Unleashed

Thirty-three

I'M NOT GOING to burn the house down. Just enough to send everything inside to ashes. Besides, you're going to help me." Jade answers, shaking her head as she flings more papers over her shoulder.

            My stomach squeezes in horror. "Wha... I'm not helping you. I'm not letting you do that." I say, my voice uneven. Jade whirls around, the sudden movement causing me to jump back. "Yes, Rosie, you will. Because this needs to be done. How old are you again?" She asks, the question throwing me off guard.

I blink. "Seventeen. But I'm almost---"

"I'm twenty. I've seen and done more things than you. I've been at this life longer. You just don't understand." She says, her face hardening. Anger sprouts within me. Everyone always says that. I don't understand, most likely because of my age.

"I don't need to be your age to understand what you're about to do is illegal! And it'll get us more in trouble!" I exclaim. Jade's shoulders square, the equivalence of someone shuddering in anger. She draws herself to her full height, her lips pressed tightly together.

         I restrain myself from cowering away. She drops all of the papers in her hands. "You've been a mutant how long? Half a year? Perhaps a couple months more? I've known about my powers since I was a little girl. You don't understand, Rosie Dehli." She almost snarls.

I feel stupid for feeling like I'm getting scolded by a mother. I stay absolutely still and quiet. "You don't understand how all of our lives are in danger because of you. You don't understand how the police will search this place after finding how Martha was involved with you in some way. You don't understand that everything here will be used against us. You don't understand that this house needs to burn." She spits out the words coldly.

      Jade takes a measured step toward me, looking at me straight in the eye. It takes all my willpower to stay rooted. "You have absolutely no right to tell me that I don't understand the legal side of this. Being around you is illegal enough, yet I stay." She snaps. I sigh. "I wasn't trying---"

"You haven't seen the things that I have." She cuts in with a steely voice. I snap my mouth shut. "You don't even know the surface of things I've done. I know what to do in order to stay off the grid. I've seen people die around me, people get sent to camps and never return, people going mad after being experimented on." Her voice grows slightly softer, causing the anger inside of me to deflate.

             "I do everything in my power to keep the people around me out of slightest chance at that life. I know what I'm doing, Rosie. Never say or infer that I don't understand. Or anyone else." Jade says in a whisper. Her nostrils flare in anger. But by the harshness of her jaw clenching, I can notice how hard she's trying to contain herself.

     I nod, caving in. "I'll do it. I'll help you."

Jade turns away from me, moving to the next pile of papers. "Good."

AFTER AN HOUR or two of stuffing important documents and maps in Jade's bag, I slump against the wall. Jade continues beside me, throwing everything that isn't useful on the ground. "I think we are done here." She says, pushing herself to her feet. I glance around at my old bedroom, which I shared with Jade.

           I swallow. "Yeah." I push myself to my sore feet, giving her a curt nod. Jade unscrews the lid of the gasoline gallon she had brought with her. She begins to dump the contents all over the room. I quickly grab my new backpack off the floor before Jade shoves gas over it.

   Before she came up to our room to empty it of any possible clues, I got a spare backpack from my closet and packed a few things. Some sets of clothes, hygienic stuff, my golden bracelet, and shoes. The rest is currently getting soaked by gasoline. When the gallon empties, Jade takes a deep breath.