The Purple Flame (A Mephisto Pheles/Blue Exorcist Romance Novel)

Chapter 36

"Judi, you're gonna be late for school!"

I groan and begin to panic, unable to mask it this time.

Jen's going to be mad.

She used to me accidently burning a pair of socks, or charding a doorknob...

But this is unlike any other.

"Um... alright! I-I'll be down in a minute!" I run over to my closet, pulling every single article of clothing I have off of their hangers. I carry them over to my vanity, throwing every single shirt on top of the chard mess.

I never imagined I'd be pushed to a point where I'd set fire to my entire vanity.

The ashes instantaneously rub off onto the clothes, making it look worse than it already was.

"Dang it." I mumble to myself, running my fingers through my hair as I stare at my mess.

"Judi, what are you even doing up there?" She calls from downstairs.

I suddenly hear her footsteps on the staircase.

I tense up and resume my panic, trying to find any last minute remedies.

My door suddenly swings open, allowing me time to stand in front of the mound of clothes and burnt wood.

Her eyes meet mine, but almost instantly look past me.

She taps her finger on the doorway as she realizes what I've done.

First, she's going to tell me how reckless I am. Second, she's going to tell me how much a new vanity including all of the contents on it are going to cost together. Third, she's going to lecture me about how I treat my things irresponsibly.

I sigh and look down at the floor, unable to maintain eye contact. "Look, I know you're going to yell at me... but just let me explain-"

"I'm not going to yell." Jennifer says, walking in closer to the mess. She studies it carefully and looks at me, laughing under her breath. "And I'm not here to lecture you either."

I wrinkle my eyebrows. "Really?"

She begins to remove my clothes off of the vanity, throwing them onto the floor next to it.

"Yes, really." She replies, dusting the ash off of the clothes. "But you can help me, can't you?"

I regain my senses and immediately begin to pull off the clothes, dusting all of them off one by one.

I'm surprised she's not yelling... let alone saying a word about any of this.

I mean... I've never made a mess this big, so I guess I wouldn't know what to expect...

"Um... you aren't-" I clear my throat and fold my arms across my chest. "You aren't mad at me at all?"

She looks at me, dusting off one more shirt before she finally stops.

"Mad? No. But I am looking at about 500 dollars worth of replacements." She says. "And besides... it wouldn't be right of me to be mad at you about this just yet."

She steps over the clothes, placing her hands on my shoulders. "I'm not going to punish you about your usage of power when you're only 9 years old, Judi-San. I don't believe it would be right of me to ridicule you about something that's completely out of your hands. So let that be a lesson to you, my girl."

She kneels down to my eye level, sighing deeply.

"Don't be so quick to judge someone's actions before you fully understand their placement. If you judge quickly, you'll never be greeted with fairness." She says softly. "Obviously it wouldn't be fair of me to yell at you for something like this, right?"