Page 51 of Ashes

Warm lips brushed against my ear. “It’s either you or her. Take this nightmare and cradle it close or she will.”

The medicine he’d given me washed through my body, choking my protests down.

Another tear slid past my lashes as he touched me. As someone else came into the room. A voice I recognized. My brain couldn’t put the pieces together though.

Darkness descended.

And then silence.

ASHES

Iflicked my lighter opened and closed. The clock was moving painfully slow. I’d barely slept. My brain felt like mush.

I hated this class. Sister Elizabeth was a bitch, who assigned way too much work. It took all my willpower not to set her and her economics book on fire then toast some marshmallows over it.

“Let us pray,” she called out.

Students bowed their heads at her words.

I didn’t.

All I knew was that God must have stepped away from his desk when it came to getting my messages. I was on my own here.

I flicked my lighter opened and closed again.

“Asher, join us,” she urged in that false sugary sweet voice of hers. “And please put the lighter away.”

I clenched my jaw.

If I put my lighter away, I’d lose it. It was the only thing keeping me in my seat right then. All I wanted to do was rush to the medical wing and check on Sirena. Talk to Stitches. Neither were allowed visitors now though. And I was going mad with worry.

No news was good news.That was what Sin had muttered this morning as he smoked a joint on the back patio, a scowl on his face.

“Asher? Mr. Valentine—”

I couldn’t handle it any longer. I got to my feet and stormed out of the room, knowing I was a breath away from complete destruction.

Dealing with that place wasn’t going to work for me today, so I went home. When I got there, I closed the door behind me and sighed. It was only then that I realized I’d been holding my lighter so tightly that I’d bruised my palm with it.

I was ready to explode. Too much stress was building within me. It was like each bit of bad shit was a piece of kindling.

And I was the raging pyro who couldn’t help himself. Life had gotten hectic, so we hadn’t been able to go out for me to burn things. I couldn’t fight the urge anymore.

I dashed across the living room and went into my bedroom where I grabbed a few notebooks, magazines, and anything else made of paper I could burn, my economics book included. With those items in my hands, I rushed into my bathroom where I threw them into the tub before darting back out to my closet to get lighter fluid.

I squirted the fluid over the papers, eager for a fix and the high flames.

I lit a twisted piece of paper and chucked it into the tub, watching as everything burst into beautiful orange flames which soon licked the ceiling.

“Fuck,” I groaned, inhaling the smoke, my body relaxing as the crackle of the fire sounded out around me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Sin demanded, pushing past me and turning on the faucet in the tub. “Ouch. Fuck.”

He shook his hand out as the shower sprayed out, the flames having licked him.

“Are you trying to burn the fucking house down?” He reached out and shook me. “What the fuck, man?”

Somewhere in the distance, the smoke alarm rang.

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