Burning Hearts

by Melanie Matthews

  “Thank you,” she said in a meek voice.

  “You’re welcome.” His tone was soft, comforting. He put the chalk back in its tray, managing not to destroy it like she’d done.

  ~~~

  After class, Jenna slowly put away her belongings, allowing everyone, especially Val and his gang to leave, before she followed. On her way out, Malcolm stopped her outside the door.

  “Are you all right?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, great.”

  She wasn’t going to give him the 411 on her life.

  There wasn’t enough time in the day for that sad story.

  “Why was he so mean to you?”

  “Didn’t you have jerks in Egyptian high schools?”

  “I was…home-schooled.”

  “Well, lemme just say this: be careful who you fall in love with.”

  He seemed taken aback by her advice. “Why?”

  Wisely, she replied, “’Cause people aren’t always who they seem.”

  SHOW AND TELL

  Pru was sitting on Jenna’s wicker chair. Kylie was sitting on the other one. Caleb remained in his wheelchair. Riddick preferred to stand, leaning against Jenna’s closed bedroom door. It was six o’clock, and Jenna’s parents had just gotten home.

  “Okay, I’ll start from the beginning.” Jenna stood too, next to the cedar chest. “Two days ago, I started having visions of…killing people. In these trances, I knew they were bad…evil…so I took a knife and stabbed them in their hearts. Then they caught on fire like they were burning from the inside out and finally, they were reduced to ashes. That was the same day I playfully hit Riddick,”—she gestured to him—“who now has a nasty bruise. The next day, my strength seemed magnified. I crushed my alarm clock. A bottle of soap exploded in my hand. I bent a bunch of spoons trying to eat cereal. I cracked a pen in half.” She waved at Caleb. “I hurt his ear when I tugged on it.” Then she curled her fingers inward, digging the tips into her palms. “In calculus, I crushed a piece of chalk in my hand, turning it into fine powder.”

  She waited, because that wasn’t the whole of it. She still had to reveal the contents of the chest.

  “So you’re a mutant or something?” asked Riddick. He wasn’t joking. “You have super strength?”

  “Well, I dunno about the mutant part, but yeah, I seem to be really strong. I’m also having hallucinations, I guess. That new guy, Malcolm King, well, his eyes don’t look normal to me. I see blue fire. Now that’s sorta significant because in my visions of…killing people...they have fiery eyes too, except theirs are red.” She paused, unsure how to reveal her next statement. She decided to give it to them straight. There was no turning back now. “When Malcolm handed me a pen today at school, our fingers touched and…well, I wanted to kill him, but at the same time, I didn’t wanna hurt him.”

  Pru was staring at Kylie. Kylie was staring at Pru. Caleb was looking down. Only Riddick kept her gaze. She couldn’t tell what they were thinking.

  “So y’all still wanna be friends with me?” she continued with a hopeful smile.

  Pru, Kylie, and Caleb finally looked at her, but Riddick broke eye contact and lowered his head.

  “Well, it’s not like you’re actually killing people,” said Kylie, trying to find the positive. Then she shrugged. “Even if you did,”—she smiled—“I wouldn’t tell.”

  “I told you, no matter what,” Caleb began, wheeling over to her, “I’ll still be your friend.”

  “Me too,” Pru agreed with a smile.

  Jenna was relieved, but there was one Misfit who’d yet to affirm his unwavering friendship.

  She turned to Riddick, who was uncharacteristically quiet, looking down at his folded arms.

  “Are you afraid I’m gonna hurt you again?” she asked him. “I’d understand if you didn’t wanna be around me ’cause of that…and the other crazy things too.”

  He finally looked up at her.

  “Okay, I’ll start from the beginning,” he said, mimicking her from earlier. “Three months ago, you were a Stuck-Up. Val, Barrie, Aidan, Kit, Daniela, Emma. They were your friends. You laughed with them. You partied with them. Val was your sweetheart. You didn’t know another life. And then Val, the love of your life, wanted to have sex.” He held out his hands. “As all guys do, right? Well, you said no. I dunno your reasons. You haven’t talked about it much, but you just weren’t ready, I guess. Val broke up with you. Worse, he treated you like crap. Got your so-called friends to turn against you. So there you were in school, the only one without a friend. You sat alone. You walked to class alone. People would talk about you behind your back. You were either a slut or a lesbian, if the rumors were true.”

  He pointed to Kylie. “She felt sorry for you—even though you’d done nothing to make us feel welcome. But Kylie got Pru on board and Caleb, well, Caleb’s just about the nicest guy around, and he didn’t like how you were being treated—even if he couldn’t say one bad thing about the Stuck-Ups.” He smiled at Caleb. “Always wanting to turn the other cheek, eh?” He turned back to Jenna. “Well, I was the last to be asked. They said, ‘She’s all alone. She doesn’t deserve how everyone’s treating her.’ And you know what I said? I said, ‘No!’ You know why? ’Cause you never even knew our last names. You never even looked our way. Yeah, you never made fun of us, but you acted like we didn’t even exist. So I said to the others, ‘Why should we help out someone who’s never helped us out?’ Since the vote had to be unanimous, and I was the dissenter, well, you didn’t get in our little Misfit club.”

  Jenna was on the verge of tears. “What happened?”

  Riddick allowed himself to smile. “It was about two weeks or so when you’d been all alone, an outcast, and you weren’t watching where you were going and slammed right into me in the hall. All my books went flying. I knew who you were. I expected you to keep walking, but you didn’t. You crouched, helped me pick up my books, apologized, gave me a weak little smile, and then went on your way.”

  Jenna smiled. “I remember that day. You looked…shocked.”

  His face softened. “I was. You never looked at me before. And when you did, that day, I saw a changed person. You were broken. Lost. I saw absolute sorrow in your green eyes. I felt sorry for you. And I knew, in that moment, that Kylie was right. You didn’t deserve the crap they’d been shoveling at you. So I went back to the group and changed my vote.” He advanced and grasped her hands. “To sum up my long-winded speech, what I’m trying to say is this: in these few short months we’ve known each other, I couldn’t imagine not being your friend. I don’t care what crazy things you see or what crazy things you do. I’ll always be here for you.”

  Threatening tears finally fell as Jenna wrapped her arms around Riddick, holding him in a tight hug. He rubbed her back, trailing his fingertips up and down her spine.

  Kylie started crying too. Even Pru sniffled. Caleb held his head down, acting like he was rubbing something from his eyes.

  “Okay this hug went from nice to hurtful,” said Riddick, trying to disengage.

  Jenna immediately backed away. “See? I shouldn’t be around y’all. I’ll end up hurting someone.”

  “Is that why you wanted to shake my hand in chemistry?” asked Kylie. “Were you testing your strength?”

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  “Well, you didn’t hurt me. Obviously, you can control it.”

  “Yeah, just practice,” said Caleb. “I mean, if you were really outta control, you would’ve snapped Riddick in half.”

  Riddick lifted up his T-shirt, exposing his muscle-defined stomach. “Everything looks good.” He smiled and lowered his shirt. “Of course, I’ve always looked good.”

  Pru stood up and went to Jenna, holding out her hand. “Try.”

  “Ooh, I dunno.”

  “C’mon,” she urged.

  “Imagine she’s an egg you have to be delicate with,” Kylie suggested.

  “Or a baby,” said Caleb.

  “Or a baby egg,” sai
d Riddick, joking around.

  Jenna sighed. “Okay, here goes.” She gently held Pru’s hand, gave her a slight squeeze, and released. “Are you okay?”

  Pru studied her hand; she still had all her fingers. “It didn’t even hurt.”

  “See?” said Riddick. “You can control it.” He was her biggest supporter. “Now what about these visions of killing people?” he inquired, sounding like a nonjudgmental psychiatrist.

  Jenna pointed to the cedar chest. “I looked inside.”

  “And?”

  She waved everyone toward it. “Gather ’round all.” She opened the lid before them.

  “Robes?” said Kylie, confused.

  Jenna removed the desert-wear clothes and placed them on her bed.

  Caleb peered inside. “A book, a necklace, and a…knife?”

  “These were handed down to me by my grandpa,” Jenna informed. “For months, it was locked, and then the other night with Pru and Riddick here, it unlocked. By itself. After they left, I opened it and discovered the clothes. I got disappointed until I rummaged further down and saw these items.” First, she picked up the knife, removed the sheath, and showed it to them, balanced atop her hands. “Even before I held this weapon, I saw it in my visions.”

  “Whoa,” said Riddick, excited. “Can I see it?”

  Jenna handed it over. For some reason, even though she was new to the blade, she felt attached to it and strangely upset that Riddick, another person, was holding it.

  “What’s the writing on it? Or is it just a fancy swirly design?” he asked, intrigued.

  “It’s a language. When I made contact with Malcolm today, I was able to decipher it in my mind until it quickly faded away and I forgot everything.” She took it back from him. It felt good to be in her hands again. As she held it longer, staring at the black cursive script, the engraving started to come alive. “Do y’all see that?”

  “What?” Kylie asked.

  “The writing. It’s moving.”

  Everyone shook their heads. “No, we don’t see it,” said Pru.

  It was apparent that all these weird occurrences were for Jenna only. She just didn’t know why. As the script continued to move, the black etchings morphed into English.

  “I can read it.”

  “What does it say?” asked Caleb.

  “‘Before there was darkness, there was light. Before there was evil, there was good. Before there were Jinn, there were Magi.” She flipped the blade over. “‘Destined Mage, fulfill your ancestral struggle against the ruin and calamity of the world. Smite down the casters of wicked persuasion and wanton destruction. Set free the chains of mankind.’”

  “What’s a Jinn?” Kylie asked.

  “I think it’s like a genie,” Caleb guessed.

  Kylie smiled. “Ooh, like the movie Aladdin?”

  “So I’m destined to kill big blue genies with comic relief?” Jenna mused sarcastically.

  Riddick snapped his fingers. “That guy, Malcolm. Doesn’t he have fiery blue eyes? What about what happened when you touched him? That’s gotta be a sign of…something.”

  Jenna didn’t like Riddick accusing Malcolm of being an evil genie. She wasn’t too sure about him, but when he helped her out during calculus, well, it endeared her a little more to him.

  “Let’s see what the other stuff has to say,” she encouraged, wanting to find something to debunk Riddick’s claim that Malcolm was up to no good.

  She sheathed the dagger, securing it behind her belt, at her hip. Then she picked up the bronze pendant with the same black script, shimmering alive, now translated to English.

  “‘Before there was darkness, there was light. Before there was evil, there was good. Before there were Jinn, there were Magi.” She flipped the pendant over. “‘Destined Mage, in the shadows you will go, to hide from your foe. Sight unseen they will scour, failing to find in that hour, your righteous power.’”

  Kylie pointed to it and smiled. “That one rhymes.”

  “I like it,” said Riddick. “A fellow poet.”

  “But does it really do that?” asked Caleb. “Make you invisible?”

  “Is that what you think it does?” Jenna asked him.

  Caleb shrugged. “‘In the shadows you will go, to hide from your foe.’ Sounds like it.”

  “Try it on,” Pru suggested.

  Riddick smiled. “Yeah, and let’s see if you turn invisible.”

  “Well, I hope it doesn’t work on y’all ’cause if it does, then that means y’all are evil, and”—she gripped the hilt of the blade at her hip—“I’d have to kill y’all.”

  She caught their unmistakable looks of concern, tinged with fear. “Don’t worry.” She took her hand away from her shiny new knife. “Seriously. I’m not gonna kill y’all.”

  “Put on the pendant,” Riddick suggested, changing the macabre subject.

  Jenna timidly placed the chain around her neck. The pendant was lighter than she’d expected. “Well, can everyone see me?”

  Riddick furrowed his brow, looking around the room. “Jenna? Where are you? I can’t see you.”

  Jenna took off the pendant and stood in front of him. He focused his eyes on hers.

  “Are you serious?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Just kidding. I could still see your pretty face.”

  She gently slapped his good arm. “I could hurt you, you know.”

  “All girls do,” he commented philosophically.

  “Well, I guess when you see a Jinn, put it on,” Kylie suggested, redirecting the focus to Jenna—and away from Riddick’s dilemma at not having the girl of his dreams.

  “What about the book?” Pru asked, pointing to the last remaining heirloom in the chest. “Maybe it’ll give us more information about the Jinn and the Magi.”

  “I doubt it,” said Jenna, retrieving the book. “It’s blank.”

  She opened the black weathered cover and gasped.

  “What is it?” asked Kylie.

  “It’s no longer blank. And it’s not just any book.”

  She showed them the front page that read: The Journal of Simon Wesley Love. A piece of yellow legal paper fell out, landing on the floor.

  Riddick picked it up and handed it to Jenna. It was folded in thirds, like a letter. She could see the stains of blue ink from the other side.

  “Open it,” he urged.

  As soon as she unfolded a third, a car horn honked in the yard. Caleb’s mom, Mrs. Henrietta Dasher—a friendly, plump woman—had arrived in her minivan to pick Jenna’s guests up.

  “I’m staying,” said Riddick. “I don’t care if I gotta walk home.” He gave Jenna’s hand a gentle squeeze. “This is major news, and I’m not gonna leave you alone with it.”

  “I wish I could stay,” Kylie began, “but I have to help my little sister with her school project.” She gave a slight smile. “It involves lots of glitter and glue.”

  “And my mom wants to have mother-daughter time tonight,” said Pru, sounding less-than-thrilled.

  “My mom’s here, so I can’t just not leave,” said Caleb. “I’d stay if I could. Let us know tomorrow what you find out—or better yet, bring the journal to school.”

  “How about during the game?” Kylie suggested.

  “What game?” Jenna asked.

  Kylie furrowed her brow as if Jenna had asked her the dumbest question.

  “Hello? Football. Oasis is playing Deadfall.”

  Jenna had been dreading football season. Val was quarterback. Barrie was center and Aidan was wide receiver. Kit never cared for football, but with his six-foot, five-inch height, he got bullied into playing basketball by Coach Robert Hardy--who’d famously made it known on several occasions that girls were only good for standing on the sidelines at games, not playing in them.

  Jenna groaned. “Really?”

  “I really, really wanna go! Please!” Kylie pouted at everyone.

  “You know I’m gonna have to sit in the handicapped section,” Caleb inform
ed.

  Kylie kissed his cheek. “We’ll be up close!”

  “Why are you so keen to go?” Jenna smiled. “A boy you fancy?”

  Kylie waved her off. “It’s our last year in high school! I’ve never been to a football game.”

  “Might be fun,” said Pru, unexpectedly.

  Riddick rolled his eyes. “Fine. We’ll go, but all I care about is that book.”

  “That’s all you care about?” Pru asked, smiling.

  “Shut up.”

  Riddick swept his eyes past Jenna, not daring to look at her. She liked him a lot, but it wasn’t enough to risk a presumably short relationship. They’d be graduating soon and according to Pru, he had plans to flee to Houston. Besides, she couldn’t get Malcolm out of her head. She didn’t expect any sort of relationship, not even a friendship, but she was drawn to him—more than she was ever drawn to Val, who she thought she’d loved. Malcolm could be the best thing for her. Or the absolute worst. She was willing to risk it.

  Even if he was truly a bad boy.

  The car horn honked again.

  “Caleb, your mom’s here to pick everyone up,” Jenna’s mom said loudly from the living room.

  Jenna opened her bedroom door. “Why don’t y’all go on, and I’ll bring the journal tomorrow. We’ll pour over my destiny while watching the Scorpions lose another game.”

  Everyone said their goodbyes, except Riddick, who wanted to stay.

  “I’m actually really tired, so let’s discuss the journal tomorrow, okay?” she entreated, desiring to be alone.

  “I wanna be here when you read it,” he pushed.

  She shook her head. “I’m not gonna open it tonight.”

  He gave her an I’m-not-stupid kind of look. “Yeah, right. You’re just as curious as I am.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  She took her heirlooms, along with the yellow piece of paper, and placed them at the bottom of the chest. Then she piled the clothes on top and closed the lid.

  “It’s still unlocked,” he reminded her.

  “I won’t go in it.” She held her hands together in prayer. “I promise.”