The Embered Eye

Chapter Five

"It's not a game, it's goin' down."

-Drag-On

It had taken hours for her parents and Mr. Freeman to show up. But now that they had, Jazmine was starting to realize she was much safer in a jail cell.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Mr. Freeman fussed, glaring at them from the other side of the locked cell. "Are you crazy?! Burning down buildings and tampering with federal documents? You two have lost your goddamn minds!"

"Don't forget they were on camera." Riley waltzed in from around the corner, snickering at Jazmine and his brother. "How you gon' commit a crime and get caught?"

Her dad glared at Riley, shaking his head.

"They shouldn't have been committing crimes at all!" He snapped, studying Jazmine as the guards chuckled, clearly excited to release them to their pissed off parents.

They unlocked the door, watching as her mom shoved her way inside.

"You are not driving that car ever again, Jazmine!" Her mom pointed furiously, so angry Jazmine found herself backing into a corner to avoid getting attacked as she made her way into the jail cell. "And as far as this summer's concerned, you can forget about it! No friends, no parties, no boys!" She narrowed her eyes at her neighbor, seeming extra upset with him. "Especially not boys like Huey!"

"Mom!" Jazmine's jaw dropped. "We didn't-"

"Be quiet!" Sarah narrowed her eyes. "What you did tonight is beyond reprehension!" She turned to Huey, just as angry with him as she was with Jazmine. "And you!" She pointed angrily at him. "What were you thinking Huey? Jazmine wanted to burn down a building, and you of all people went along with it?"

"That's not what happened." Huey shook his head. "I'm telling you-"

"I told you." Tom let out an angry laugh as he glanced at Sarah, throwing both of his hands towards Huey. "I told you he couldn't be trusted. He's just as much of a liar as Jazmine is at this point. Who knows how long they've been sneaking around behind our backs?"

"Daddy, stop!" Jazmine couldn't understand why he was so angry. "We didn't burn it down, okay? Why can't you believe us?"

Mr. Freeman sighed, pulling up a video on his phone and flipping it around to face them. "This is why."

Huey and Jazmine stared, watching whoever was on the screen act and look exactly like them....

Which was weird enough.

But then, out of the blue, whatever was on screen cosplaying as them started kissing wildly, like they wanted to tear the tonsils out of each other's throats.

It was disgusting.

"We didn't even do that!" Jazmine objected. "That never happened!"

Huey and Jazmine blinked when the audio played, the worst possible statement cutting in right after her piss poor defense.

"I can't believe this is finally gonna happen." The fake Jazmine kissed the fake Huey again, smiling at him with loving eyes. "We're gonna make my dad regret the day he ever messed with me."

"By any means necessary." The fake Huey nodded, kissing her one last time before dousing the entry way with some kerosene. "Got the matches?"

The Jazmine in the video nodded, pulling a large box of them out of her front pocket.

"You've got it, boyfriend!" She grinned, straight up making out with him at the entryway, tugging down her large sweatshirt once she pulled away. "Let's burn this hellhole."

"That doesn't even sound like me!" Jazmine jumped to her feet, snatching the phone out of Mr. Freeman's hand. "We're not wearing the same clothes! And besides, wouldn't both of us smell like kerosene? Wouldn't we have that invisible ink on our hands?"

As if it heard her, the video's droned on, with the fake Huey speaking up.

"Watch this." He pulled out his toolset, tinkering with something near the door. "See? No ink this way. You just twist to the right and....there. Nothing to it."

All the adults blinked, glaring at them.

"Forget it, Jazmine." Huey looked straight ahead. "They won't believe us. Just let it go."

"Um, hello?!" Jazmine sighed in frustration. "AI is obviously the culprit! I can't believe they-"

"That's it!" Tom yelled, snatching Jazmine so hard all the adults gasped in surprise. "You are bringing your narrow ass home this instant, young lady!"

"Damnnnn." Riley smirked, frowning at his camera lens. "Aye, Mr. Dubois! You mind saying that one more time? I think my phone just died."

"Let's go." Her dad ordered, already turning to head towards his car.

"But Dad-"