POWER MANIACS (girlxgirlxgirl)

3. Fire

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⚠️ threats of death, violence, weapons ⚠️

Dahlia remembers that she always wanted to be a hacker. Ever since she saw her father working at his IT-firm, it had been her 'astronaut dream'. To one day sit in front of a computer and code. It was her greatest wish and desire. Her father was her hero and computers were her passion, she learned the trade at a very early age. Her father taught her, and as the years went by the technology became more advanced and her skills developed with it. She never needed a teacher, since she had someone at home to teach her, and pretty quickly she was teaching herself how to hack. It was fun, it was interesting and most importantly of all it was her future dream job to work with computers.

And Irie, her best friend since diapers, was one of the only people who knew of this. In fact, Dahlia remembers talking about it often and with passion, as her friend would listen and nod in silence. Irie always said that her computer obsession was boring, but the smile never quite managed to fade from her face as she would listen to Dahlia ramble. They would talk hours on end, about each other's dreams and passions, and it formed their personalities to revolve around it. Dahlia doesn't think she will ever get over it. Her dream. Her passion. The one thing she was truly good at.

Getting into university to study computer science was the first step she would take towards achieving her dream. There was never any hesitation or doubt about whether she would go. Together with Irie they sometimes studied day and night to keep their good grades, so school wasn't a problem. Her father had a well paying job so tuition was also never a concern.

Happiness, if Dahlia had to describe her childhood with one word, it would be happiness. The days spent gazing up at the clear blue sky, laying in her mother's vegetable garden together with her friends, those were the best times of her life. The open windows at school that would allow petals from the spring cherry blossom trees inside, decorating the classrooms in the beautiful color of pink. At night the air was clear and the stars shone like thousands of lights all around her. In winter a heavy blanket of snow would lay itself over the ground, and in autumn the red and orange leaves would fall from the large leaf trees along her road to school. Not once did she go hungry. The food was always made from freshly picked vegetables from their own garden, and meat from the small market in the center of the village.

Growing up sucks. Make no mistake. All of the light in her life is gone. Irie is the newest example of this exact phenomenon.

"What's there to confess?"

Dahlia wonders if Irie has always been such a hypocrite. Even as she says one thing, she does the other.

Maybe it has something to do with this new woman. Dahlia nearly bursts out laughing. She feels like a middle schooler all over again, upset over her best friend finding another. With hair as black as the night, the ends as red as rising flames. Dahlia can't figure this girl out. She has never seen her before, and yet she reminds her heavily of Irie. Tall, strong and intimidating, just like her best friend. But unlike Irie, there doesn't seem to be any anger in her eyes. She is unreadable, confident and mysterious, and Dahlia has to admit that she is pretty attractive. Okay. Fine. Very attractive.

"She's obviously guilty"

Dahlia is unsure whether she would want Irie to pierce her flesh with that ice knife or not at this point. It's getting a bit nerve wracking, as she sits there, leaning against the bar desk as Irie burns holes into her soul. The only thing stopping her best friend from murdering her is this new woman. Her bruises slowly begin to hurt, the ones that appeared all thanks to Irie's harsh treatment, throwing her around, choking her, pushing her to the floor. Dahlia guesses that she has to be thankful that she hasn't been punched yet. She is completely exhausted after a long day at work and such a physically and emotionally draining reunion with her childhood best friend, her eyes flutter open and closed. It would be for the better- Dahlia thinks- to fall asleep before getting killed. It would be a more peaceful way to pass.