying your child. Why won't you just divorce that old hag?"

"There, there. She can't develop anymore. Once you have the baby, you'll have my mother's approval."

"What? She can't get pregnant?"

"Didn't you say you wanted her uterus removed? While she was unconscious and getting the miscarriage procedure, I had the doctor take her uterus out."

My eyes flew open. I stood there listening to the cruel truth, unable to believe it.

He heard the noise in there, and still he didn't come out to explain.

He only said one thing: "The place of Mrs. Gilbert is yours forever. What more could you want?"

Then came Audrey's smug laughter, and after it the filthy, coaxing moans.

And right then the microwave exploded.

Flames shot out in every direction. There was no time to grieve. I rushed to pull the fire alarm.

"Tyler, get out here now, there's a fire!"

Audrey clung to him for dear life and wouldn't let him leave.

"Don't believe her. She's just messing with us to try and win you back."

"I want to sleep with you right in front of her face."

The fire had already spread to their door. Getting out would be hard now.

I rushed out, running and calling the fire department as I went.

Behind me came a shrill, agonized scream: "Ah! It really is on fire, get up!"

"I can't! I think I'm stuck!"