Gasoline | BxB

-3- In The Ashes

The rest of the school day was pretty uneventful, chatter about the fire and Sierra's disappearance filled the hallways with all eyes on Henry plus his friend group. No one except Henry knew what had happened to her though, and the guilt was killing him inside.

Usually Henry dreaded going home to his house and parents, but today he was ready for it, he was ready for people to stop staring at him. As he made his way onto the bus he noticed the boy from the bathroom walking past the bus stop, they briefly made eye contact before he turned away speeding up his pace.

Henry sighed stepping onto the crowded bus, he sat with his friends at their usual spot at the back, unlike this morning they were silent. No one said a word the entire journey. As the bus stopped outside his house Henry hopped off not even saying goodbye to them.

He entered his house quietly, it felt like no time had passed at all. His Dad was still sat on the couch eyes stuck to the television screen, the coverage was now showing pictures of Sierra with the forest fire in the corner. The two big stories suddenly hitting their small town.

"Henry darling" Mrs Young whispered trotting slowly down the stairs, Henry noticed tears in her eyes and instantly felt a sinking feeling. It was rare to see either of his parents emotional, and their usual way of dealing with their emotions was taking it out on him so this spelt potential trouble.

"Mom?" Henry replied standing his ground as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Sit down love, we need to talk to you" She ordered softly, the shift from her usual uncaring demeanour was unsettling but Henry obeyed taking a seat on the couch as his Mom sat next to him in between him and his Dad.

His Dad flicked the television off looking over at his wife expectantly.

She sighed her eyes meeting Henry's before she began to speak "I don't really know how to say this my love, I know how close you and Sierra were, you were meant for each other I know that"

Henry rolled his eyes at this, his parents had always been obsessed with trying to set him and Sierra up. In their eyes she was a perfect little angel who despite the sins in her household was shining through, the perfect match for Henry.

"They found... they found Sierra's body in the woods. She's gone darling" Mrs Young choked out tears marring her cheeks.

Henry felt his heart drop at the confirmation, he ran a hand through his messy ginger hair sighing deeply. He'd feared this much, but hearing it confirmed was even worse.

"She was such a sweet kid" Mr Young commented.

"They had it coming though, really. Poor Sierra didn't deserve this though" Mrs Young replied referencing Sierra's moms.

"No they didn't Mom! There's nothing wrong with them!" Henry objected making his mothers face turn to one of shock and his father whip his head to face Henry angrily.

"I don't want to hear such blasphemous remarks in my house!" Mr Young snarled aggressively.

Henry shook his head standing up heading to his room, he couldn't deal with their homophobia right now, Sierra was dead, and it was all his fault. He could feel his phone vibrating like crazy blowing up with notifications in his pocket.

He pulled it out opening their group chat.

Jack: I can't believe it, this can't be real.

Clive: I feel sick, I haven't stopped crying.

Lucy: Same, this is awful. I don't even know what to do with myself now.

Jack: We've got to be strong for her guys.

Henry smiled at this, Jack had always been the group leader of sorts. Leading the charge into whatever they were doing.

Henry: My parents just told me...

Jack: It's okay Henry, she's in a better place now.

Peter: Is she?

Henry: What happened to her, does anyone know?

Lucy: The cops told my parents they don't really know, they don't think there was foul play involved but they also have no idea why she was in the woods in the first place.

Clive: She was there because of us.

Jack: Don't say that Clive.

Peter: I think it's kinda obvious what happened no?

Lucy: Ye.

Jack: Agreed.

Henry: Not obvious to me?

Jack: She went back to light the fire, then got trapped in it and couldn't make it out in time.

Lucy: Oh god, she must've been so scared, I can't deal with this.

Peter: Poor Sierra, I can't stop thinking about how she must've felt.

Henry glanced away from his phone thinking about the fire, thinking about Sierras cry for help. Truly there wasn't anything he could've done. He'd have died if he stayed any longer and she was already unresponsive. That didn't make it feel any better though.

That wasn't the only thought crossing his mind, despite what had happened. Despite the tragedy this fire had caused. Henry couldn't help but want to do it again, he wanted to light another fire.

Quickly stepping into the bathroom Henry flicked the light on, he glanced around the small room grasping the shiny lighter in his hand. He grabbed a roll of toilet paper holding it gingerly above the sink, he briefly looked into the mirror before lighting it ablaze.

The paper immediately burst into flames smoke rising from it, Henry dropped it quickly into the sink watching as the flames licked around the sink fogging up the mirror. Henry quickly turned the tap on gazing in awe as the orange fizzled away replaced with just the smell of smoke.

Looking back up at the fogged up mirror Henry cried out in absolute terror stumbling backwards, he could've sworn he saw Sierra's charred face staring back at him eyes burning with hatred. He covered his mouth to prevent himself making any more noise as he watched the mirror slowly demystify returning to the normal, shiny, reflective state.

It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real. It can't have been real.

With guilt gnawing away at his very soul Henry headed back into his room collapsing uncaringly on his bed. The smell of smoke still hung around his fingers making Henry itch for more as he slowly shut his eyes envisioning the sky being lit up with orange and yellow flames incinerating the very clouds that dotted the earth.