Fight With Fire

36

"Welcome to your future!"

"A helicopter?" I look up at Carly from the bottom of the steps and watch her smile fade slightly.

"Not just a helicopter-" I cut her off by walking right by her into the vehicle. "How'd you know this was a helicopter?"

"I'm not as stupid as you think." I buckle into the seat and she follows by sitting beside me.

"There are some things you need to know about becoming a council member. First-"

"How'd you do it?" I interrupt and wait for her response.

"Excuse me?"

"You sat in a room completely still for hours." I state simply.

"That's right." Carly sits a little taller clearly proud.

"How'd you do it?"

"I just didn't give up." I'm waiting for her to continue but she doesn't until I raise my eyebrows. "I don't know what you want me to say. I walked in there and I knew that were expecting me to do something so I did nothing. I wouldn't let them break me."

There is a long silence that stretches between us. She pulls some strands of hair away from her face. Then she pulls them back so her hair falls straight around her face. She alternates between tugging on the collar of her shirt and the hem. There are small things that she keeps fixing and fidgeting with. No matter what she does it's never right.

I heard this was because of her Drell. One of the things that comes with her beauty. She may look beautiful, but she doesn't feel like it. Never comfortable in her own skin. This is something that I can relate to.

"You must realize I don't believe that." I say into the silence while I stare out the window. The ground is shrinking beneath us and the world is growing bigger and bigger.

"Don't believe what?" When I look up I see Carly staring at me waiting for a reply. Once I noticed, it's hard for me not to notice her constant twitching or how uncomfortable she is under my heavy glare.

"That you decided not to give up. I don't believe it. I don't even believe that you figured out what the testing was."

"Who told you?" Her voice is smaller, a voice that doesn't belong to someone with so much power.

"You." This answer surprises her and she looks up from her lap. "Just now."

"Liar. Someone told you." Her voice turns angry. "He probably told you. You are his little pet now with all his attention. You know that was me once."

"Okay, now I have no idea what you're talking about." I reply but she just laughs.

"Don't even lie, he did the same thing to me. I thought he actually loved me. I thought he saw something in me that day. But he cornered me and threatened me. He knew that I wasn't smart or clever or even patient. I was lucky. I walked into that room and I froze. I can't really remember now but I was so scared. I looked around and knew that I wasn't smart enough to know how to escape. So I sat down and focused on staying calm knowing that wouldn't let them see me break down."

"Who's he?" I try to interject but she just laughs again.

"He is the reason I am where I am. As long as I promised not tell anyone, he would place me first. He knew my Aerdell and my Drell and he could've been my downfall. He could've been our downfall. But we both knew the sacrifices we had to make and now look at us." She holds her hands out gesturing to the aircraft that is bringing us farther and farther away from the only place I've ever known and the only people I've ever loved.

"I didn't know that Louis was your examiner too." I feel disgusted at what she's implying and who shes blaming. He never did anything other than what was allowed. He showed up my window but I thought that was just to help me. He had never asked for anything in return. Was he going to?

"I didn't want anyone to. That's the kind of power I have now. We have now. We can make anyone do anything we want."

"What about the other council members?" I only knew of her and Brian Coles who is responsible for making the list.

"We're all responsible for different things. I usually take surveillance and report back to everyone but I'm going to be a little... preoccupied this week so that'll be your post for the time being. Brian usually runs stats and stuff but he's so old now that he's not very motivated. Lucifer takes care of the enforcers and stuff. He's out this week running one of the job trials. Warren generally likes to check up on us even though his designated job is the school systems. And Quinn, well this might be confusing but she keeps track of our history and she's the only one that knows how all these machine's work. She has the Aerdell of Memory and she can remember stuff that she's never seen or heard. She mostly does a lot of reading, I'll let her explain what she does."

"You work with all these people everyday doing what exactly?" I lean forward on my elbows becoming more interested in the turn of this conversation.

"We run the show. Do what needs to get done. Manage people and supplies. Mostly we watch though." Her eyes glint mischievously and I don't want to give her the satisfaction of asking what she's talking about.

"In case you're curious, that's what you'll be doing. Watching. We can't give you an official role but technically you're not doing anything." Her eyes flash as she leans forward and waits for the obvious question.

I don't satisfy her and turn back to the window. From this far up you can actually see the world start to curve. It can be hard to imagine that the world is round this vantage point makes it undeniable. I would think that I would be scared so high off the ground. Or even that a small metal box is the only thing between me and the ground miles below. But I only feel free. As if gravity is the only thing that puts weight on my problems and from this far away, it can't reach me.

"You don't have to pretend around me you know?" This question takes me by surprise and she answers my unspoken question. "All this powerful mean girl vibe you got going? You don't have to pretend. I've opened up. Maybe return the favour?"

"I don't know why everyone thinks this." I hiss through gritted teeth. "But I am not opening up to. I am not faking. I am not a nice person. But I am powerful and nothing, not you or the council or Louis John, are going to stop me."

"Stop fighting us, we're here to help you. We can rule together. And everyone will kneel at our feet." She stands up and walks shakily towards me before standing to tower over me.

"There is no we." I follow her actions to stand up in front of her and we are almost the same height.

"You have no power until you learn to trust us like we trust you."

Before she can react I push her onto the ground with all the force that I have. The helicopter shakes beneath us and starts to fall a little.

"Listen here." I spit into her pretty face. "I am going to bring this world crashing to ground and you will regret wanting to help me. You will regret ever offering your help. You will regret putting all this 'trust' in me. You'll regret ever underestimating me and assuming I'm just like you."

The world around us is screaming and flying around. I distantly hear some alarms going off and see lights flashing in all different colours around me. I realize that instead of the feeling of the aircraft moving forward hundreds of miles an hour, I feel like I'm falling. I'm heavier than normal and somehow that's freeing. I can feel everything falling down, down, down...

"Ella! The plane!" Carly screams out from underneath me but I don't move my gaze from her. I can see the fear on her face and some tears in her eyes.

"This plane is the last thing you need worry about. I will bring everything crashing to the ground in a blaze of fire. And I won't need anyone's help to do it." I spit the words in her face before crawling off her.

The helicopter levels out and everything seems normal. As if the flashing lights and screaming alarms were just a dream. The only clue that anything happened is Carly looking up at me in fear but also in admiration.

I'm not sure what happened with the helicopter but I'm more than happy to take credit for it.