with smoke there's fire (TMA Fan universe)

chapter 2: a child's amber

Look.. we're done..I can't keep looking after you Darragh... I wanted to date that beautiful girl but you always say your not good enough, that you don't feel right- YOU were right! You were perfect and and you fucked your self up, your covered in scars, you cute your hair, ᴹʸ ᵐᵉˢˢ ᵘᵖ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇᵒᵈʸ, ʸᵒᵘ ⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ˡⁱˢᵗᵉⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘʳ..."

"Please I try I FUCKING TRY! I..." Darren looked around himself and found himself in bed... "Fuck.." he whispered, putting his head in his hands and quietly sobbing

he pulled his hair gently, biting his lip and felt his heart racing. everything was getting hot. it was uncomfortable and blistering..

He panted in the heat. he felt the flames begin to grow, to rise and curl around him. he whined and felt tears slowly growing in his eyes. the smoke was filling his lungs, swirling and swarming inside, tears steaming away.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes and nodded "yeah- no I'm good, I'm good enough, I'm a good person I'm fin..e.." he slowly paused, looking up..

Rubble and dust, ash and crumbling desolation of the ruins that used to be a shed. The woods surrounding it was sun effected. Not a old thing wooden one you would see outside someone's garden. one made of brick and oak, built up nicely, a lot of work put into it and filled with memorabilia of lost childhood and wasted hobbies. but it meant nothing now. The rubble wasn't natural, fire doesn't destroy brick, yet it was crumbling and falling away.

it was all a melted, scorched and dismalness pile of forgotten memories.

Darren let out a weak sputtering cough as he looked around him, watching the smoke smoulder and curl in the soft breeze of the woods. it was a marvel that the fire that brought down the shed didn't start a forest fire..

the smell of petrol and ash overwhelmed his nose, making him groan a little and use his sleeve to cover his nose.

Stepping away from the scene, it was clear that it was arson, yes but a strange case of it.. he felt people moving around it but no one being there, shadows flicking in the corner of his eyes, whispers flowing here and there but nothing clear or certain..

he felt like some ghost out of touch with the real world, just barely able to feel the breeze of a living being...

Darren stared at the rubble, only to see a girl standing in it, making her way out from under the scortched brick and soldering wood. Her face was fresh with cuts and bleeding. she was filthy and panting just the same as him. the little girls legs and lower half of her body was buried under debre, so she sat up in it, looking at her hands.

her eyes looked up at him..., them making eye contact. This little ginger girl frowned and spoke to him "I tried, I swear I tried my best! I I'm a good girl..." she muttered with a sharp anger in her voice at Darren.

"w...what?" he croaked out, hearing voices off in the distance behind him and watching, a million eyes at attention. 

"I know you told me to be good, behave, be quiet but it was so loud.." the little girl whispered out at him, little tears running down her cheeks. she stood in a yellow, burnt dress now a depressing flat greyish colour, covered in ash and dirt.

She had dug he legs out of the brick, cutting her hands in the process. She now stood barefoot and her legs covered in scabes and ash, but the worse part was, half of her face and most of her neck was in a bright red and covered in blisters and peeling skin "i ruined everything.."

"...we ruined everything.." Darren said quitely, offering a hand out to her "heh.. we were never good were we?" He whispered as she gently took his hand and then hugged him "it's okay..."