Chapter one
"The answer is n-n-n-n-ninety six." I stutter.
The snickers and giggles of girls and boys swarm into my eardrums. I pinch my arm as the giggles cycle in my head. The grip of my finger nails tightens on my skin as the laughter turns and jumbles in my head like a kaleidoscope. I've always had a problem with my stutter. I can never control it, so I tend to just avoid people to hide it. I rub on the red mark that now appears on my forearm, left from my nails.
The school bell chimes in the classroom to alert us that it's lunch time. As I stand up from my chair, balls of crumpled paper fly at me. Some from the right, the left and others straight ahead of me.
"Muttering Marnie! Muttering Marnie," girls and boys chant at me as the exit the classroom.
"She's so gross," Susie whispers to Margaux behind a freshly manicured hand.
I'm too ashamed to look up, but I recognise three of the voices who chant at me. Susie Cherry, Margaux Leeming and Danny Hurding. Susie and Margaux are perfection. Their slim, fit bodies are taunting. Susie's blonde and Margaux's brown locks are shiny and silky and drape against their shoulders like clouds. Their blinding white teeth regenerate pearls. Their molars blink like lights on a christmas tree. The two girls are best friends. They're stuck together like glue. Susie seems to have a raine over Margaux, so the brunette tags along for anything that Susan does or demands. Her boyfriend, Danny Hurding is also a victim of her hypnosis. Danny has a snake tattoo that spirals up his arm. The snake's tail is hidden behind Danny's leather vest sleeve that drapes against his shoulder. His long oily hair is tied in a ponytail at the back of his head. He would look like prince charming because of his choice of hairstyle, but his shaggy, rugged appearance kills all of the possibilities of royalty.
"Sh-sh-shut up! Get your iPhone out of your a-a-a-a-ass, Susie " I stammer at them in an attempt to acknowledge the immaturity of the three 17-year-olds.
Susie glares at me.
"Go get her, babe," Danny tells Susie as she approaches me.
"Yeah, go get her," Margaux adds.
"You think you're so funny, don't you, Marnie" Susie says while chewing her bubblegum. Her minty fresh breath stings my eyes as she throws her remarks in my face. "Stop trying to out-smart me, or whatever it is you're trying to do." My hands begin to heat up. They begin to sting. "You're not cool like you think you are. You think your hip and edgy. You're just a loser. Go home and cry to your mother. Oh wait, you don't have a mother."
The anger builds up inside me. My teeth clench together. My mother's death has never been an easy topic for me to handle. A red-orange tint begins to glow from my hands as the fury pulses through me. I run to the bathroom as the memories of my mum's funeral flutter in my head. A burning sensation abrupts in my hands and the glowing increases.
In the bathroom I stare at myself in the mirror.
"I am a loser," I tell myself as I look at my pale complexion.
My tangled blonde hair hangs in a flop over my face like strands of spaghetti. My eyes are a bland colour of grey, like the sky on a rainy day. The only feature of my body I like is my lips. My lips are the plump, luscious kind that models would loath for.
My hands begin to tense and my firsts pound in their tight grip. Susie and Margaux flail into the bathroom with a jar of capsules. Susie throws the jar of tablets into the basin in front of me.
"Do the world a favour and rid us of yourself. Say hello to your mother from me when you see her down there in hell," Susie snickers.
She and Margaux flail out of the bathroom giggling. A burst of power and energy seems to travel through my veins to my palms. The feeling of heat begins to swell through my skin. A roar escapes my mouth as a ball of fire grows in between my cupped hands. I throw the flame into the sink and watch with awe as it doubles in size in the basin. I quickly turn on the tap to extinguish the fire that resides in the bathroom sink. The flame sizzles as the water suffocates it's every breath. I run out of the bathroom before I even look at the mess I've made in the sink.
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Up In Flames
Short Story© 2015 Zalan Orban All Rights Reserved Marnie is ridiculed and bullied. She's never felt like she belonged. She's never felt like she could trust a soul in the world. One day she can't take it anymore. The names, the teasing, the torment, they're al...
