Pyro

            I flicked the lighter on and off, mesmerized by the flame.

            “Melody.”

            The sound of my best friend’s voice jerked me out of my trance.  I looked up to see Kaitlyn walking toward me.

            “Hey,” I said.

            “You know you’re not supposed to have that in school!”  Kaitlyn scolded quietly.

            “So?  It’s not like I’m going to get caught.  Besides, we’re not technically in the school yet, and homeroom doesn’t start for another five minutes.”

            I was sitting on one of the benches outside the cafeteria.  We were allowed to eat outside when the weather was nice.

            “So, you could get suspended for even having that on school property!”  she exclaimed.

            “Calm down, it’s fine,” I replied, but I put the lighter away anyway.

            My morning classes were a blur, as usual.  I never fully woke up until after lunchtime.

            It was almost eighty degrees, so everyone chose to eat outside.  Thankfully, I had gotten to lunch early and had snagged us a table.  It consisted of me, Kaitlyn, Deanna, Rochelle, Amy, Gene, Brendan, and Josh.

            Deanna was usually kind of shy, but whenever she was around Gene, she tended to talk more.  They had been going out for almost two years, and quite honestly, I was a little jealous.  Not of Gene, but of their relationship.  They were perfect for each other.  Deanna had a tiny body, bright blue eyes and short blonde hair.  She was perfect-looking, and Gene was her male counter-part, but for the height (he was a good five inches taller).  They were the same personality-wise, too.  While they both had a generally quiet demeanor, they brought out the best in each other.  And as crazy as it may seem for two juniors in high school, they were utterly in love.  I wouldn't be surprised if they got married.

            Kaitlyn and Josh were the complete opposite; both from Deanna and Gene, and from each other.  Where Kaitlyn had dark skin, hair, and eyes, Josh could have passed for Gene’s brother.  They both had completely different personalities, looks, grades, friends, likes, and dislikes.  They were constantly fighting, but they somehow managed to make it work.  Personally, I didn’t see the attraction, but they seemed just as happy as Deanna and Gene.

            Rochelle and Brendan were twins.  Although they were fraternal, they looked nearly identical.  They both had the same black hair and green eyes.  The thing that set them apart was their noses.  While Rochelle had inherited her mother’s tiny nose that even Heidi Montag would covet, Brendan had inherited his father’s large nose.  Still, it worked on him, and it even made him more endearing.

            Amy and I were cousins, but we were nothing alike.  I was loud and somewhat obnoxious (in a good way), flaunting long brown hair and always having a witty comment on hand.  On the other side of the spectrum, Amy was about as shy as Deanna and had red curly hair that she let hang loose.

            I had known everyone at the table since Pre-K, but it hadn’t been until freshman that we had begun to hang out.  Before that, it had been me, Kaitlyn, Amy, and Gene.  Once Gene and Deanna started going out, she began talking to us more often, bringing along Josh, Rochelle, and Brendan.

            “Hey, are you going to finish those fries?”  Gene asked me, reaching towards my tray.

            “Yes!”  I exclaimed, swatting his hand away.

            He still managed to take some, though, and I scowled at him.  He laughed light-heartedly and I let it go, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my lighter.

            “You’re such a freaking pyro,” said Amy, shaking her head.

            I shrugged, not able to truthfully deny it, and flicked the lighter, causing the small flame to appear.  Kaitlyn shot me a disapproving look.

            “That’s not necessarily a good thing.  You should put that away,” Kaitlyn chastised me.

            “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, either,” I joked.

            “Kaitlyn’s right, Mel,” said Brendan, “You could get in trouble.  Fire’s really dangerous.”

            “Nothing’s going to happen,” argued Amy.

            “If she gets caught"”

            “I won’t.”  I cut Brendan off.

            “No, you won’t,” agreed Kaitlyn, “because I’m taking it.”

            In my brief moment of surprise, she reached over and took it from my hand, putting it in her pocket.

            “You can have it back at the end of the day,” she said, sounding like a school administrator.

            I laughed.  “I have another one.”

            I retrieved it from my pocket and held it up, but after the look she gave me, I put it away.

            The rest of the day went by as quickly as the morning had, and soon enough, I was at home, in the far left corner of my room.  It was where I did my homework; I liked to shut the lights and do my work by candlelight.  Despite my display with the lighter at lunch, I loved scented candles more than anything.  Well, except for burning stacks of paper (which I occasionally did in my backyard for entertainment).  I did my homework efficiently, but I had so much work that it still took me a few hours to complete.  I finished up after dinner and flopped into bed around eleven, exhausted.

            I had hoped for a good night’s sleep, but I got no such thing.

            I was startled awake by a blaring noise in my ear.  It took me a moment to comprehend what was going on, but then I really listened to the sound that had woken me up.

            “Fire!  Fire!  Leave immediately!  Fire!  Fire!”

            The fire alarm.

            At first I thought my dad had set it off while cooking, but there were two problems with this explanation.

            First: it was three a.m., and my dad was in bed.

            Second: the huge wall of flames that was coming toward me.

            I stared in shock for a moment, not fully grasping the situation.  Then I sprang into action

            My room connected to the bathroom, with connected to my brother Brian’s room.  I crawled as fast as I could to the bathroom, trying not to choke on all the smoke in the air, and shut the door behind me.  Then I sprinted headlong into Brian’s room.

            “Mel, what’s going on?” he asked drowsily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

            “Fire!  Come on, let’s go!”

            His eyes widened in shock but he didn’t hesitate.  He tore his blankets off and we ran desperately for the stairs.  I was glad to see my parents at the bottom, thankful they had made it out of their room.  We caught up with them quickly and we all made it out the front door in record time.

            “Is everyone okay?” my mom asked.

            We all nodded in response.  My parents and Brian tried not to watch as the house went up in flames, but I was captivated.  It was beautiful and horrendous at the same time.  As destructive as fire was, it was also graceful.  In some weird, twisted way, I was almost enjoying this.

            Apparently someone had called nine-one-one, because, within minutes, fire trucks were turning onto our street.  I watched with rapture as the fire was put out.  My mom made arrangements to stay at a neighbor’s house, as we weren’t cleared to go back into the house.  It seemed my room had taken the brunt of the damage.

            Wait.

            My room… My candles.

            My candles had caused the fire.  I must have forgotten to put them out.  Which meant… this was all my fault.  I was responsible for the house going up in flames.

            The realization washed over me, and I shivered, despite the warm night air.  I couldn’t help but think of Brendan’s words at lunch:  “You could get in trouble.  Fire’s really dangerous…”

Reviews

[Sarah McConnaughey]

This is really good! I went through a phase where I was REALLY fascinated with fire and loved burning anything and everything. It's still there a bit, though. Great story! :)

[Jennifer Neuman]

jesus christ i didnt know you posted this. Probably even better than the first time i read it, keep it up girl!