****
I groaned and held my head as the tiny hammers in it kept beating away. “I swear, I have never passed out in my life before coming here, and this is the second time now.”
“You were in a fire, I think it’s acceptable.”
I smiled and looked to my right at Logan who was sitting comfortably in a chair, with his feet up on the side of my bed. Turned out there really was no hospital in Wolves Creek, but there was a clinic which dealt with everything from giving you stitches, to performing brain surgery. The clinic was small, but the room was cosy and the amount of flowers dotting the room made me smile and my heart felt lighter. Jackson wasn’t lying when he had said that this was a community that looked after each other, and since the night before when I’d been bought here, I’d had too many visitors to keep track of and numerous bouquets of flowers and grapes delivered. One minute the people act like you have a contagious disease, and the next they are sending you fruit and flowers. I couldn’t keep up. Logan was the latest in a long line of people coming to visit me, and as I saw him as one of my best friends in this place, it made me very happy to see him. He had been sat with me for about half an hour, and given me the latest details of the fire and what was going on outside of these walls. Since being brought in, they’d removed the oxygen mask and were just doing routine checks on me periodically, hopeful I should be ready to leave in a few hours’ time. Jackson and his ‘enforcers’- or whatever he called them – had discovered that the fire was the result of an arson attack, and now the race was on to find out who would be malicious enough to set fire to a building with a family in it, including a small child. No-one had any clue who would want to hurt Noah and his family, or indeed myself, but the group were working around the clock to try and figure it out. As this was such a small community, with very few visitors, it was especially worrying. This was a community founded on trust and family, so knowing that the culprit was probably someone they all knew, made it that much harder to comprehend.
Noah and his family had lost their beautiful home and their business, but were apparently staying positive. Well, as positive as you can be in this situation. The family were currently living with Jackson, as he had a big enough place to pretty much house the entire town. He had come by earlier in the day and I was not ashamed to admit I cried, as I thanked him for saving my life. I knew I would have been dead right now if he hadn’t come and saved me. I’d asked him how he’d managed to jump from that height without breaking any bones, but he’d just shrugged as if it were nothing, and told me he would explain everything soon. To be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of how much cryptic shit goes on in this place.
“Why do people always give you fruit when you’re ill? Like, I already feel like shit, at least give me chocolate or something!” Logan said, and I laughed which turned in to another coughing fit, and Logan looked at me with concern.
“Fruit is good for you,” I gasp.
“Mental health is just as important as physical health, and I’ve gotta say I’m a lot happier when I’m eating chocolate than when I’m eating a bunch of grapes.”
I laughed again and felt lighter than I had done in a long time. I’d only been in town for a few weeks and I already felt like I belonged at Wolves Creek more than I ever did living with Craig. I had realised now that what I had with Craig wasn’t even a very healthy relationship. After spending time with these amazing people, I understood now that I had clung on to Craig purely to get some stability in my life. I was tired of having no-one, and wanted to be part of a family again. It turned out that even a good group of friends can be like a close family, and I felt more content than I had done in a long time. Logan was turning out to be the father figure I never had, offering me advice when I needed it, but also making sure I laughed every time we were together. I had been wondering about his story, and whether he had any family in town, but I felt it would be rude if I asked him, knowing that if he wanted me to know then he would tell me. Something still struck me as odd though. In this day and age it was hard to remember the last time you even spoke to your neighbours. Everyone was in a hurry, and I was ashamed to admit that I’d had no idea who was living down my road when I lived in the city. Being here was like being in some kind of parallel universe. Everyone knew everyone, and seemed to like each other too. It really was like one big family, and call me a cynic but to me it just didn’t make any sense. Either I had gone back in time to a generation who actually got on with each other, or there was something else going on.