The Space Between by Erik Tomblin Read Free Book Online

it hit me when I went upstairs. And that damn door was some kind of double-vision hallucination.
    Isaac sighed from deep within his chest, relieved. He sat a moment longer, resolving to call the fire department from his cell phone, still in the Mustang. He could sit outside and wait, keeping clear of the fumes. When they arrived, he would have them take a look at his head. A concussion was not the best welcoming gift, so hopefully he had only given himself a good bump.
    After another ten minutes of cautious struggling, Isaac made it to his car. He collapsed down in the seat, muffling a small yelp as the pain flared. The cell phone was on the passenger side, though Isaac found little relief in the single bar indicating poor signal strength.
    "Damn," he hissed, then dialed 411. It took him three tries to get connected to the Holden City Fire Department. The young woman on the line had trouble hearing him, and just when Isaac thought he'd lost signal, her voice would pipe back up. After five minutes on the phone with her, it seemed she had gotten all she needed. He heard something that sounded like We're sending someone out now" before the phone beeped, indicating the call was over.
    The sun was out, rising up from behind the house and casting him in shadow. He cranked the car to get the heat going. He hadn't noticed the cold until the sweat from his exertion had started to cool. Fortunately, the old car took no time at all to warm up, and soon he was wiping condensation from the windows to get a better look at the house and yard while he waited.
    The new paint looked even brighter in the approaching daylight. A low fog hung at the edge of the yard, poking out from the woods as if curious over the new arrival. There were a few large trees visible in the front yard, placed far enough apart as to not interfere with one another. They were old (some kind of willow, Isaac guessed) with low-flying branches, some of which were so heavy that they sloped out and touched the ground. Spanish moss hung in the boughs like dusty spider webs. The lawn was well kept, a dark fescue variety that enjoyed the shade from the trees. Isaac also noticed that it seemed recently trimmed.
    "You guys thought of everything," Isaac whispered, thinking of the attorneys involved in the trust. Of course, they had simply been following instructions.
    But whose?
    Before he could get too deep in these thoughts, Isaac cocked his head to one side and turned the heat down while lowering his window an inch. The far-off wail of sirens was, he hoped, a good indication his phone call had been understood. It didn't take long for help to arrive. The sirens grew louder, their echoes bouncing around in the small valley. Isaac could see the flashing lights through the trees as the emergency vehicles approached: a fire engine followed by an ambulance. He felt a little silly to be attracting so much attention his first twelve hours in this tiny town, but as he pulled himself out of the car and the pain reminded him why he'd called to begin with, he welcomed the strong sense of relief upon seeing them pull into his driveway.
     

Five
    Isaac sat on the front porch steps of the old house as the emergency vehicles disappeared behind the trees down Mt. Zion Trail. The morning had warmed a bit, and the coffee a deputy sheriff had been kind enough to bring by helped warm his insides as he watched the house's shadow shorten atop the grass and gravel. The fog was retreating back into the woods, and the thin layer of moisture blanketing the lawn and car was fading at a similar pace. He stared at the wooden steps under him, letting his eyes trace the path of each grain.
    As the paramedics had tended to Isaac — checking his pulse, blood pressure, and basic neurological responses — a pair of firefighters entered the house carrying a clipboard and what Isaac guessed was some kind of carbon monoxide detector. After seeing the knot on the back of Isaac's head, one of the paramedics offered