Seekers of Fire

Chapter 3 - Earthquake

She was still mad at him. After school had ended, she had grabbed her bag and rushed out of the school grounds, eager to get home and lay around in bed doing nothing. Usually, she and Drake would walk halfway home together and wish each other farewell. Crimson was a big suburb, but she only lived five streets away from her best friend.

With a sigh, she began her journey home without Drake. After a few minutes, she felt stupid for ditching her best friend, but then she remembered the events that had occurred at lunchtime and started to feel angry again. During lunch break, Drake had not appeared at their usual spot and after getting impatient for having to wait more than twenty minutes, she had gone around the school searching for him.

She eventually found him in the computer room – which was off limits during breaks – laughing away with the new girl as they watched something on one of the computers. What was her name? Oh right, Rachel. Amelia had never felt so betrayed in her life, and she stormed off without them even noticing.

She also felt an emotion she never really had to deal with until now. Jealousy. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew she had developed a crush on Drake in the beginning of the year. Amelia had never tried telling him about how she felt in fear of it getting in the way of what they had now. But what if this Rachel takes my best friend away from me?

Amelia felt anger building up inside her again, the kind of anger that would spiral out of control if she was not careful. She balled her hands into fists, letting her fingernails dig into her skin as she tried to contain her emotions.

A loud rumbling suddenly filled her ears, and the world began to shake. What the– She tried running for cover but the unsteady ground caused her to trip and fall. She closed her eyes, expecting the worse, but the shaking and noise ceased.

Some of the cars in the neighbourhood had gone off with their blaring alarms and a few people came out from their houses. They were pointing and shouting at something in the middle of the road. She picked herself back up from the footpath and gasped. A huge crack had appeared along the road, caused by the earthquake.

The earthquake wasn't that powerful, so why did the road split open? Then she remembered how she felt just before it happened and brought her hands to her mouth in horror. Did I cause this? She shook her head. No, it couldn't have been me. I set things on fire, not summon earthquakes!

"Someone call the authorities!" one of the residents yelled.

Amelia pushed aside the dozens of questions she had and tried to get home as quickly as possible. She needed to call Dad, but she did not feel safe calling him until she got home. But as she began to head home, she felt something strange happen to her body.

At first, she thought it was just nervousness caused by the earthquake, but then she realised it was something else, like a magnetic pull that tugged at her in another direction. She tried ignoring it, but after a few more seconds of walking, her mind started telling her she needed to follow that magnetic pull. Great, now my body and my mind are rebelling against me.

The will to follow where she felt she needed to go overcame her and she began sprinting in another direction. After ten minutes of jogging, she had figured out where the strange sensation was trying to take her. She stopped in front of her destination to catch her breath. The nearby sign read 'Crimson Park', and she felt that she needed to go inside.

Crimson Park was a huge public area near her house and consisted of a playground near the entrance, dozens of barbeque pits scattered across and a variety of plant species. Dad would sometimes take her here for barbeque lunches and play a game of baseball. Except it was a game for two.