Screaming Schemes - Tyler Locke

Warm Air Rises

word count: 748
chapter four

The warmth of a fire blasts across her face and the darkness disappears, leaving her standing alone behind Key House. No, not alone. She notices a woman and a boy in the center of the circle of flames. She can feel death surrounding the area but there's another feeling too; she doesn't know how to explain the sensation.

"Bode!"

She stumbles back, caught off guard by the shout. Charlotte looks over her shoulder, taken aback when she notices Tyler running toward the fire. But after a moment, she runs forward, her mind becoming a raging whirlwind of voices as he gets closer. She presses her hands against his shoulders, shaking her head. "Stop," she says even if she can barely hear herself.

He frowns, grabbing her wrists, and looks at the wall of fire. "Bode is in there!"

"Tyler, just listen to me!" Charlotte yells. She winces, pushing him back again, and can feel death getting closer and closer. "Just get back!" With one final shove, the two of them are away from the fire when it bursts like a bomb before it's gone.

That's when Charlotte lets Tyler run to his brother, holding her temples as the sudden quiet in her head causes buzzing in her ears. She can barely hear Tyler and Bode's conversation a few feet from herself but manages to make out the older Locke's question: "Why did you do that?" Only it's aimed at her with Bode already returning to the house.

She frowns, trying to comprehend what he had said. "What?"

"Why did you stop me?"

"Would you rather I let you get burned by a magical wall of fire?"

Tyler is frowning too, she notices. "But how did you know?" She shrugs, not really in the mood to explain everything going on inside her head - especially since she doesn't know half of what's happening there. But he continues, "Kinsey told me that you can feel death...is that how?"

Charlotte blinks. "Wait, what?"

"Kinsey told me that you can feel death," Tyler explains poorly. When she doesn't answer, he adds, "I also hear the stories from other kids. You've predicted death before. Was that why you kept me from Bode?"

The redhead manages a nod. "Keeping you alive is a reasonable reason to keep you from your brother in my opinion."

"But would he have died?"

She shakes her head. "No. I don't-" she breathes out. "Look, Tyler, I don't know how this all works yet. It was huge when I was younger but it went away after a while and then it came back. That's why I came back to Matheson."

He nods a little. Before he can reply verbally, Bode comes back outside to look at them. "Tyler? Are you coming?"

The older Locke nods again. He glances at Charlotte. "Are you going to be okay on your own?"

"I'll be fine," she tells him.

He doesn't seem to believe her. "Um," he clears his throat, "text me if you need me, okay? Or Kinsey. Or, you know, Jackie. Or-"

"Tyler."

"I'll stop," he says. He rubs his eyes. "I'm gonna..."

"Goodnight, Locke," Charlotte says.

He salutes her as he answers Bode's call again. She hesitates for a moment longer, glancing between the Key House and where the flames had burned into the ground, before she leaves too.

-    -    -

It seems like the fire isn't leaving the redhead. Even in her dreams. Screams fill her head. The warmth of flames on her skin; burning the hair on her arms. Pressure builds into her mind. Flashing pictures of people dying, of people being burned alive, are taking over. Too many people.

Charlotte can feel her hands tighten around the bed sheets but she can't make herself move. All of the deaths are running through her head over and over and she can't wake up. She mutters to herself, trying to convince her mind to let her leave - to get rid of the images. And a clear instruction comes to her.

When she screams, the vivid dreams are gone. Her vision is blurred but she's at least able to sit up. She feels someone's arms around her, holding her back to their chest, pinning her arms down so she can't hit them. It takes a moment to hear Joe's voice, the ringing in her ears from her scream covering the soft assurance. But when she does hear him, her chest starts to slow.

"It's okay," he mutters to her. He continues to repeat the phrase but all Charlotte can think of are the images of the burning people as he tries to calm her down.