Page 1 of Please Save Me

Prologue

Cameron

Twenty-three years ago…

Kingsbury, Quebec

Sleep never came easy to me. I was always too much of a thinker, pondering worries and plans deep into the night while staring at my darkened ceiling. As the night wore on I’d begin talking to God, asking him to put me to sleep. When that didn’t work, I’d start asking Him other questions, like ‘Why do you let people sin?’ and ‘Can I still go to heaven even though I flipped off my sister that one time?’

Unfortunately for me, sleeping in wasn’t an option after a long night of pondering life’s great mysteries. Chores started early on the farm; if you woke up too late, you’d lose daylight, and in the summer, it’d get too damn hot to work. This morning felt like a scorcher; the sun wasn’t even up yet and I was already sweating through my tangled mass of bedsheets.

As I took a deep breath of morning air, the scent of burning wood tickled my nose. It wasn’t an unfamiliar smell; the house was old, and the wood stove was our only heat source during the bitter winter. But, wait...

How could it be winterandsummer at the same time?

My eyes crept open. The smell may have been normal, but the thick black smoke blanketing my ceiling surewasn’t.

In my sleep-deprived haze, it took a moment to process what was happening. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I was still dreaming—until part of my ceiling hit the ground with a bang, jolting me wide awake.

Hell had infested my room. The fire was spreading quickly across my carpet, and my curtains were already ablaze. I tripped on my comforter while trying to unwind myself, clawing at the floor, frantically trying to find my feet and get up the steps to the main part of the house.

I used to sleep upstairs, but I moved to the basement when my little brother was born so his nursery could be closer to my parents’ room. If he cried when I was awake, I’d tend to him. My ma and pa did enough as it was—why wake them when I was already up? Besides, I didn’t mind changing diapers or making bottles. Most boys my age wanted nothing to do with babies, but I wanted to help my family any way I could.

As my feet hit the bottom stair, a grim thought filled my mind: What if I never got a chance to take care of my siblings again? Why did I refuse last night when my sister asked me to read her a bedtime story?

If—no,whenwe got out of this, I’d make more time for them.

The world seemed to move in slow motion as I finally reached the door at the top of the smoldering basement steps. Without thinking, I grabbed the brass handle, then yanked back when the searing metal burned my palm. I yelped and cradled my hand to my chest, but quickly brushed off the pain.

Later, I could be hurt. Right now, I needed to get to my family.

The steps creaked and crackled as I dashed down them and out the back door, silently thanking God my room had a direct exit to the yard. Snow crunched under my bare feet as the heat evaporated from my body into thin, steamy clouds. The cold stung, but I barely registered it over the adrenaline rushing through my veins.

The flames roared behind me, casting the world in a wicked orange glow. Aside from the fire, the entire farm was eerily quiet. I wished I could hear screaming—at least then I'd know my family was still alive.

A smart man would’ve run for the hills, but I was never known for being bright. Moving purely on instinct, I sprinted around my home, looking for an entrance that wouldn't lead to my immediate incineration.

When I finally reached the front of the house, a set of headlights blinded me. I cupped a hand over my eyes and squinted, barely making out the silhouette of a familiar black truck. Some of the tension in my shoulders dropped as Reverend Dale Cooper hopped out of the vehicle.

Reverend Cooper wasn’t a tall man, but his charisma made him a powerful presence all the same. Somehow, he could bring people together, make them feel special, and heal their woes through the power of God. Lately, I’d been walking up the road to his house every day to learn whatever he was willing to teach me. He said if I played my cards right, I could become a spiritual leader just like him, and I couldn’t wait. All I wanted to do in life was help people; there wasn’t a better way to do it than by spreading the word of Christ.

Hope filled me as I sprinted toward my mentor. He was one of the handful of people in town that owned a cell phone. That meant he could call for help, assuming he hadn’t already. By the time I reached him, the adrenaline in my system had run dry, leaving me exhausted and shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.

“Reverend,” I choked. He had been teaching me English for years, but right now, I could barely remember any of it.

“Calvin… where’s your family?”

His cowboy drawl was still as thick as it had been, ever since he moved here from America. He never mentioned which state he was from, but I had to assume it was Texas. That was the only state I knew the name of, anyway.

I pointed toward the upstairs windows, which had shattered, allowing billowing smoke to escape into the night sky. My heart felt like a hummingbird crashing into my ribcage, wings fluttering rapidly against my chest.

I turned to run inside. To hell with safety, Ineededto save my family.

But before I could take a step, Reverend Dale jumped onto my back, wrapping his arms around my chest and his legs around my waist. The unexpected force sent us both flying forward—If it weren’t for the thick blanket of snowcushioning my fall, I probably would’ve broken my nose. Surely the reverend was just trying to help, but this was a hell of a way to do it.

“Lemme go help my family!” That was all I could manage through mouthfuls of dirt and ice.

I thrashed against him, frantically trying to find my footing, but a sharp pain warmed the side of my neck. After a moment of darkness, I found myself running toward the house as the world spun under my feet. Something tripped me at the bottom of the steps, but as my hands slammed down onto the weathered wood, I kept fighting, pulling myself board by board onto the small front porch. As I reached one hand toward the knob on the front door it almost seemed to glow, inviting me to join my family inside.

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