Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire (ch. 1)

Chapter 1

Breathing

Breathe; everything is going to be okay.

I keep repeating that over and over in my head as I walk clumsily down the dangerously icy sidewalk.  I take a shaky breath and twirl one of my glossy bronze locks of hair around my finger; a nervous habit I’ve had ever since I can remember.  I look around me, trying to see something that will remind me of where I am.  The only bad thing when you drink too much is you can’t remember anything. There is a street sign just over by the corner. The sign says Edward St.  I shut my eyes and try to concentrate. Beatrice.  The name swims right through my head.  Oh yeah, Beatrice’s party.  She lives on King Avenue, just down the street from me.

I hear something behind me.  It must be Beatrice.  She’s always worrying about me, ever since the accident. I turn around.

“Beatri…”  I stop short because I can’t breathe anymore. The floral scent I had smelled earlier is filling my nostrils.  I try to say something, anything.  My mouth tells me to scream, but my throats dried up.  My feet tell me to run, but I feel like my feet are planted to the ground.  My head tells me not to believe what I’m seeing, but he’s so real, so close I could reach out my hand and stroke his beautifully sculpted face. He looked like a beautiful angel; from Hell. A sob escapes my throat.

“What’s wrong Phoeb? It looks like you saw a ghost.” The teasing, seductive voice sent chills down my spine. Chills of pleasure, and pain.  I don’t even realize I’ve been crying till he stretches out his hand and lightly wipes away a few tears that have ran down my cheek. Traitors. I shut my eyes so no more tears could fall. How could this be? How could he be back? He’s dead! Where was Beatrice? Where was Kayla? I take a shaky breath and sigh; Beatrice’s party.

*

 “Phoebe hurry up! We’re already late enough!” my best friend Kayla yells as she bangs on my bedroom door.

“One second, I’m practically done.” I yell back. Kayla gives me her famously dramatic sigh. I turn to look at myself through my mirror. I have my bronze locks down; with a touch of hairspray my locks were glossy and would stay in place. I have my bangs in a pouf at the top; a few bobby pins did the trick. I’m wearing a metallic blue, sequined tank top, with my American eagle skinny jeans. A few silver chains hung around my chest, ending half way down my stomach. A teal blue bag was hung around me arm. I ended the outfit with my favorite bronze gladiators. Before I could apply a quick dash of white eyeliner on my water line, and I streak of black right above my lash line Kayla burst into my room with a penetrating look on her face. She softened when she saw what I was wearing.

“Oh Phoeb, you look gorgeous!” She had a huge grin on her face showing off her white, dazzling smile. I didn’t know what she was talking about! She always looked like a celebrity that just walked out of a magazine. She has almond shaped, emerald green eyes that matched her olive skin tone. Her beautiful long dark brown hair was braided down to one side with her side bangs on the other side. Kayla had a very slim body and could really wear anything she wanted. Tonight she was wearing a tight hot pink tank top that cut off a little too short and showed off her waist. To show off her long athletic legs she was wearing black jeggings, and brown riding boots- which are very “in” this year… according to Kayla. I looked up and winked at her. She looked down and gestured at my shoes.

“Hun, I totally agree that those shoes are cute, but it’s still the winter. Your feet are gonna freeze!” She rolled her eyes and made a tsk noise. I snort and reply sarcastically

“Thanks for the heads up, but I’m sure my feet will survive, babe.” I then roll my eyes, but give her a devilish smile and skip out of my room. By the way Kayla and I are just friends. Best friends. Not a cute little lesbian couple. The whole “hun” and “babe” thing is what we call each other, and it had been since we met in grade seven.  I run down my brown staircase, and then hop over the banister. Kayla copies me, and then we both burst into little giggles. I know, we seem like five year olds- we’re actually seventeen, but we like to have fun. My mom comes out of the kitchen with a bowl of chips in one hand, and a small bowl of dip in the other. Oh god, she was wearing her powder blue bathrobe, Sex and the City- her favorite show, must be on. She winked at me and said

“You sure you guys don’t want to stay behind? I’m treating myself to ruffles and French onion dip.” My mom was so embarrassing. Kayla started to giggle

“No thanks Liz, Beatrice is having a Valentine’s Day party, everyone’s going.” She ran over to my mom and stole a chip. As she quietly nibbled on it I stared at my mom. She’s really pretty, and young. Mom had me right after high school; my dad ditched us for some Latino chick he met when he and his family went on vacation. So it was just the two of us… well the three of us; I have a goldfish named Fish. Don’t ask.  I pulled Kayla’s arm and guided her to my front door. We grabbed our jackets and headed for the door.

“I won’t be home to late.” I yell, then me and Kayla walk out of the safety of my house. I fish my leather gloves out from my purse. I wish only then I would have known what events were about to take place. I shivered in my jacket and wrapped my arms around myself. Kayla and I start walking towards the end of the street; Beatrice lives on the same street as me. I feel the wind playing with my hair. I smell a type of cologne; floral with some sort of spice, it was very familiar, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. Me and Kayla walk by the park, and I see the forest behind it. Fog was drifting out from the forest, covering the grass floors, creeping towards Kayla and I. I squint my eyes. Is that a person coming out from the fog? My head starts to hurt and I get a pain in the center of my head. Ow. The pain was excruciating. All I can see is the figure, all I can smell is the cologne and I feel something pushing me towards the forest. Almost urgently.

“Stop!” and all at once, everything does. I’m breathing heavily, and I spin around to see Kayla staring at me with a look of fear in her eyes. I try to say something, but I can’t. I feel my eyes starting to droop.

“Kayla…” my voice drifts off, and I stagger over to her. I fall into her strong arms.

“Oh my god! Phoebe! Wake up! Wake uuu…”