Ember

by Madison Daniel

  “Wake up!” Asia’s voice cracked.

  “He can’t!” Sam finally snapped. “Not with all this rain!” she was screaming now too. They stared at each other angrily for a moment before wiping the rain from their faces.

  “He’s so cold. What do we do?” Asia barely asked.

  “Nothing,” Sam answered in pain. “He’s not breathing…there’s too much blood…” she choked a little. “I think he’s really gone.”

  “No!” Asia bellowed and dug her nails into my bloody shirt. She rose to her feet staring up into the rain and the wind swirled out of control. Her hands closed into fists as the winds rushed through the streets, in the direction that Devon drove off. She ran to her truck, quickly revved the engine and screeched the tires as she tore out of the parking lot.

  Sirens filled the air just as the rain began to fade and Sam cradled what was left of me, in her arms. She folded under the weight of her misery and tears streamed down her face. My body lied still and cold as the wind died down to nothing.

  THE CHASE…

  Asia’s eyes were two balls of steel fire as she gripped the steering wheel. She pushed the truck to its limits as the scenery flew by at a dangerous pace. Faster and faster she forced the Jeep forward. The clouds followed at the same quickening pace, morphing themselves into black walls of fire. Lightning chased through them as they grew and stretched along the sky. The wind barreled forward like a freight train, leveling any brush or tree that lied in its way.

  Her tears began to sting from the icy rain that had engulfed her maniac hurricane. She didn’t care and pushed her hate forward even harder when she finally saw the flicker of a tiny tail light up ahead. Her teeth smashed together and the sky split apart with a dozen streaks of white fire. The thunder had reached the point of a small earthquake, shaking her and the truck like a toy. Power lines blew as she passed them and her heart raced out of control.

  Devon didn’t have time to see what was quickly clawing its way toward him because of the pounding hail. He could barely keep the bike upright as the storm fell down on him so hard it hurt. By the time he managed to see the building Armageddon behind him, it was too late. He just didn’t know it yet. At this speed, the slightest wobble would send him crashing so he eased his speed just enough to turn off on a mysterious path up a near-by mountain. He pushed the bike to its limits, even though it wasn’t made to travel off road and the giant black mass followed. He felt a rush of panic but never stopped as the bike made its way up the mountain, through thick brush and scattered rocks.

  Asia was close now and the clouds moved even faster as she realized that he had made the worst possible choice he could have, turning off the main roads. She knew all the back roads of every island and this particular one was one of her favorites. It was the same one she had brought me to that led to the ridge over the ocean, where we shared each other’s secrets. The thought was too painful and made her sick to her stomach. She gritted her teeth together and closed the gap between her and the bike.

  Devon’s eyes burned from the stinging wind and he couldn’t see where he was going anymore, it was too dark. The smell of the ocean was close and that confused him as he made his way through a clearing and realized that he was running out of road. There were cliffs up ahead and nothing more as he shivered from the ice cold wind. The moon slipped from behind the black and menacing clouds over him, making him ease up on the throttle so he could get a better look of what lied ahead. Big mistake…

  Asia plowed into him and his bike with a gut wrenching scream. He flew from the bike, twisting and tumbling with the sounds of bones breaking. She slammed on the breaks sending her truck into a long skid, that she jumped from before it came to a complete stop. Devon’s body came to an abrupt halt against a medium out cropping of rocks sticking from the ground. He was only thirty yards from the edge, the same edge where Asia stood testing me. Where I healed her scar on her hip. His bike crashed against the very same rocks before slowly scraping over the edge, falling away.

  Asia stormed forward as he regained consciousness. The wind and thunder caught up with them and stabbed him so hard that he could barely breathe. The sound bled from the sky like a war zone. Lightning swarmed all around filling his body with static and a tingling that eased his pain for a moment. Waves crashed from below the cliff as the ocean seemed to reach for the sky. Spouts formed from nowhere in the clouds and reached down for the thriving waters. Funnels danced above the growing sea like serpents. The ground shook and he tried to focus his eyes on the approaching silhouette.

  “Please help me!” he screamed as the icy hail shredded his open wounds. “I’m hurt bad!” he begged. The haunting shadow never answered his calls for mercy. He began to cry uncontrollably. Lightning flashed, revealing Asia’s vengeful face and he realized that all his begging was in vain.

  “Why?” her hands squeezed into fists. “Why?”

  Devon started to go into shock and he was losing too much blood now to think straight. She kept stomping forward with the wind swirling behind her and the thunder rolled steady until something stopped her in her tracks. The shiny barrel of Devon’s gun gleamed back at her from the wet ground and she froze still. The wind seemed to circle the clearing and the rain faded to a drizzle. Devon instantly found it easier to breathe again and slowly tried to get to his feet. He only made it as far as his knees when the bones started popping and sending pain down his back. His eyes watched Asia frozen in front of him and he wondered if he was in some bizarre dream.

  Her eyes would not move from the gun even as the lightning flickered inside its reflection. Her mind drifted away. She drifted back to the night in the Jeep when she first asked me to stay the night. Then her mind rushed her back to the afternoon on the beach when our eyes first met. Then back to her house when she gave everything she could to me. Everything except the words that I wanted to hear the most, the words I deserved to hear. In her mind a single image appeared. One single flame flickered to life against a black background of clouds. It danced back and forth beautifully until the sound of a gunshot echoed everywhere. The flame disappeared into a trail of smoke followed by blackness.

  Asia’s eyes flew open with icy tears along her cheeks. Her hands grabbed the sides of her head as she screamed with the force of the surrounding storm.

  “I won’t lose you!”

  The sky became white with the fire of a thousand lightning strikes. Too many of them slicing right through the ground around them. The wind slammed back into Devon and his crippled body, bringing him to his feet. His oxygen pulled from his lungs and his head was spinning from the lack of blood. The funnel clouds finally stretched their revolving arms to the water, sending the waves smashing into the rocks against the cliffs.

  “Max!” she screamed until her mouth tasted like blood. Devon reached out as she fell to her knees and a single arc of lightning cut through his torso. She buried her hands into the ground and pushed with everything she had left. The wind rushed past her, carrying hateful debris and rocks that slammed into Devon, spinning him through the air and over the cliffs edge. His body tumbled along the wall of the cliff and fell into the raging water. A barrage of lightning bolts crackled over the tops of the violent ocean, sending it into a steaming boil and the thunder shoved its force against the side of the mountain in a deafening parade and then fell silent.

  The tornadoes disappeared into vapor and the black clouds parted, exposing a blanket of stars and the full moon. The waves swished back and forth, quickly falling to a calm again and the rain shrank to a drizzle.

  Asia took a deep breath before wiping her eyes. A long slow moan crept from her chest as she reached for the gun in front of her. As she climbed to her feet she threw the weapon over the edge and turned to her truck. The radio was on and in mid song when suddenly the local station cut to breaking news. She walked up exhausted and turned up the volume. The local reporter was talking about a terrible accident that had occurred earlier in the evening at a local restaurant. She held her b
reath already knowing what the voice was about to say. There were shots fired and one known death but details were still coming in. She clicked the knob off and began to cry as the skies above her cleared and filled the night with bright dancing stars.

  Ashes_32

  ~Love Is Dead: Kerli~

  Breaking Samantha…

  Max felt so cold in my arms. He was so pale now but I thought that if I just held onto him tight enough and long enough, he would wake back up.

  “Please wake up Max.”

  Wake up and I’d never let you hurt again. But he didn’t wake up, he didn’t even move. He only grew colder in my arms, even as the rain stopped and the temperature rose back to normal.

  Two paramedics hopped from their ambulance and looked at us with weary eyes. They had obviously done this a million times and knew that this was not going to be easy; dealing with this silly over emotional girl and her dead boyfriend. They walked up with their medical gear in hand and placed their equipment beside me. One of the men sighed and I could have sworn that he rolled his eyes at the situation. How dare they stare at us like that.

  “Excuse me miss,” the first paramedic said softly. “We need to help him now,” he tried his best to be polite but I knew better. They both knew there was no helping him but still they pretended that he was fixable.

  “Miss?” the other paramedic asked. He was less polite and my eyes filled with rage.

  “Don’t touch him!” I cried. “He’s gone and you know it!”

  “We’re here to help,” the kinder man said. It took a moment but for some reason I believed him. Slowly I let go of Max’s body and stood up, nervously taking a few steps back. I couldn’t stop shaking as they began to check his body for signs of life and just how much damage was done. They knew immediately that he was long gone and one of them called the hospital to let them know the situation, while the nicer paramedic came up to me quietly.

  “Miss?” his voice was soft.

  “It’s Sam…Samantha Summers,” I tried not to sound rude.

  “Miss Summers, we have to move him now,” he said. In a daze I watched from behind him as the other paramedic had Max’s I.D. and was giving out his information over the phone. My heart sank thinking of the call that Frank would soon be receiving. A sad fact washed over me as they prepared Max’s body to place on the gurney, this was my fault. I should have seen this coming. I knew Devon better than anyone. I could have stopped this.

  The gurney with Max’s lifeless body clanked against the side of the ambulance as they loaded him in the back, snapping me out of my fog. With little hesitation I climbed in the back too. One of the men tried to stop me at first but I just pushed passed him and snatched up Max’s ice cold hand.

  “I’m riding with him.” I wasn’t asking and I didn’t acknowledge their presence when I spoke. They nodded to each other reluctantly and shut the doors.

  As the ambulance pulled onto the road my stomach filled with knots and a wave of nausea hit me.

  “This isn’t fair,” I cried only loud enough for me to hear. My tears were back and I couldn’t have stopped them if I wanted to. My head felt dizzy and I think I was beginning to run a fever. I wasn’t about to mention it to the paramedics, they would just take me away from Max and that wasn’t even an option right now.

  After a few miles a call came over the radio about our situation and I did my best to ignore it. That was until one of the men made a joke about the way I was carrying on about someone who was so far gone. He said something about a high school crush and I snapped.

  “How dare you,” I screamed. It scared the driver so bad that we almost ran off of the road.

  “Miss Summers!” he called out. My hand reached out for the nearest thing to me and I whipped it at both of them with the last bit of strength I had. A little blue container flew open in mid-air and connected with the head of the rude paramedic. The contents of the container spilled open, dropping several sharp objects into his lap, one of which cut his arm open. Blood rushed from the scratch and he turned to me upset and shocked.

  “What the hell are you doing princess?” he scolded. He called me princess and if I had anymore strength I would have throttled him. But I couldn’t, the truck was spinning too badly now and I felt my fever breaking. My eyes concentrated on Max’s face but it was all blurry.

  “Oh no Mike…I think she’s sick.”

  “It’s probably just the shock finally kicking in,” Mike said distracted.

  “Why is it so hot in…” the other one started to say but that was all I heard before I passed out over the top of Max’s body. Just before the blackness swallowed me whole I could have sworn that Max felt warm but how was that possible?

  “Max…”

  Blackness.

  Breaking Asia…

  I killed a boy. He was awful and took away the one thing good in my miserable world, my beautiful Max. It was an act of revenge, but I still ended this horrible boy’s life. I’d kill him again if I had the chance.

  “Ouch,” I said as I looked down at my hands. They were filled with many gashes and scrapes. Standing at the door of my beautiful empty house, I couldn’t care less about those scratches. They were filled with dried blood and mud from the clearing but my eyes focused on the inside of my home.

  The rain fell soft and steady behind me and I didn’t even realize that I was still crying. I slowly walked inside, staring at all the things that used to mean something to me. Now they were just things, empty stupid things. I stood in the middle of my over-sized living room feeling cold and alone.

  “Why didn’t I tell you how I feel Max?” I said to no one. I could feel my legs weaken and they gave out shortly after, bringing me to the floor in a cross legged position.

  “Why didn’t I say those words?” I cursed at myself. He did nothing but love me for everything I am and everything I was afraid to be. Why couldn’t I tell him the truth, that I loved him heart and soul? I felt it the second I saw him watching me from the beach. I even felt something the day before, driving past his uncle’s place. I just didn’t let myself think it back then…how dare I run from the truth. The one and simple truth that…

  “I love you Max,” I whispered. I had hoped to say those three words one day and they would blanket me in warmth and hope. Now as I spoke them out loud, my heart completely broke.

  The storm started growing again outside and the wind blew cold through the front door, but I no longer cared. It blew pictures from the walls and smashed expensive vases onto the floor, but I didn’t move an inch. My eyes looked around the room at all the things I couldn’t care less about. My anger welled up inside of my chest leaving nothing but the pain as I began to die inside.

  The lightning came again as my hatred filled my lungs, closing my eyes as the thunder called my name. My house was surrounded by a hurricane and it pushed against its walls, smashing every window and screaming through my house. As I opened my blurry eyes the first thing I saw was the half million dollar painting my parents had bought me for my sixteenth birthday. It was hung across the wall and I had always truly hated it. It was extremely beautiful but it symbolized everything I had grown up despising.

  My weary body rose from the floor with the wind filling my ears. I ran to the painting and drove my fingers through the canvas and ripped it from the wall. It shredded as it fell to the floor but I wasn’t done. I grabbed the frame and began to smash anything in sight. Glass shattered all around as the storm rebelled with me. We worked together in a painful dance of destruction. I screamed as I destroyed anything in sight. The storm screamed along with me filling my living room with rain and the smell of the monsoon.

  After twenty minutes I could taste the blood in my throat. I stopped in front of the bare wall, exhausted and wheezing. I dropped what was left of the frame in the water along the floor. As I caught my breath again, I spied one of my tubes of imported lipstick lightly floating past my feet and picked it up. It was the blood red color I loved to wear for Max. Ever since the
beach when we made that connection, I just knew it was his favorite shade. At least on me it was.

  Staring at the blank wall I felt my second wind and slammed the lipstick into the empty space. In a fit, I began scraping five words that summed up my feelings for this house and for my dying soul…

  …LOVE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE…

  “I’m so sorry Max,” I whispered. Then as the tears came rushing from my eyes again I ran upstairs to my room. I grabbed the first bag I saw and threw a handful of clothes and personal items into it. I couldn’t stop the tears and that made my temper flair red hot. As I lost control again I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror along the wall. My reflection was distorted by the spider webs of broken glass crossing it but I could see what stopped me so suddenly…the tattoo on my right shoulder.

  It made me feel so close with Max but now it would only be a reminder of how badly it hurt to lose the one thing I truly ever loved. The lightning crashed outside my window, startling me back to life. I reached for the mirror and slammed it to the ground and ran out of my room. When I made my way to the stairs I ran right into a small silver box with black ribbons trickling down its side. I picked it up carefully, holding it to my chest gently. I thought about opening it but was terrified at what might be in it. Something amazing that would surely paralyze me for eternity. So I carried it down stairs and placed it on the kitchen counter. The image of Max handing it to me stole my breath from me. I closed my eyes, running from the kitchen and left my house in ruins.

  As I drove away with the rain on my face I made one final decision. It was the easiest of them all…I would leave the islands and never love anyone again.

  So I did…forever.

  Breaking Max…