The Visitor IV

She picked up the phone and listened to a tirade that she could not make head or tail of.
“…send your boyfriend to beat me up…” she caught that and yelled, “Stop! What did you say?”
“If you didn’t want to get to know me, you could have said so, you numbfuckbitch…why the bloody fuck did you send your boyfriend to send your message!” he shouted.
“Oh my God…” Jane whispered…and apologised profusely to David James on the phone; not that it mattered, because he was so mad he did not pause to listen but just had his say of many expletives and a law suit, and banged the phone down.
Jane clutched her hands over her chest. Stupid, why did she trust Marvin to do that for her. He was a borderline psycho...she sat down hard. Could it be Marvin?
She was still puzzling over the whole affair when she finished dinner. She had a shower and got ready for bed. I really must talk to Marvin tomorrow, she thought, what was he thinking!
Her aching head and a couple of aspirin sent her to dreamland, and soon she settled into a deep sleep with strange dreams.  She dreamt that she was running along a river trying to escape from something chasing her. She was gasping hard, as she ran right into a fog and could not see anything. She started coughing and jerked up awake in her bed. She was actually coughing as her room was filled with smoke. She glanced at the clock and realised that she must have been asleep for the last three hours or so.
You got to be kidding me, she muttered, getting up and looking around for a weapon. She did not want to be caught unaware.  She went to her wardrobe and pulled off the cloth hanger bar and sprint to the door.
She almost screamed as she saw a bulky image in the smoke, blundering around.  She saw red, and felt that enough was enough. Marvin, she whispered and moved forward.  He lunged at her and she hit him with the bar, making him stagger back. She hit him again, making him fall with a low growl.
Something in her kitchen exploded, and she felt extreme heat. She turned and ran down the stairs, screaming.
“Marvin, get out of there,” she shouted as she ran.  As soon as she opened her door, the whole place seemed to explode.  The force of the explosion sent her flying into her front yard, jamming her against the flowers.  She fell into darkness.
She came to in the hospital, flat on her back with a broken arm. Marvin was looking down at her, in his usual dewy way.
“My house…”  Jane stammered.
Marvin looked properly sympathetic, “I’m sorry Jane. Your house was razed to the ground. Nothing much was salvaged. Lucky thing someone saw the fire and called the fire department.  He died by the way; poor sod was not able to escape from the house. Seems like, he was randomly targeting things to burn, including houses. I don’t know whether he even knew what he was doing.”
Marvin left soon after, much to Jane’s relief.
Later in the evening,   the nurse came in with a bunch of wild flowers, sent by a shy man, she says, who didn’t want to disturb her.  
Jane mourned her home, but she knew she would be able to build a new house with the insurance, maybe smaller with less memory of Joe, but she would be fine.  
The pyromaniac was buried a few days afterwards; in attendance was Maggie Barskin, who still had bandaged hands. She had tried going into the house to get her grandson, but she was too late.
Jane forgave Nancy for telling her cousin Marvin about the internet dating site. Throwing rocks with messages will not be his next activity after Jane’s talking to and threats.
Jane’s life was on track again; except for a certain niggling desire to explore the other side of the woods.

[b]Ends[/b]