Burnout

by Taryn Eason

  I grabbed a gun from the crate and flinched as it immediately discharged from the heat of my hands.

  I froze when I heard a choking noise. I looked up and there was a hole in the side of the neck of the man in front of me. There was blood everywhere. He grabbed at the empty space where his neck was and coughed one last time before falling to the ground.

  I panicked and dropped the now-melted gun. I had just killed someone. If I'd questioned it at all, it became obvious that this wasn't a game anymore, this was real life. And now, thanks to me, that man didn't have one anymore. I never planned on killing anyone, just scaring them. But there was no turning back.

  I felt something inside me snap. There was a stunned silence from the room until I spoke. “Lye, run.”

  He left as soon as I told him to, not questioning me or lingering like he usually would. I struggled to hold myself back long enough for him to close the door behind himself, praying that everyone else would do the same. Unfortunately, they weren't that wise.

  Everything I had pent up inside me broke free. The fear of the people around me, the pent up anger and frustration at my life, the hatred for everything Pierre had already put me through.

  There was a brilliant blue shockwave as I exploded. I looked up as the foundation beams of the building cracked and bent. I sunk into the ground as the concrete melted. I looked around and saw no one who had previously been standing inside. I was in my own world that I had created. It was a surreal feeling.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter 25

  I felt pain, throbbing pain. My head was pounding, my body was sore. I opened my eyes and was shocked to see a hotel room around myself. Lye was sitting opposite of me in a chair watching tv. The clock read 10:46 am. I had been out for around 14 hours straight.

  “Are you okay?” Lye asked.

  “I think so.” I replied until last night’s fiasco came roaring back to my mind. I remembered all I had done in what felt like such a short amount of time. “Lye?” I sat up, “Did I kill anyone else? Did everyone make it out alive?”

  “No.” He said before taking a deep breath. “When I came back for you, everyone was just a pile of bones. The entire building was gone. No one was still alive. I've never seen anything like it.”

  Tears started rolling from my eyes. I had a body count now. I had an actual list of people I've killed.

  I glanced at the tv. It was showing a live video of what remained of the Press. “Police are thinking that the bomb was not a terrorist attack, but the actions of a rival street gang. There were remnants of miscellaneous drugs and twenty-nine bodies found at the scene, all charred beyond identification.”

  Lye noticed me watching the tv and turned it off. I breathed in deeply to compose myself. “I'm glad you listened to me when I told you to leave. I was afraid you wouldn't. I didn't want any of that to happen, but I... I couldn't control it.” Another tear fell.

  “Maybelle, I have to apologize. I only wanted to protect you from them. I left you because I knew it was a long shot, but it was the only way I saw to save you. But when you were shot a hundred times and it did nothing, I realized I had underestimated your powers. You're invincible. You don't need saving from anything.”

  The sheets on the second bed in the room were ruffled where Lye had slept in them. I remembered the look he had given me last night, coupled with the fact that he was even keeping his distance from me now. “Did you think I would hurt you though?”

  He stared at me. “I'm just a man, Maybelle. Nothing you did last night was human. I'm thankful for it, yes, but I'd be lying if I said I’m not afraid of you.”

  His admission hurt, but it was impossible to hold it against him. I knew I had just done some awful things and I struggled to find a way to prove to him that I would never do anything to him. I stood up, still in my fire suit with ash freckling my hair. “Do you remember how we met?”

  He nodded.

  “You did hurt me that night. And I was so afraid of you for the longest time. I was scared I would do something to upset you and you would hit me. It's why I locked you out of the room that time, and it's why I was nervous every time you touched me. Do you know why I was so afraid?”

  “Why?” He asked.

  I grabbed his hand and touched it to my cheek, showing him that my temperature was normal again. “Because I'm human.” He looked into my eyes soberly. “And I have human reactions to the situations around me. I have flaws, and unfortunately my own are met with more consequences than most, but I don't want you to be afraid of me. I'm still human and I just want to be loved, but I understand how hard that is for me like this.”

  He tilted my chin up and kissed me gently. “You were glowing blue last night. I've never seen anything more beautiful. But I knew if I kissed you, or even touched you, it would kill me. With the confidence and power you had last night, I realized that that's your true form. You're this angel that's from another dimension, and I should be grateful for every second you touch down into my own long enough for me to hold you.”

  I hugged him tightly as I struggled to forget about last night. I regretted nearly everything about it. I didn't want to kill anybody. I didn't want to make Lye afraid of me. I wasn’t a monster, I was just trying to save him. I only wanted to live my life peacefully, but these roadblocks kept making that nearly impossible.

  At least they seemed to be finally over. I inhaled his scent and smiled, before realizing what I must smell like after melting a building. I retreated to the bathroom and showered before we left the hotel.

  We made it home that night. During the drive, I convinced him that we needed to tell Megan and Dan the truth about who we are, since we didn't have to hide anymore. Of course, they didn't have to know the full story. Just our names, because I was so sick of calling him “Vic”.

  “Megan, can I tell you something?” I started, eager to get this whole thing over with so that I could finally feel truly at-home in the new place.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  I took a deep breath. “Vic and I have been using fake names. We came down here to avoid the paparazzi and all of the press. My actual name is Maybelle Lewis, and my sister is Delilah.”

  She wasn't even mad. she just laughed, thinking I was joking. “Delilah Lewis? The healer? No way.”

  I pulled out my phone and showed her old pictures of us together.

  “Oh my gosh, I love her show. That is so cool! I think I remember you were in that interview with her once. I kept thinking you looked so familiar!”

  I laughed. “I'm glad you're taking it so well. I didn't want you to be upset with me for hiding that from you. Lysander is over there having the same conversation with Dan right now.”

  “I can't believe you're Delilah’s sister! She's so incredible!” Megan gushed.

  For once, I could agree with no restrictions. I knew that even though my sister was truly incredible, so was I. She's working on healing the world, but I didn't need healing. I was invincible. It was such a freeing feeling not to have to compete with anyone.

  After a few hours, Megan and Dan left and I began thinking about Delilah. I hadn't spoken to her in a while, and, to be honest, I was beginning to miss my older sister. I decided to call her.

  “Hey! What's up?” She spoke.

  “Where are you right now?”

  “I'm in Rio right now with the Brazilian president. He needed me here. What about you?”

  “I just wanted to call because I missed my sister. Is that so wrong?” I responded.

  “Do you have a fever or something? Is anything wrong?” She joked.

  “No, I was wondering when you would be around next time. I wanted you to see my and Lye’s new house. Oh, and I've taken up metal art. I have a whole workshop that Lye added onto the house. You have to see it.”

  “That's great Belle. I'm glad you're doing well. I don't think I'll be back for a while though. I have business to tend to around here.” She talked uncharacteristically normal.


  “That's alright. How have you been?”

  “I've been fine. I just left Uganda a few days ago. It was the same as ever. Oh yeah, I have to show you something else I can do sometime. It's pretty substantial and…” She paused and I heard a heavily accented man’s voice in the background. He sounded more middle-eastern than Brazilian. “Hey, it was great talking to you, but I have to go now. Sorry! Bye!” She said and hung up. I wondered why she seemed so rushed. But, then again, she was probably super busy, especially if she was with the Brazilian president. I vaguely wondered if she had gotten herself into any trouble, then remembered the arsenal of advisors and security guards that followed her 24/7 and that thought was quickly put to rest.

  Lye came out onto the patio when I finished talking. “You really miss your sister?”

  “Yeah.” I replied. I wondered what she was going to tell me about her powers. I can catch on fire, but I can also stop bullets. What other tricks could she possibly do with healing?

  “But she's always treated you awfully.”

  “She's still my sister. And to be fair, I wasn't the easiest person to be kind to. I don't know, I just feel like things would be different now that we’re both adults and not under our parents’ wings.”

  “Maybe.” He said, leaning down to kiss me. “Now let's go to bed, it's getting late.”

  I took his hand and followed him.

  Chapter 26

  So the next few weeks passed in bliss. I worked on my art, which had begun to have actual value. My ability to mold metal like clay became kind of a legend among the metalworking community, and Lye made visits to his old shop, while working on starting a new one here. He tried to explain to me the businesses he had bought stock in, but I lost track of them after the first few.

  I had everything I ever wanted in life. I never wanted it to end. I hadn't had another anxiety attack since Chicago. Also, apparently a rival gang had taken advantage of the fact that Pierre and the Glitch’s best hitmen were all dead, so the Glitch was pretty much extinguished. My life was pretty much perfect.

  I was laying in bed channel surfing when a news report caught my eye.

  It was an aerial view of the aftermath of the “bomb” that went off in Chicago. They were talking about how modern street gangs are beginning to impersonate terrorists. I wanted to turn the channel, but I couldn't. They kept talking about how they still haven't found the people responsible, but blamed it on another gang at war with the Glitch.

  A first responder was interviewed and he held back tears.

  “I've never seen anything like it. I've seen bombs go off before, but never one like this. The building had reached temperatures so high that the foundation buckled. But I'll never forget the first thing I saw when I looked through the rubble. There were piles of blackened bones everywhere. There wasn't any flesh or anything. It had all been burned off. I can't imagine the type of sadist who would do something so evil. I've been a firefighter for ten years and I have not been able to sleep well since I saw that.”

  The reporter sympathized with him, continuing to talk about the evil people who killed twenty-nine innocent people. I angrily turned the tv off and threw the remote against the wall. They didn't know the whole story. The men were selfish monsters only trying to kill me for their own greed. I had to kill them to save Lye and myself.

  But were they really so greedy? Pierre had obviously done something to them so that they were afraid to show their own emotions. They saw me on fire, melting their bullets and still were too afraid of him to leave. Maybe it was Pierre himself that had made them shoot me, instead of his fake story about me.

  What if I had killed innocent people who were too afraid to run?

  I felt my body begin to heat up. All the emotions I had repressed from refusing to deal with those events were hitting me like a freight train. I knew I couldn't stop it, so I ran downstairs as fast as I could into the back yard. I laid in the grass sobbing. I wanted to call Lye, but I knew my hands would melt my phone before it even dialed his number. Besides, I was a murderer. I didn't deserve to be consoled by anyone. I deserved to burn like this.

  All those innocent men were probably people just like Lye who had homes and families and, for whatever reason, just made one bad decision and things got too out-of-control for them to stop.

  But now they couldn't fix themselves. They could never go back to their parents clean like Lye had done. They could never feel the acceptance of their loved ones. It didn't make sense. I had robbed them of any chance to make something better of themselves.

  “Maybelle, what happened?” Lye’s voice said, breaking me from my trance.

  He was already back from work? How long had I been out here crying? I realized I must have wasted the past hour grieving for the first time over the lives that I had taken. Hearing him speak so sweetly reminded me again how awful I was for everything.

  “Nothing, just leave me alone.” I called. He couldn't even get close to me. I would burn him. Why would he date a girl he couldn't even hug without the risk of third degree burns?

  “No, tell me why you're upset. I want to help.”

  I looked at him. He was so perfect in his slim-fit jeans and a red t-shirt. His tattoos hugged his muscles amazingly and his shoes cost more than most people make in a month. The house that he bought for us was so gorgeous. And I was a murderer on fire crying in the backyard instead of being the perfect trophy girlfriend enjoying it with him. He deserved so much more than me.

  “No you don't. You're afraid to leave me alone. That's the only reason you were ever with me.”

  “What have I done to make you think that?”

  I stood on the concrete beside the pool, realizing the damage I had done to our pretty green grass. “I've always been the little sister to you. You've always made that clear to me. That doesn't just change overnight because I found out your secret on the night I broke up with my boyfriend.”

  “You know that's not how I feel. Look at all I've done to prove how much I care about you.”

  “Exactly! You're so good to me. That's how I know it has to be fake. I'm an awful person. I burned down my aunt’s greenhouse. I burned you. And then I” I paused and let out a tiny sob. “I killed so many people. I saw the look you gave me that night and I can’t take it anymore. You can't be attracted to someone who looks like this. I'm a demon, I'm not even a person.”

  “You're not a demon, Maybelle. The ‘little sister’ is more accurate than that.” He stepped closer. “Because I know that you think you look so frightening, and maybe you do to people who don't know you, but when I look at you, I see that night where you were too afraid to burn Caleb, so you were just going to let him hurt you. You're that selfless. You didn't kill your dad even when he pulled a gun on you. You wouldn't have even touched the people in the Press if it wasn't to save me.”

  I thought about what he said. He wasn't wrong, but why did I still feel so awful? “How can you stand there and tell me that I not only deserve to exist, but that I deserve this extravagant life here?”

  “Your family has always treated you like shit and none of your friends cared enough to notice. Then when you get superpowers that you could easily use to get revenge on them without being caught, but you never did. You're made of fire and fire is passionate and beautiful. Not vengeful. The same fire that makes glass out of sand also makes ash out of leaves. It's not your fault that some people would rather be leaves than sand. You're perfect as you are and I don't want anything else but those red eyes staring at me forever.”

  I sniffled. I was glowing and feeling more exposed than ever. All I wanted was to hold him, but I knew that wasn't an option. “You can't even touch me right now. How can you be with someone you have to be afraid of?”

  He took his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand as he walked, just like he did before he shattered the window in Caleb’s truck. “How many times do I have to say it before you realize?” He called, now barely an inch from my face.

  I looked down
fearfully at his clenched hand.

  “I'm really not afraid of you.” I flinched as he threw his hands in front of him, the shirt catching on fire as he pushed me forcefully.

  I fell backwards into the pool, the water sizzling around me. He jumped in after me, shoes and all. I came up and gasped as he wrapped his arms around me from behind. I cowered until he kissed my neck and turned me to face him. I stared at him, wide eyed.

  “You look so gorgeous when you're on fire. I’ve been wanting to do this since I first met you.” He pulled me underwater and kissed me deeply on the lips before pulling us both up for air. “I dreamed a few times that I was able to kiss you while you were on fire, but it's so much better in real life.”

  The water bubbled as I stared at his arms around my waist. “Lye, I'm burning you.”

  He bit my lip eagerly, reluctantly stopping to reply. “It feels amazing.”

  I was so intrigued by him. He was kissing me and holding me so tightly that I couldn't concentrate enough to cool myself down. I was enthralled by him always, but for him to actually want me now, while I was on fire, he must like the pain.

  “Good.” I breathed into his neck gently. I lit my hand slightly warmer and ran it gently down his chest, testing my theory.

  He sighed and held me closer while he kicked off his shoes and pants and they sank to the bottom of the pool so that he could move easier. We migrated to the shallow end of the pool before I cooled down just enough for him to pick me up bridal style and carry me inside.

  “Lye, we’re dripping water everywhere! Look at the carpet.” I protested, breaking my lips away long enough to speak. We didn't even have towels with us and the white carpet in the hallway was way too nice to ruin.

  “Who cares? I'll get rid of the carpet if it'll make you happy, babe.” He replied, before sitting me on the edge of one of the guest room beds, unhooking my bra. He kissed my chest while he crouched down in front of me, his hands running down my thighs. “I just want you.”