Burnout

by Taryn Eason

  “Why did you even come here if you weren't going to help me?” I said angrily.

  She smiled and extended her hand. “I came here to be with you because you're my sister. You're the only other person that understands this hell that we’ve been cursed with. I came here to heal you and convince you to come traveling with me. Besides, I miss you and I could use the extra security.” She smiled.

  I stared down at her hand. “I'll go with you if you heal him.”

  Her smile faded and she put her arm down. “I'll be at the Sheraton for when you change your mind.” She spoke before stepping out of the room.

  Chapter 28

  After my nurse discovered my IV missing, she was determined to reinsert it, stating that it was necessary for me right now.

  I was feeling the pain in full swing, but I shrugged. “I'll just pull it out again when you leave.”

  She knew how awful I was at staying medicated and in my room, so she had my doctor go ahead and discharge me. The whole thing took two hours that I didn't want to spend away from Lye. I had to convince Delilah to come back. I hated her, but I needed her even more.

  When I was released, I wheeled myself up to Lye’s room. I had tried to stand earlier, but the immense pain in my recently relocated hip forced me back into the chair.

  There were medical personnel all over the room, machines were beeping loudly, and his parents were pressed to the back wall.

  “What's going on?” I asked frantically.

  “He’s almost gone.” His dad said brokenly. “His liver and kidneys have stopped working, so they're shutting off the machines. It all happened so fast, I'm so sorry we didn't go down and tell you, we just… we couldn't leave him.”

  My breath caught. “No, just keep him alive a little longer! Let me call Delilah!”

  I pulled out my phone, which was cracked from the wreck, and dialed her number.

  “She's already been up here sweetie.” His mother said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “She said she couldn't heal him like this. He’s too far gone.”

  I heard her dial tone as she declined my call. My temper broke free. “She's a liar!” I shouted, melting my phone and throwing it, burning a spot in the drywall. “She just won't save him because of me!”

  I rolled my chair closer, seeing his heart monitor beating slower, too much slower. “Keep him alive! Give me some time to convince her!” I begged, regretting breaking my phone.

  Everyone just stared at me sympathetically. I was just another girl in a wheelchair watching her boyfriend die, like they saw all the time. I didn't matter to them.

  I grabbed a nurse by the back of the shirt and turned her towards me, burning a hole in it by accident. “Don't let him die! Hook him back up!”

  She began to reply, but she was interrupted when we heard a sudden noise.

  We all turned to stare at the heart monitor flatlining.

  I paused for a moment, fixated on Lye's lifeless body before I comprehended what had just happened. I whimpered pathetically as I failed to compose myself.

  “He can't die! Save him! Stop standing there!” I shouted to everyone. I felt myself heating up, so I tried to stand, falling down in front of my wheelchair and beginning to sob, the noise from the heart monitor still in the background.

  The doctor tried to help me up, pausing cautiously when she felt how hot I was. “Get off of me and do your job! You knew how to help him and you didn't even try. I actually wanted to save him and I couldn't.” I crawled back into my chair painfully. “All of you can go to Hell and burn.”

  I wheeled myself closer to look at the body before they took him away from me forever. I studied the bruised and gauze covered ghost as I realized that it wasn't Lye anymore. It didn't even look like him at that point. It was as if they had placed all of his familiar tattoos onto a bruised rubber overinflated doll of him. It sobered me again to know that he was already gone, even though I was left with this cold-burning intensity inside myself that terrified me more than anything. Lye was the only good thing in my life that tied me to my human morals. Now that he was gone, I had no connection to this world.

  My eyes dried and I breathed evenly. I was done caring about people, since the only one who truly cared about me was gone. Maybe Delilah was right, we weren't human. We were something else outside of that realm of reality. Humans needed weapons and tools to play God. We didn't.

  We were already gods.

  I had made the connection a long time ago that, together, we were Life and Death. And for once, I was content with the role I was meant to play.

  I began to roll myself out, stopping in front of Lye’s parents. “You remember the old stories about how all pure hearted people go to Heaven?”

  They nodded, noticing the marked change in my emotions.

  “Well I know one who deserves Hell for letting Lye die, and I'm about to make sure they experience it. I'm through with this Que sera sera bullshit. I'm taking it into my own hands to control what happens and doesn't happen now.”

  She opened her mouth to stop me, but then she realized that Delilah had actually lied to her and refused to save her son for the pure sake of being spiteful. No one on Earth would be pure hearted enough to call me off in this situation.

  As I rolled myself down the street, memories of Lye began flooding my mind, threatening to choke me. I did my best to wave them away. I couldn't be weak anymore. That was for humans.

  “Where is Delilah Lewis’ room?” I asked the woman behind the front desk.

  “I can't disclose that.” She responded.

  I scoffed. She probably gets thousands of people coming to her hotels begging her to heal them. Of course she doesn't want anyone to know where she is. “I'm her sister.”

  “Of course you are.” She rolled her eyes.

  I stood up, grabbing the desk to steady myself. I lit my hands and stared at her with my eyes a glowing red. I touched the paper on her desk and it burst into flames. “If you think her security will be mad at you for telling me where her room is, you won't have to worry about them for long.”

  Her face changed from boredom to shock as she stood from her chair and pressed herself against the back wall, as far as possible from me. “What are you?”

  “I already told you. I'm Delilah’s sister.” I smiled, heating my face a warm red, but taking care not to burn my clothes. “There's a reason I stay out of the limelight.” I spoke with steam billowing from my mouth.

  She told me the room number without hesitation.

  I lit myself and stood in the elevator, keeping my feet a normal temperature to avoid burning through the floor underneath me. My hip felt awful, but I had already mentally blocked out the pain I was in. My cast caught on fire and fell off, making me wince in pain as my arm fell out of the position it had been set in. I looked down and saw the metal rods that had been placed were now liquid oozing out and dripping slowly on the elevator floor. I breathed deep, panic over my physical condition threatening to derail my mission. Thankfully, since I was fueled by emotional turmoil and blind rage, I couldn't be stopped by anything.

  “Let me inside.” I demanded of the two security guards outside her room.

  They immediately drew their guns. I couldn't decide if they had been warned about me by the clerk, or if the sight of me was enough to put them on the offensive.

  “Go ahead, shoot me. I dare you to try and kill Delilah’s sister without her consent.” I laughed a sick laugh.

  They exchanged a few words, no doubt recognizing me from earlier. “Don't come any closer.” One warned as he cracked the door to ask Delilah if I was safe. He didn't realize I saw her response. She was sitting up from the bed, one brown eye visible, locked onto my burning body fearfully. She shook her head furiously and motioned for them to lock the door.

  “I'm sorry ma'am, we’re going to have to ask you to leave.” They said, pushing together in front of the door, guns still drawn.

  “That's funny.” I said. “You actually think you can stop me.�
� The smaller guard on the right put his finger on the trigger and I reacted, grabbing his outstretched wrist and burning through his shirt. I swallowed my disgust and held my eye contact as the flesh melted away under my hand until I felt only bone. He dropped his gun and screamed in pain, collapsing onto the ground. That was one down.

  I was distracted by the gruesome sight of his arm, so the other guard redrew his gun in self defense and shot it twice, hitting me square in the chest both times. It felt similar to a mosquito bite. I wiped it off my chest and smiled. His expression dropped and he immediately raised both of his hands to surrender. His partner had already fled, clutching his barren arm as he managed the energy to stand and run.

  “Please don't hurt me.” He cried. He was tall and muscular with dark skin and tattoos all over his arms. He had tears in his eyes.

  I felt a twinge of sadness when I realized how much he reminded me of Lye. I knew I couldn't hurt him. “Please don't give me a reason.” I warned, my hand outstretched and prepared to attack.

  He lowered his arms and slowly began to step away from the door, but he hesitated. “Are you going to hurt her?”

  I was thankful for his question because it gave me an opportunity to ask my own. He was most likely with her 24/7, plus I needed the reassurance that what I was about to do was justified. “How many innocent people have you seen her refuse to heal?”

  “She let him die, didn't she? You're her sister and she let that guy you were talking about die.” I froze, losing my breath.

  “I always knew there would be a day where one of the people she left hanging would come back to bite her and I'm glad it's you.” He stared at me as if he wasn't afraid of me anymore. Actually, it was more of an excitement, like a kid who had just met his favorite idol. It was as if I was a hero to him. “She’s got a god complex so big that she thinks she's the Angel of Life. After everything I've watched her do, I'm glad that she finally pissed off the Angel of Death. Karma’s a bitch, right?”

  “You look a lot like him, you know.” I said, an urge threatening to make me cry. “And I've seen enough of the world to know that karma isn't real. Good people die young and bad people grow old with no discretion. I know she’ll never be punished if I don't do it myself.” I lit my body again, regaining my composure. “I guess I really am the Angel of Death and I'm about to make her see the only Hell I know.”

  Chapter 29

  I melted the keycard lock and pushed myself inside the room. Delilah was sitting on her bed, shaking silently.

  “He’s dead now,” I began. “You could have saved him and you didn't. Why not?”

  “Because I just missed you, Belle. Ever since you were a kid, you always ran to me with your problems. I'm so sorry I was selfish. I just felt like he took you from me.” She said in her normal sweet voice, attempting to weasel her way out in her usual way. She should know by now that I was used to her tricks and they stopped working on me years ago.

  “Bullshit. Every time I told you anything, you would always make me feel awful to build yourself up. He's the one who gave me that black eye and busted lip a few months ago, and I'd still choose him over you any day.”

  She scoffed, returning to the Delilah I had spoken with earlier. “He was an awful person. He was on drugs, and he dealt drugs. He didn't deserve to be healed. I shouldn't have even helped him the first time. He’s scum.”

  My father’s same words about Lye echoed in my head and before I realized it, I had grabbed her by the neck and threw her forcefully into the back wall. “Don't talk about him that way.”

  She coughed, feeling the newly forming burns on her neck, then looked at me and laughed. “Really, Belle? Violence? You're just mad because no matter what you do, you'll never be as good as I am. You'll always have those powers, and you'll never be able to do anything good with them.”

  I punched her, burning her cheek slightly. “I don't care what you think of me. I'm a hell of a lot better person than you are. Do you seriously think you're pure hearted? Do you think that actually exists?”

  She held her cheek and glared at me. “Do you know what it's like to be put on such a high pedestal where you get criticized for every single thing you do that people don't approve of? Do you know what that's like?”

  “Stop being such a narcissistic bitch. I have a lot of blood on my hands, but at least I regret it. You like to pretend that you've done nothing wrong. You literally only have to touch people to heal them. It's not like you have to go too much out of your way.” I seethed. “I want you to think of every person you chose not to save, just because you thought it was inconvenient for you. You're responsible for every single one of their lives now and I hope you can live with yourself for letting them all die.”

  She was crying now, my words stabbing her in the chest. “I was always the perfect daughter. I was always the smartest person in my class. I was always the best at everything. I did charity work. I tried to play the Voice of Reason for you. Every single good thing I did was fake. All of it. I don't actually care about people. I'm not meant to save anyone.”

  I looked down at her, crying on the ground with a burned face. She had no weapons, no fighting skills to use against me. She was entirely at my mercy. I could easily choke her to death, melting straight through her neck. I could do anything and she couldn't stop me. She had no powers that would allow her to defend herself. And she was the reason Lye was dead. Why was I just toying with her and not doing anything to avenge him? She had never shown me any argument worthy of keeping her alive. Why did I still value her life?

  “How was it fake?” I asked.

  She held her burned neck again. “I pretended to be perfect because you weren't! You were normal and he hated you. I was so afraid that the second I slipped up, he would turn on me too and treat me like he treated you. I watched every single time he hurt you and every time he belittled you. I even agreed with him and was awful towards you out of fear for so long. I was so much older when I realized I ruined your life by not telling anyone. I never showed it, but I wanted more than anything to save you from him. That's the only reason I got this power. I never gave a damn about saving the world. That's what Dad wanted me to want.”

  Memories of my father rushed my mind. Every time, was she really watching? That meant she saw everything. And she never told anyone to help me. She let me believe that I was the only one who realized what my father really was. She was the sole reason I felt so alone though my childhood that I rebelled in my adolescence. If she had only let me know that she understood my feelings and that she was afraid too, our relationship wouldn't be so fractured.

  Instead, she didn't save Lye, and she didn't save me either. She didn't deserve to be handed life on a silver platter like she had experienced. She didn't deserve to be idolized by the world. She was given the ability to change so many people’s lives for the better, and she didn't even care. She rejected them. She deserved to be treated like the monster that I am, not the angel that the media portrays her as.

  She deserved to die, just like the people she refused to save. The realization filled me with so much fury that I began glowing white. I saw blisters appearing on her from three feet away. I set off the hotel sprinklers and Delilah used the distraction as an opportunity to run from me.

  I attempted to chase her, but it was futile with my injuries. My left arm swung unnaturally without its cast, but I still limped onwards. I fell down in the elevator, panting just from the exertion of walking. I would never catch up to her like this.

  I finally arrived in the lobby to see Delilah being escorted out slowly by her security guards. They weren't the same ones from earlier, there were three big men crowded around her wearing black. I was suspicious until one of them turned so I could see his burned face. My heart stopped.

  It was Colt.

  In all the turmoil of today, I had forgotten about the Glitch. Of course they knew I was still alive, and of course they were still after me. They were trying to use Delilah to get to me. Or maybe, since
her security guards were MIA, they were coincidentally after her in their own right. Either way, I had to know.

  Thankfully, he hadn't noticed me yet. I panted lightly from the exertion. Was I even strong enough to take on anyone else tonight? I had exhausted my rage and instead I was now only fueled by something I had no name for. It was simply a drive to go on, an almost instinctual urge to move forward, even though I had no tangible motivation anymore.

  I kept my distance and followed them as they led her outside the hotel, to an ill-lit area by a dumpster. I saw that Colt had a gun pressed into her back, forcing her to go with them.

  I hid behind the dumpster quietly and watched the scene in front of me, hoping to plan my next move. A blind man with a cane walked to Delilah, escorted by two more men. I instantly recognized his voice.

  “Your sister did this to me. She killed my daughter and the explosion was so bright that it blinded me. I can't sleep at night, I just miss her like crazy. I know you can't do much for her, but can you please give me my sight back? I don't want the last sight I've seen to be her death. Please.” Pierre said convincingly.

  Delilah looked around and saw that everyone else had guns. Her hands were tied. “O-okay.” She said fearfully.

  It made sense that he was still alive. Cockroaches never die. He was even more responsible for Lye’s death than Delilah was, especially since the wreck was most likely another attempt on my life. I was so tired and broken in every way imaginable, but I steadied myself. Hopefully this would be the end of everything, once and for all. I lit myself white hot and made my entrance.

  “That's so cute. You almost even had me convinced.” I began.

  Everyone turned and reacted to me. Colt was the first to pull his trigger in a vain attempt at revenge. The rest followed quickly. Delilah attempted to run, but was unsure at which of us was more safe as her guardian.

  After they realized that it served no purpose, the gunfire died down. Colt approached me fearlessly, hoping to save Pierre. I stared at his mangled face, daring him to try something again. “So you were going to try to use my sister to heal him? My sister. Did you even think that through?”