Burnout

by Taryn Eason

  “Lye, this isn't okay. I need you to talk to me. This is scaring me.”

  “I'm sorry.” He said stoically.

  “That's it? ‘I'm sorry’? Something is wrong and I don't even know what it is.” I put my arms around him, pleading. “Please don't keep me in the dark.”

  “I'm not. I just don't feel well.”

  “I don't believe you.”

  “Well that's your problem then.”

  I glared at him and he walked away. I had a feeling in my stomach that made it nearly impossible to eat for the entire day. Lye was still purposefully finding odd jobs around the house to do to avoid me. So I wasted my time on the internet until it was dark enough to go lay in bed, praying he would still decide to at least sleep with me.

  I scoffed to myself, realizing we were getting far too perfect at simulating a real marriage.

  It was late when he crawled into bed with me. I had a burning crying session on the patio about an hour beforehand that had gone unnoticed by him, but I pretended to be asleep so I wouldn't scare him away.

  To my surprise, he put a hand on my shoulder and rolled me over facing himself. My eyes opened and stared at him timidly. I was prepared for the worst.

  He didn't say anything, he just kissed me hard. I felt the passion that was still in his lips. His actions didn't make any sense. Something was very wrong.

  He held me tightly and I inhaled his scent, smiling at how happy I was to be in his arms, for however long it would last.

  But when I woke up, he was gone.

  There was a long text that had been sent to me last night from Lye after I had fallen asleep.

  Maybelle, I want you to know that first and foremost, I value your life over my own, as I always have. As much as I want to stay and live here with you, this life has to end. I was faced with the only chance I have found to save you, so I have to take it. My only goal is for you to live out your life in safety and happiness, and I promise I will do my best to guarantee both, even though it means I won't be with you. Please don't go looking for me, just promise me you'll stay safe.

  Tears fell onto the phone screen as I read. Where was he? How could he possibly have a way to save me? Why was he so certain that I wanted to be saved if it meant losing him?

  I began scouring the house for any hints to where he could have gone. I found nothing. I checked his gun cabinet. Although some had been taken, there were still two drawers filled solidly with an array of guns. I picked one up, remembering the time I asked him to teach me how to shoot.

  “No.” He said simply, cleaning a black pistol.

  “Why not?”

  He put the gun at his side and kissed me. “Because as long as I'm here, you'll never have a reason to use one.”

  But now that he was gone, there was an entire cabinet of weapons that sat here uselessly. I fought the urge to burn it down, just to get the memories out of my head.

  I wished desperately that I could find out where he had gone. My mind wandered as I recognized that he had probably left to do something bad for the Glitch in exchange for my life. I hated myself because he had worked so hard to get out of that life, only to be drug back into it for my sake. I had no idea what they wanted from him, but I wished there was a way I could save him, if he was even still alive at this point.

  I was beginning to overheat, so I decided to tidy up the house in a vain attempt to distract myself. After cleaning the kitchen, I walked into the foyer and looked at the few envelopes of junk mail that had come in. They were all credit card and loan offers for Lye. Some were actually addressed to Victor. There was an opened handwritten letter hidden underneath it all.

  Lye,

  I’ll say it. I miss you. My father misses you. If it means anything, we’ve known this address for a month now and haven't acted on our threats to you. Know why? Because we still want to give you a chance to come back to us. That teenager you’re with is still a curiosity to my father, but even he knows she's not worth killing you over. So I have a proposition: If you’ll come back home to us, we will guarantee her safety. My father will call off the hit for both of you, if you give us back your loyalty in return. Meet me at 6 pm Friday at the old press? I miss being with you there. I know you miss it too.

  Always yours,

  Melanie

  He hadn't thrown it away, so he obviously meant for me to find it. It was just like Lye to do this to prove that he didn't leave me completely in the dark like it seemed he had. He was just trying to protect me, like always.

  The letter was my gold mine of information. Melanie had Lye convinced that she would save me if he came back to them. Who knows, it could be true. Or it could be a trap. Either way, I wasn't too fond of sitting around and watching Lye lose the honest life that he had fought so hard for over me.

  Plus, I was never the type of girl to wait around for something to happen. I learned early that no one was going to fix anything for me. That was my responsibility. Now, I had no knowledge of guns or fighting street gangs, but I did have my powers. I wasn't made of sugar, spice, and everything nice like other girls. I was forged in fire. If anyone was going to be able to save Lye, it was me.

  So I knew what came next.

  I had to go to Chicago.

  Chapter 24

  “Hey, you. Do you know a girl named Melanie Destrehan?” I asked a dealer on the bad side of town. Not to go into too much detail about how I found him, but gas station employees are a very useful tool to find drug dealers.

  He looked at my car and then laughed at me. “You seem like one of her friends, right? You shouldn't be over here all alone in such a nice car. It's like a target painted on your pretty little blonde head.”

  “Trust me, I can handle myself. Do you know where she’d be about now?”

  “I don't know, why didn’t you ask her yourself? Are you a cop or something?” He stepped closer to me.

  I did the same and folded my arms, looking down at him. I didn't have any time to waste and my patience was wearing thin. “You wish I were a cop. They have rules they have to follow, and I don't.”

  “You're really cute, you know.”

  I sighed, realizing that he was high and getting pissed off by his refusal to answer me. “I don't have time for this. Just tell me where the Old Press is and I might leave you alone.”

  He glanced down at me and then back up. Greasy orange hair peeled out from underneath his beanie. “Wow, feisty. There’s something weird going on with you, isn't there? There's a reason you had to come to me for this, right? Well I might know something. What are you willing to give me in exchange for some information?” He winked.

  I lit my hand and shoved my pointed finger into his chest, burning him. “Melanie Destrehan is number one on my shit-list and if you don't tell me what you know right now, you might just be second.” I said, my eyes glaring red.

  He stared down at his shirt, probably too stoned to realize what I had just done was real. “What the hell is your problem?” He asked.

  I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and pulled his face to mine, making him look at me. He was too stunned by the sight of my eyes to fight back. “Tell me everything you know about the Old Press and I won't kill you.” I pushed him to the ground, setting his whole shirt ablaze.

  He struggled to get his burning shirt off of his back before throwing his hands up. “Alright! It's three blocks that way on the left, in the old printing press. They turned it into a drug factory and they put a bunch of pill press machines in. The name of it is kind of like a pun or something. I was invited to a party there before and it was a lot of fun, but I don't know Melanie personally so please don't kill me!” His words were rushed because of how much he was shaking.

  I half-smiled. This was so easy. I left him there while I got into my car and left. It was a lucky guess that I was already so close to the Press, but as I realized just how close to dealing with the situation at hand I was, the pent up anxiety I had all began leaking out and it took everything I had to contain mysel
f and not melt my car. I had to be strong, I had made it this far and I had no other options.

  I approached the building. It was an old warehouse that looked empty. It was 7 pm, so I was an hour late, but I still had to try. It was locked, but that wasn't anything that heat couldn't solve. After melting the lock, I beat the door and it flew open,drops of now-liquid metal scattering across the ground.

  There were people inside. A lot of people inside. My eyes went immediately to Melanie and Lye, who stared back at me, horrified.

  “How did you get in here?” Someone shouted.

  There were drugs everywhere. Like, bags of them. The people inside were all wearing black and they seemed to be packing them up into shipping crates. Melanie left Lye’s side and immediately headed my direction.

  “That's her! That's the one my dad wants!” She shouted, pointing.

  Everyone immediately drew a gun and raised it at me.

  I put my hands up fearfully, completely unprepared for something like this.

  “You said she's safe, Melanie. I'm back. Remember what you promised?” Lye called, getting in between me and everyone else.

  I refused to let him protect me. The guns terrified me, but this was my own battle to fight, not his.

  “Lye, take my car and leave. Now.” I whispered.

  He ignored me.

  Melanie stepped in front of the line of people, uncomfortably close to Lye. “This is where you belong and you know it. Remember this place? Remember all our friends?”

  “Of course I remember. I remember being young and too naive to realize that this is wrong. This wasn’t a life I wanted for myself.”

  “That's not what you were saying earlier. You missed me.” She glanced at me as she spoke.

  “I agreed to come back with one condition. That your father leaves Maybelle alone. That's it.”

  Melanie motioned the guns away from Lye and back towards me. Then she hooked her arm around Lye’s before he could move again. “Yeah right. You remember all those nights together? The yacht in the Caribbean? Seattle? You can't say that child is better at anything than me.” Her lips touched his ear as she spoke.

  I fumed.

  “You're used up, Melanie, and you know it.” He sighed and collected himself. “But I'm willing to forget all of that if you let Maybelle go free.” He stared at her, trying to mask his disgust.

  “There's only a slight problem with that, I'm afraid. She's my dad’s target. And he's obsessed with her for some reason. I couldn't call him off if I tried.” She smiled at me.

  Lye pushed her away from him and she stumbled backwards, falling onto the ground. “I knew you were lying. I knew it the whole time, but I still came back to this hellhole in hopes that for once, you would tell the truth.” He looked around and began to realize the gravity of the situation at hand. I saw a tear forming in his eyes. “Maybelle, I'm so sorry.”

  “All I did was love you! I made you money! I gave you all the free drugs and alcohol and the life you always wanted! Why was I not enough?” She cried, standing back up and grabbing his arm.

  “Because you’re insane! I can't even live my own life without you finding a way to control me. I-”

  I noticed a black needle peeking out from under her sleeve aimed at his back. She wasn't even listening to him. She was waiting for her own opportunity the whole time and he hadn't noticed. As soon as I saw her lift it, I didn't think, I just pounced to save him.

  The needle fell and skidded across the floor. I didn't use much heat, just enough to stop her. She responded my grabbing my hair and pulling me to the ground. “You think you know how to fight, you little bitch?” She coaxed.

  At first, I panicked. I had never been in a fight before. Much less with a junkie surrounded by fifteen men with guns pointed at me. Then I realized that this was the ideal scenario because none of them would take a single shot and risk hitting Melanie. So I decided to have some fun with the bitch who tried to take Lye from me. I lit my face right as she swung and felt only a slight tingle myself as she screamed. My clothes caught fire as I was emerging out of my shell. My entire body began glowing red. She stood up and attempted to run away from me, but I couldn't risk being shot, so I grabbed her arm and kept her in front of me as my hostage. She stared at me in shock as I burned through the arm of her jacket trying to figure out a plan to get us out of here unharmed.

  I saw a figure appear from an office room and stare at me from a distance. He was a skinny balding man in his late fifties in a suit. As he came closer, the men in the room stiffened dramatically. I knew who he was before he even said anything.

  Melanie cried out as I smelled burning flesh. I panicked and threw her down in front of me. She crawled away fearfully, holding her arm. I still had not come up with a plan. My body began to grow warmer and warmer as my adrenaline spiked.

  “Guys, I’d like to introduce Maybelle Lewis.” Pierre Destrehan spoke from his safe spot looking down from the balcony. “Little rich girl from Indiana with superpowers. Unless you live under a rock, you know her sister, Delilah. Well, unfortunately, Maybelle’s powers have a darker side to them. She's extremely volatile and dangerous, as my lovely daughter has just experienced.” He looked at her, curled up in the corner shaking. “Suck it up dear, we have medicine, you'll be fine. Oh yeah, you all should put your guns down for the time being, you know, rest your arms. No pun intended.”

  They lowered their weapons fearfully, still clutching them just in case. I tried to read Pierre. His walk was nonchalant and his attitude was cocky. Something about how he could stay confident while staring at me in this form terrified me.

  Lye looked at me. “Stay lit.” He mouthed.

  I nodded. There was no way I was letting my guard down now.

  “Fun fact. Delilah and Maybelle got their superpowers from their little Indian tribe about 75 miles away from here. The powers manifest themselves in the form of their owner’s true nature. Sweet Delilah is saving the world with her powers, and Maybelle, well, Maybelle is here trying to set my daughter on fire over a boy.” Pierre looked me in the eyes and shrugged. He paced as he spoke. “So needless to say, she doesn't deserve her powers. So think about yourselves now. What kind of superpowers would you like to have? What kind do you think best suits you?”

  Lye was standing a few feet from me with his jaw clenched. He knew better than to speak. He knew we were dead. I, myself, was trying to forget that fact.

  “Well I have good news. I specifically chose you all to be here tonight because you're the best hitmen I have. I also knew if I had that one over there with us” He pointed to Lye. “She would make an appearance tonight.” He spoke so highly, but still kept his distance from me. “A little backstory, Maybelle burned her aunt’s house down and killed her to get her powers. Delilah was innocent, but she drove her there and did nothing to stop it. So they both got her powers. What that means to you all is that whichever one of you kills Maybelle first will get superpowers.”

  My body turned white hot in fear. Lye had to step back from my heat. I was thankful for it because as of now, the danger is on me, not him. The farther away he is from me, the safer he was.

  “Now that you're all informed” he stepped back and smirked, staring at me coldly. “Let the games begin.”

  They drew their weapons in a blur and in an instant, I felt sharp pains sprouting all over my body.

  I couldn't hear anything over the noise of the guns. I would be dead soon. I should have known better than to think I could save anyone. Now Lye was back with the people he had finally escaped from and even worse, he had fallen for me only for me to die by a firing squad of misinformed gangsters.

  Dying didn't feel as bad as I expected. Even though my eyes were closed in anticipation, I felt liquid oozing down my stomach. My blood felt strange, though, too thick. Through the noise and bullets, I reached down and touched the trail oozing from my stomach, bringing it up to my face.

  It was black.

  It wasn't blood all over my body
, it was melted bullets. I was too hot for them to even pierce my skin.

  I started laughing a crazed laugh, which shocked them enough to stop firing. I wiped my cheek of the metal and slung it at the men, hitting a few of them. I laughed louder as they screamed in pain.

  Then I looked over at Lye to make sure he wasn't hurt. He was fine, but his horrified expression broke me. He was looking at me the same way as everyone else. Like a monster. Which, I obviously was, though I had believed he was the only one who couldn’t tell. But now, he stared at me as if even he was afraid of me. I started to feel my self-control waver, but I struggled to hold it together.

  “Pierre, how come you feed these losers lies? Are you too afraid to tell them the truth? That you knew even your best men couldn't kill me even if they tried?” I shouted.

  He was visibly shaken. He had underestimated me vastly and was now fearful of his own life. He didn't have a response, he couldn't even move.

  A few of the hitmen began to flee, but they periodically glanced at Pierre as if they were more afraid of him than me, but when a huge wooden crate dropped behind them from the balcony, they stood more firmly. Melanie had managed to pick herself up and pushed the box over the edge. It was filled with bigger guns than they were holding

  “What are you waiting for? Kill that thing before it kills all of us!” She demanded as they scrambled to grab one. I knew that they were aware of its futility, but I've seen firsthand that the power of denial can make desperate measures seem like a good option.

  I was furious at how she spoke of me. But I knew I had to keep my cool. Lye was still in the room, so the danger was still present for us. That meant I had to try to scare everyone enough that they would leave us alone, so I could wash my hands clean of this whole thing.

  “I've never used a gun before. Lye never let me touch one. I wonder what it's like.” I mused, walking towards the crate with the hitmen. They stopped fearfully, afraid to reach into the bin at the same time as me. It was insane how none of them spoke, almost unnatural. I began to believe that Pierre had trained them this way.