Rouge

by Isabella Modra

  eighteen

  “And… exhale.”

  Hunter breathed out slowly through her mouth just as the spinning ball of flames in the palm of her hands reduced to a flicker and blew out with the last breath of air that escaped from her lips.

  Joshua scribbled on his clipboard. “Good,” he muttered and lifted the stopwatch. “Again.”

  Hunter did as she was told, even though she’d been doing it all weekend. So far he’d had her manipulate the flames in her hand, but keep them controlled. He’d let her set objects on fire, set herself on fire, and she’d even learnt how to heat liquids and solids with her mind. Sometimes she grew frustrated and the flames exploded, nearly singeing all of Joshua’s hair off his body and sending him diving for the fire extinguisher, which he kept by his side the entire time.

  Still, Joshua was careful and patient and even if he only had her making balls of flames and lighting candles, his mind was always ticking and it felt good to be herself around someone, to not be so on edge.

  Hunter had grown comfortable with her powers over the course of the weekend. No longer did they frighten her or make her hate herself. She could still feel the aching guilt over what she’d done to the homeless man, but her wounds were healing, as wounds do over time. Joshua had been more than a mentor to her, and the time they spent together had brought them closer as friends as well.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Give me a minute, I’m puffed.”

  “Alright, take five. Then we’ll start experimenting with the gravitational balance of the flames.”

  Sighing, she lay back on the steel table and closed her eyes, listening to Joshua riffle through his notes. Sometimes Hunter felt as though her powers gave Joshua some sort of high. There was always a glint of excitement in his icy-blue eyes, a glint that often frightened her. She knew it was only the scientist in him. He became ecstatic over her abilities and always pushed her to her limits. But as he grew closer to her, he also grew distant, becoming obsessed. They hadn’t left the apartment building either, and she wondered if they ever would.

  “Joshua?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m going to school tomorrow, right?”

  He stopped scribbling immediately. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “But I went to work last night and that was fine. If I can go to work, I can go to school. It’s no different.”

  “It is. There are different variables at school, Hunter.”

  She sat up and crossed her legs. “Like what?”

  “Well, like your new friend Eli, for example.”

  “Do you really think I’d set him on fire?” She laughed aloud. “I’ve learnt a lot about myself this weekend Joshua, I know I’m stronger than that.”

  “It’s too soon to tell, and I’d rather not take that risk.”

  “But what if-”

  “End of discussion!” he snapped and Hunter’s mouth shut sharply. Joshua pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long breath of air. “Can we go back to training now?”

  Hunter raised her hand and produced fire again. She watched the ball of flames float like a holographic globe of exothermic heat above her palm. The rippling sensation of fire coursing through her veins was so familiar, it was like curling up beside a warm fireplace. The more she used her powers, the more she noticed strange things about her body, like the brightening of her veins. They glowed orange when she summoned the fire. Her hair had brightened also - if that were even possible - and she no longer grew cold so easily. She was allowing the flame to come out of its shell, to roam freely in her body.

  “I want you to try to float the flame away from your hand,” said Joshua, peering over the top of the clip board, his jaw stiff and his eyes alert.

  “Like this-”

  “Not towards me!” he cried, for the ball had bounced off Hunter’s open palm and was bobbing towards Joshua. He was sitting on his desk chair while Hunter sat cross-legged on one of the steel tables. Joshua didn’t want her using her powers anywhere else but the lab, and so they had holed up in room 57 for the entire weekend.

  Hunter snickered and received a stern glare from Joshua. “Relax, I’m not gonna burn you.”

  “Don’t say that so confidently,” he replied and scribbled furiously. “All it takes is one flash of anger and we all go kaboom - well, except you.”

  “Fine.”

  “Now… try concentrating on the oxygen particles in the air, like we did yesterday. Can you see them?”

  “Yeah.” She marveled at her ability to actually sense the tiny elements in the oxygen around them and feel the way the heat moved with it. “How do I do that?”

  “So far… I have no idea. But it does come naturally to you, so I assume it’s a part of your understanding of science and how you contribute that to your powers.”

  “I’m so getting into Hamilton,” she grinned.

  The ball of sparking flames floated like a ghost around Hunter’s body as she breathed deeply. She found that she needn’t even look at the ball to know where to move it, and soon it was spinning faster and faster around her until the ball was no longer there, but a ring of fire like a great halo circling her body. She opened her eyes, a smile wider than a Cheshire cat cut across her mouth. Power just like what she’d felt in the alleyway surged through her, but this time it didn’t feel evil. It was blissful, intoxicating and warmer than all the fire she’d ever produced.

  Joshua was staring, horrified, frozen, until he panicked, snatched the fire extinguisher and aimed.

  “Joshua, n-”

  He released the nozzle and before Hunter could finish, a cloud of sodium bicarbonate burst from the pump in his fingers and blew directly into Hunter’s face.

  The pale white cloud settled and she opened her eyes and glared at him.

  “I’m done,” she said through her teeth, tasting the acid in her mouth.

  “Wait Hunter, I have to tell you-”

  “Goodnight.”

  Hunter hopped off the table and stalked to the door of the lab, leaving a trail of snowy-white footprints behind. Joshua stared at the door, still grasping the fire-extinguisher as though it were his life support.

  The apartment was empty when Hunter awoke the next day. She found a note on the kitchen bench, begging her to stay home and practice controlling her powers. Joshua had refused her the permission to go anywhere but the lab and work, and Hunter was sick of it. She was confident that she could face even Benny and not lose control. Not only was she ready, but the idea of training even for another ten minutes made her toes curl. She couldn’t stand it another day. She had to get out.

  Hunter showered, dressed, ate breakfast and caught a taxi to school. She spent the entire cab ride arguing with herself. The voice of the fire assured her she’d be fine, that her training had made her stronger and tightened the bonds she had on the flames in her core. She couldn’t stay away from civilization forever, and Joshua had no more control over her than a single hose had over a raging bushfire. This was as good a time as any to test herself.

  But the smaller and wiser voice of her innocence warned her that it was foolish to leave home. Work was different; a place where she could be herself, a place where she was calm. But school…

  What if she put someone in danger? What if she lost control? There was no Joshua with a fire extinguisher this time. She could expose herself. She might kill again.

  When the taxi dropped her off at the end of the road in direct line of sight of the giant iron gates and the hundreds of students slowly moving inside the building, her fears consumed her. She couldn’t do it. The fire tingled, either warning her not to go or begging her to unleash chaos, so she gave up. Never again could she go through what she’d suffered after the man in the alleyway lay dead upon the concrete.

  “I’m really sorry,” she said to the driver, “but I changed my mind.”

  He let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s gonna cost ya sweetheart.”

  “I know
,” she replied and gave him a new address.

  The taxi took her to Saint Paul’s chapel cemetery. Being early morning on a Monday, there weren’t many people around. Hunter was glad. She forced herself to thank the driver, careful not to meet his eye or even touch him, and hurried into the shadow of the trees.

  She passed grave after grave until she came to their headstones.

  Tears lodged themselves in her throat. Suddenly, they looked completely different. Shadowed and dark, buried with their secrets and a life neither of them asked for.

  Hunter knelt before her mother and father’s simple black headstones and put a hand on each. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. The smell of the coming spring filled the air, and her body was warm. She didn’t even feel the water from the earth soaking her knees. The strangest sensation coursed through Hunter’s skin as she sat with her hands on the graves, wondering what her life would be like if her parents were alive.

  Would she still be who she was? Would she be confident in herself, would she still not care what others thought of her? Would she be the popular cheerleader with the quarterback boyfriend and no career ahead of her? Would she even know Eli?

  No, she thought to herself with a smile. I’d be the one picking on him.

  It was because of her past that Hunter became this person. If her parents hadn’t died, she wouldn’t have her powers. She wouldn’t have even talked to Eli. She wouldn’t be strong, charismatic and different. Fate, God, whoever, had cursed her with no real family but gifted her with a purpose. And it wasn’t until now that Hunter realized that.

  A burning sensation blew through her blood, as if her mother had heard her thoughts.

  “I love you,” she whispered and gently laid a kiss on her mother and father’s headstones. “But now I don’t need to wonder what life would be like if things were different, because this is the way I am, the way you made me.” A small tear raced down her cheek.

  She waited a moment longer until it began to drizzle light rain. It fell slowly, tiny drops resting on her shoulders, her red hair and the graves where her parents were laid to rest. She stood and walked out of the cemetery, warm inside from the burning fire that simmered in her soul.

  nineteen

  When Hunter heard the apartment door open and the sound of Joshua’s expensive shoes on the tiles, she turned on the couch and switched off the television, giving him a welcoming smile.

  “You’ll never guess what I did today,” she grinned.

  Joshua set his briefcase on the bench top and undid his cufflinks. “I hope it was practicing control.”

  “Yup,” she lied. “But in a much more entertaining way. I dried my washing, except I accidentally burned two of my T-shirts and an old pair of track pants, but eventually I got the technique right. And I cooked lunch without using the stove.”

  “Well, then there was no point in fixing it was there.” He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her an almost warm smile. “I’m proud of your self-control Hunter. Soon you’ll be off to school without a second thought. Anyway, what made you suddenly so understanding?”

  “I realized something today. That there’s no taking away the fire, so I might as well get used to it being here. It’s a part of who I am. Maybe one day I can use it for heroic things.”

  Joshua’s face fell. “Hunter, you can’t use your powers like that. People will find out it’s you.”

  “So what? Not using my powers would be like… winning the lottery and choosing to put it away in the bank instead of using it to solve world hunger. It’s selfish.”

  There was something in Joshua’s eyes that started to scare Hunter. He joined her on the couch, staring out at the beautiful city view and the slowly sinking sun, clenching his fists together. “Look, I know that when you think of people with powers, you think of capes and masks and saving the world. But I care about you too much to let you throw the rest of your life away.”

  Hunter turned to him, kicking one leg up on the couch. “Joshua, what are you afraid of?”

  His eyes drifted to hers. She’d never seen fear there. Real fear. Nervousness, awkwardness, worry, sure. But never dreaded fear.

  He exhaled hard. “I need to tell you something.”

  “Okay.”

  “There are people out there who would want to do you harm if they knew what kind of power you possessed.”

  “Like… lock me up in a lab and stick needles in me?” she smiled jokingly. Joshua nodded and Hunter’s heart sunk. “Oh. How do you know that?”

  “I came across them during my research. They were working with the labs in Sweden. When I destroyed all the manufacturing companies, they somehow discovered my identity and had people called Agents follow me. These men knew I had been working on a formula. I was afraid they were watching me, watching you, so I hid all traces of the stone and Feucotetanus in room 57 and pretended I knew nothing. They never came back.”

  “And how did you destroy these labs Joshua? On your own?”

  He shrugged immodestly. “I did my research, posed as a scientist and cut them open from the inside. It did take some years, but there were only two labs, and they were very small and secret.”

  Despite the pride in Joshua’s tone, Hunter had to admit she was a little afraid of him. If he had the ability to destroy a super-secret drug in a foreign country, what else was he capable of?

  “Point is, they’re gone forever,” he added.

  Hunter was slowly zipping and unzipping her jacket, feeling a nervous energy rise inside her. This was why Joshua was always so over cautious of her. Why he felt the need to call her fifty-billion times when she was out. Why he became sick with worry after she ran away. Joshua was afraid these ‘Agents’ would find her.

  “Who do these Agents work for?”

  “A genetics company. You can imagine how desperate they are to get their hands on someone like you. You’re a scientist’s dream come true.”

  More fear settled in her stomach like food she could not digest. She was afraid to ask any more questions.

  “This is why I implore you Hunter to be cautious with your powers. More than cautious. They could still be watching us. If you reveal your powers to anyone, anyone at all, they will sniff you out and find you.”

  “Okay,” she nodded sharply. “Thanks, you’ve just given me wonderful nightmares for the rest of my life.”

  “I’m only being honest, like you asked.”

  She gave him a wry smile. “How thoughtful.”

  Joshua’s jaw set hard as he stared at his hands and muttered, “I just don’t want to lose you Hunter. You’re the only piece left of her.”

  Hunter’s heart clenched in sympathy. Joshua loved her mother more than even Hunter did, and she couldn’t believe she’d been so blind to it before. Pain radiated from his body; she could almost see it in the air. Lifting her hand, Hunter placed it on Joshua’s shoulder.

  “I promise you won’t lose me Joshua. I won’t use my powers, at least until I know I’m ready. Please… just don’t take away what’s still normal in my life. If I stop going to school any longer, I’m going to lose Eli.”

  “Will that be so bad?”

  Hunter smiled at the child-like hope in his eyes. “Wow, you’re really jealous aren’t you?”

  Joshua laughed bitterly. “I guess I never thought the day would come when you’d finally replace me.”

  “Hey, it’s too soon to tell okay?” She stood and marched into the kitchen. “Hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  Hunter’s feet were frozen on the concrete. Not only because the chilly bite of the winter air swirling around her made them stiff and cold, but because she was scared to take another step.

  Before her were the great iron gates of her school. The grounds were almost empty, and Hunter glanced at her watch, realizing she was early. The cold wind blew around her and for the first time, she was thankful. The heat didn’t feel so angry inside her, as if the flames were silent and chilly. It was comfortable, and ga
ve Hunter confidence to step through the gates.

  She stuck her hands in her pockets where her cigarette packet was tucked away. Like a thief in the night, Hunter glanced behind her and walked briskly around one of the side buildings. There was nothing like a good smoke to calm her down.

  When she smoked in the apartment, she felt no fear in summoning the heat, clicking her fingers and lighting the cigarette with her own flame, but the very thought of using her powers in public - even hidden behind the science building between the shade of an oak tree and the giant air vent - made her stomach flip. She imagined men in black suits and shady glasses lurking in the trees, watching her closely. Agents of whatever secret laboratory Joshua feared so deeply.

  She lit the cigarette with a lighter and inhaled the glorious smoke deep into her lungs. She hadn’t quite figured out the science behind it, and couldn’t ask Joshua for his expert opinion since he didn’t know she smoked, but it did the trick. In a matter of moments, she felt much better about entering the school building and facing the stares. She’d missed over a week of school. On top of the rumors that still circulated and the dirty looks people shot at her daily, the school population would have a field day with her reappearance. Of that, she was sure.

  “I heard those things give you lung cancer,” came a voice from her left and Hunter nearly jumped out of her own skin.

  There stood Eli. He had just come out of the science building and must have turned the wrong way. He wore a woolen gray coat, dark jeans and a navy-blue beanie, his glasses rimming his beautifully strange green eyes. He hadn’t changed a bit.

  Hunter braced herself for the fire to boil beneath her skin and instinctively held her breath. Eli observed her with careful eyes, expecting her to appear sick. Laryngitis, she thought to herself quickly. That’s what I said I had.

  “Um,” she wheezed and tried not to look at him. The fire hadn’t burned yet, but she didn’t get her hopes up. “Sorry you had to er... see that.”