Cold Fire [SAMPLE]

[15]

 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

My parents are both surprised when I arrive home at midday, just in time for lunch. Neither of them looks angry at me for leaving without any notice apart from a note, and I suppose that’s just because they’re feeling guilty about what they told me last night.

I don’t say anything to them as I make myself a sandwich, and I eat at the table in silence while they continue to make their own meals.

If it’s even possible, our relationship has gotten even more strained since I discovered the truth. Now, instead of just my parent’s dislike of me tearing our family apart, there’s also my desire to stay away from them. The sooner I can accept the fact that they aren’t my parents, the better. Because, one way or another, eventually, I’m not going to be seeing much of them, whether I swap with Sarah and fall back into my real life, or I die.

Mum heads out after lunch to do the shopping and dad stares blank faced at a TV screen while I head upstairs and do my homework. After a while of being stuck on a section of my English work, I give up and fall on my bed, eyes on the ceiling.

Since I exhausted myself trying to use telekinesis this morning, it’s not long before my eyelids drift shut and I plunge into the welcoming sea of sleep.

-:-:-:-:-

The sun has just begun to set when I wake and golden shafts of light spill into my room, dancing across my walls and giving the appearance that my room is on fire.

I get up off the bed, feeling well-rested, and make my way downstairs to grab a snack. I walk past the empty dining room to the kitchen and take an apple out of the fridge. The sound of the TV flows through all the rooms, but it is the only sound in the eerily quiet house, and it doesn’t sound quite right.

I wonder briefly if my dad has fallen asleep and decide to check up on him. Strangely, when I arrive in the living room, it’s empty. Where is he?

Another thought hits me then: Shouldn’t my mother be back from the shopping by now?

Before I know it, I’m moving from room to room, checking for my parents, but finding them empty. It’s only once I’ve checked everywhere twice that I allow myself to panic, and even then, a calm voice speaks in my head.

Stay calm, Melissa, they probably just had something to do and didn’t want to wake you. Maybe they left a note.

I check the small table by the door and spot the folded white sheet of paper sitting on top. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I unfold it and read:

We’re at the doctors. I have an appointment. Mum xox

I toss the paper in the bin and head to the living room, collapsing onto the couch. It’s not long before the constant sound coming from the TV starts to annoy me and I switch it off.

When I sit back down, I frown. Why didn’t they turn the TV off when they left?

I have just enough time to pass it off as nothing before the air around me shifts, and all too soon, heat rushes into my chest and spreads throughout my body like lava flowing through my veins. Colour dances behind my closed eyelids as the pain that accompanies my heat attacks overwhelms me and I fight to hold in a scream. I clench my fists in a hopeless attempt to distract myself from the pain and my fingernails bite into my palm, drawing blood.

When my thirty seconds is up, I notice the pain in my hands and stare down at the scarlet crescents on palms, the blood looking startlingly red against my ghost pale skin. I let out a breath before washing my hands under the tap in the downstairs bathroom.