The Firefly

7°

A red-haired girl was waiting in front of the door and from the way she looked at me I knew I must have looked desperate.

-What... what happened?- I asked, handing her the pizza box and panting, trying to get my breath back.

The redhead didn't answer me evidently terrified of Mr. Hale so I was forced to enter the house.

Jake's furious screams were audible from the doorway. What on earth happened? I thought as I catapulted myself to the boy's room.

I jerked open the door and two heads turned towards me. A woman was standing in front of the bed and immediately lowered her head turning towards Mr. Hale who looked furious.

He was sitting at the edge of the bed holding his cane tightly and his cold white eyes wide open. -What happened?- I asked as I approached the woman.

-This idiot left the cabinet door in the bathroom open!- the guy spat acidly, now that I looked at him better I noticed how his right eyebrow was bleeding a little.
-Mr Hale, it can happen...- He interrupted me by slamming the stick hard on the floor.

-It can happen in a house where everyone can see!- he shouted. -In a house where a blind man lives, it cannot and must not happen! -The slender fingers tightened around the stick, turning the knuckles white. -Mr...- I tried again to intervene, but once again he interrupted me.

-It could have ended worse than this.- He pointed to the small cut with a finger trembling in anger.

-I could have fallen backwards and broken my head! I would have...-

-That's enough Mr Hale!- I shouted as much as he did to be heard.

He shut up suddenly turning his head towards me. -How dare you...-

-You're worrying about things that didn't happen!-

The woman at my side looked at me out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing.

-A little cut is certainly not the end of the world!-

He leaned towards me without ever closing those glacial eyes.

-I could have fallen backwards.- He hissed through clenched teeth.

-But I didn't!- I exclaimed, sighing and massaging my temples with my thumbs.

He closed his eyes, tightening his lips as if I were the spoilt child, raised his stick and pointed it at the poor woman.

-You are fired.- He hissed, laying his eyes empty of all emotion on her. I interposed myself between her and the stick, lowering it with one hand.

-You are not going to fire her.-

He froze. -What the fuck took you so long, by the way?- He asked, raising his voice and thrusting the stick back at me.

-I was out, Mr Hale.- I said, moving me and the woman away from the tip of the stick.
-You took too long.-
-I'm doing my best!
-That's not good enough! - He blurted, standing up and staring at an indefinite point behind us.

His height towered above me, and I looked up. The woman looked at me, raising her head slightly, shaking it as if to tell me not to waste my time with that guy.

-You're fired.- Jake repeated. -Leave your uniform with Miss Hooper and don't come back here again.- He concluded, returning to his seat and throwing his cane against the wall, making a dull noise.

She didn't let him repeat it a second time and disappeared over the threshold of the door. I sighed in exasperation, biting my tongue to avoid saying something that would end me like that poor woman.