stellaR (Editing)

Chapter II

Chapter- II

 

To the question of your life, you are the answer, and to the problems of your life, you are the solution.          -Joe Cordare

I remember the first time I tried to wait out someone.  It was my mother, and she was trying to get me to confess to having taken the last blueberry muffin. I still to this day do not understand what possessed her to throw such a fit about it, but I’d never been one to lie down and just take whatever it was that happened to be headed my way- especially when those consequences shouldn’t have been mine anyhow.

In the end, my father had come into the room, effectively distracting the both of us, and, after asking what was the matter, he admitted to having taken the last muffin. Now that our mystery was solved, and our squabble finished, my mother shot me an apologetic smile before telling dad that he’d better help her make another batch.

This staring, wearing, each other down thing would end similarly with me and… shoot. I made a mental note to ask this guy (though that was hardly the right word, he was way too… much just to be called a guy) what his name was after our stare off was over. Which, well, if this was a dream, as he said, I was completely prepared to wait a while. Can one sleep in a dream?

     I wasn’t prepared, however, for the mental onslaught that happened as I stared at this boy. Merely looking at him had my blood on fire. Oh, silly me. He was fire. He embodied it; anyone could see it just looking at him. He was dangerous; you could see that, too. I could see it everywhere- from his posture, the way he was leaning towards me sinisterly, and his eyes especially. They always seemed to flash fearlessly. And I guess fire was fearless. It was practically an unstoppable force. His hair was still crackling, but when he realized I wasn’t planning on looking away first, a true smile graced his face, the first one I’d seen.

Honestly, I liked it immensely. But I wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit that to myself.

     He laughed at me, looking away as he did. I smirked, both at winning and at the knowledge I could amuse flames boy so easily. Speaking of…

     “Are you going to tell me your name?” I asked, rather fed up of resorting to calling him ‘flames boy’ in my head.

     “Are you going to tell me who’s helping you enter our meetings?” He shot back, arms folded, all traces of humor- and that pretty smile of his- gone.

     “Nobody is!” I hollered, jumping up and throwing my arms in the air. I was, frankly, quite sick of being attacked for something I didn’t do, “I must’ve done it by accident-”

     “Impossible.” He whispered quietly, and if I wasn’t so heated at him, I probably would’ve shivered. His whisper was like the quiet crackle of an open fire, or the swift strike of a match. You naturally knew the power it possessed.

     “-and if you hadn’t rudely pulled me out of the real, waking world into this… this…” I faltered. I didn’t know what this place was called.

     “It’s a shadow void.” He supplied easily, with only one side of his mouth twitching in an effort to suppress his humor.

     At my blank look, he openly smiled, obviously reveling in having something over me.

     “A void, as in… you know, empty? And shadow as in darkness, it’s typically dark here, you know. You’ve been here once, you saw it before. Whether it’s dimly lit here now because of your presence and subconscious or mine, I don’t know. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s your fault. You already have a track record of surprising me, and I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting you once. Who are you, anyway?” His voice suddenly changed, from all-knowing scholar to openly curious and, for once, not guarded.