Holding My Breath [Wattys 2016]

1 0 5 ~ C a e s a r

                 

Present Day ~ July 24, 2011

Anna doesn't understand yet. That's okay, I'll explain it to her.

I'm still fascinated by her, by the way, she strategizes, the way she tries to catch me off guard. She is truly one of a kind. And that's why she has to go. She's the only one with the ability to trip me up. If I were the ice in this game, then you could melt me. This little flame, just as I had predicted, has grown into much, much more.

She's no longer a strike of a match.

She is the inferno I always wanted to watch rise up against my enemies.

But something inside you went wrong, Kindling. I tried to control your flame. I tried to keep you tame, keep you within the boundaries of your own destruction. But that's not possible now. Not with a fire burning as bright as yours. Eternally red.

She still resists as we get to the bridge. But Anna, I don't like to think of it as a bridge. Bridges can burn. They aren't as indestructible as we think of them. This bridge, somehow, has hurt you so badly that you can't burn it down. That's why it's perfect. This is where we can come to end it.

You kick at me, hitting me in the shin, and I bite down in frustration. It's taking all I have inside of me not to just shoot you right here. You can be so... aggravating at times.

I like it.

And out here, in the dark, your light is stinging everything around you. Even me. And it just makes you that much more powerful.

But she has to go. She screams at me and even tries biting me. I just laugh at her. It's too late for you now. It's almost over. You can't win.

This is what I would like to call checkmate.

They call you Rusty. I'm not sure how I feel about that, exactly. You're not rusty on your skills. You're not falling apart from the oxygen around you. Or are you? Does the fire burn hotter on the inside, or is it just dwindling down? Is your light going to go out by itself if I don't put it out for you?

Maybe we should find out.

Once and for all.