Reformation Ch. 01

"Yes," Owen replied in a calm tone.

"After The Reformation, you ceased to be my son and her brother but became our Master. In turn I ceased to be her mother and she is no longer my daughter but we are instead Fellow Slaves to you. Do you understand, we feel more like your wives than your kin?" Taryn said and finished, almost fearful of Owen's reaction.

"Yeah, exactly," was all Owen said with a broad smile on his face as he leaned in and kissed Taryn and then Rosina on the lips.

The evening wore on and the dinner turned to dancing, drinks accompanied the dancing. Yet during all this time, Richard never showed. The family was disappointed that Richard was a no-show but this was not unlike Richard to miss important events due to work concerns.

Eventually the evening was over and the time had come to go home. A strange thing happened when the time came to pay the bill. Without really thinking about it, Owen paid the bill with a credit card and the family started to pack up to leave. An embarrassed waitress came back saying the card was declined, flustered the family produced credit card after credit card until every last one had been tried and declined. Angrily, Owen pulled out his cell-phone and started to dial the credit card company, only to find that the phone wasn't working, even though he had good signal. Angrily Owen paid the bill with his debit-card and the family left the restaurant to catch a cab to take them home. Owen would deal with the phone and credit card companies tomorrow.

* * *

Richard looked at his watch as he stood in the master bedroom of his home and noted that it was 6:15 pm. Richard smiled to himself, happy that the time had finally come to put his plan in action. Richard picked up the phone and made the last two phone calls that he had to do to make his plan complete. Richard then returned to his room, and changed into his best suit and examined himself in the mirror. Smiling to himself that he did look good, he went into the closet and retrieved the gun that he had bought not long ago. Richard made sure that the gun was loaded before he put it in his pocket while leaving the room.

Richard walked downstairs and out the back door. Richard went to the garage and paused to look at both cars parked beside each other. Picking up the full jerry-can of gasoline he poured a splattering of gas on both cars and the walls before walking out, trailing gasoline from the garage into the house. Upon entering the house Richard went from room to room tossing gasoline around liberally, until he was back in the Master bedroom where he tossed the empty Jerry-can aside.

Returning to the garage, Richard lit a match and tossed it into the pool of gasoline where it erupted in flames. Even as Richard left the garage, the flames quickly spread and engulfed the whole garage. Richard walked calmly up to the master bedroom sat on the bed, removed the gun from his pocket, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. Richard's body fell back on the bed with a hole in its head as the house started to catch on fire, in minutes the house was also engulfed in flames.

* * *

As the cab turned the last corner, Owen, Taryn and Rosina saw that their quiet street was bustling with activity. Fire- trucks lined the street and fire-fighters were fighting a losing battle against a fire that was raging at a house down the street. Police were on the scene trying to keep order and the crowd of onlookers back to a safe distance. As the cab pulled up to the action, it was clear that the fire-fighters were not trying to save the house but prevent the fire from spreading to the neighbouring houses. This house was a write-off and unrecognizable amidst the inferno. When the family got out of their cab, they had the horrific realization that this was not a neighbour's house, but their own. Taryn and Rosina collapsed in shock and horror as they saw their decimated home. Owen wrapped his arm around each woman and held them tight, practically holding them up as they watched helplessly their home burn to the ground.