Controlling the Inflamers

Entry

A/N- if people are attempting to read this story before reading 'Like Hell' and 'Hell to Pay' by Madelinestanford, then I hate to inform you, you are being quite stupid. This is an entry for a competition involving those two stories (considering the third one is not out yet) so if you would like to read this, then please do so AFTER you have read 'Like Hell' and 'Hell to Pay'. Thank you! And enjoy!

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Everything was dark. My eyes cracked open, filled with dust and dirt as I squirmed around trying to make sense of everything. I felt my head start to pound, as it all rushed back. The water, choking me as I slipped deeper and deeper, it flooding into my mouth and nose in tidal waves.

It felt like someone was hammering a nail into my skull, the pain almost unbearable. Suddenly I realised there were people surrounding me, all wearing the same panicked expression, scrambling around trying to find any light, any signs of life. All that was here was us, in this dark claustrophobic space.

The door to the empty room was pulled open, revealing a blinding light which made my eyes sting. Everyone in the room went to shield their eyes, the light too bright for any of them, as if they belonged in the darkness. A figure stood in the doorway, glancing down on us, as if we were scum. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, he swept into the room and turned his back on us, pressing buttons on a panel. I stared at him, not being able to take my eyes off of him.

Suddenly, the floor fell beneath me and I felt myself trying to grab on to anything, something that would stop me from falling. I scanned the space around me, trying to keep my eyes open in the mist. We were somewhere where even the clouds couldn't touch.

The fall was never ending, making my stomach churn with nausea. I was surrounded by nothingness, then I fell into a deep blue, a crack opening for us all to fall through. The man that had walked into the drop was almost standing in mid air, yet falling with the rest of us. He glanced at the screaming individuals around us, their arms thrashing around them trying to propel themselves upwards. Trying to stop themselves from reaching their deaths.

No one would explain to me why we were here, they were all too worried about their own lives to bother about anyone else's. Like you. I reminded myself. I scrunched up my eyes as I started replaying the image in my head. Guilt overwhelmed me, flooding me, like the waves that swallowed me whole as we tumbled further through the earth.

A sickening feeling found its way to my stomach. It wasn't me though. He had sentenced me to fall forever. It wasn't me. Realisation hit me, like a smack in the face. I was dead. He had killed me. He had killed her. Like he had killed countless others before. He didn't care about anyone. Except himself. So it wasn't my fault. Suddenly the guilt stopped. Shattered into a million pieces. Replaced by anger and resentment. An anger that would never go away.

***

My head slammed down on the hard floor beneath me, the dusty red rock covering my skin. My face felt hot, my cheeks red and my hands sticky with sweat. The cool temperature that had been present above, was replaced by a humid, hot one, which made my skin itch in my dark jeans and hoodie.

My head snapped to attention trying to find the man that had been with us. All the faces around me were looking around too, wondering where they were and why they were here.

A man with bristles on his face and and all dark clothing glanced at me and a smirk grew on his face.

"Whys pretty boy down here?" He grinned and I felt my fists tighten into hard balls as I felt my anger starting to boil. "He must have done something real bad..." He grinned again and scoffed. "Like rob a corner shop." He laughed, a throaty chuckle which echoed in the circular room, not as dark as the first, surrounded by hot rock.