Fire

Chapter 2

“Well that was fun,” I spun around, hoping, praying that the voice didn’t come from the knocked-out man under the crates. Fortunately, it wasn’t. Instead, a blonde haired boy in the local school uniform came out from behind the cluster of crates, his bright green eyes twinkling. I stepped back, wary if whether or not he had any secret powers too. Seeing what I was doing, the boy stopped, and raised his hands in mock surrender.

“It’s ok. I’m not gonna hurt you. Trust me,” Trust. Huh. I hadn’t heard that word in a while, and as for using it? I didn’t even trust myself; I was too…unknown. But this boy seemed ok. I stepped forward, still partially cautious, in case he…I don’t know, starts spitting fire or something.

“Who are you?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him around before, but, after all, I had only been in that town for a week at most; I was always moving.

“Lee, Ace Lee,” The boy replied, bowing. Weirdo, I thought. He looked up at me “And you are?”

“Emmerson, Lea Emmerson,” I answered, copying the way Ace said his name. I remember hearing someone’s name being said like that, someone famous or something, from a famous movie, but I couldn’t remember which. Ace laughed: an action I hadn’t witnessed for quite a while. His laugh was kind and hearty, nothing like the cruel man that had faced Diala only moments ago.

“Nice. You have a three letter name like me. Well, at least I think you do. Your name isn’t spelt with an h at the end, is it?” I shook my head “Wicked. I like three letter names, if you haven’t noticed. Other people don’t; they think they’re too short or something. Crazy, eh?” I nodded slowly. This Ace person seemed to be quite a chatterbox, and a fast-talking one at that. I could barely keep up with what he was saying.

“Yeah. Um, totally crazy. Uh, before you continue, may I ask what you were doing here in the first place?” I said, hoping that he was at least a polite fast-talking-chatterbox. Ace gasped and covered his mouth.

“Whoops. Sorry, I got caught up in the moment. I’m a bit of a chatterbox, if you haven’t noticed,” No, I didn’t notice at all “I had a…oh no, you’re gonna think I’m crazy if I tell you why,”

“No, I’m not. Was it anything to do with, um, a hissing sound, by any chance?” Ace looked at me weirdly before shaking his head.

“Nah, I had this…feeling. I get them sometimes, but I’ve been having them a lot recently. Just like I’ve been having a lot of-oh, no, I’m going to get carried away again. I think I’ll shut up now,”

“No!” Ace stared at me, but I continued “Um, I mean…have you been having flashbacks, by any chance?” This time, it was Ace who nodded in a daze.

“You’ve been having them too?”

 “Yup,”

“You start,”

“Well…”

Despite trying to start slowly and avoid any personal details, I ended up telling Ace everything that had happened to me, during and since that awful night four years ago.  Ace was a surprisingly good listener, and didn’t interrupt or anything, so my story just flowed out. It felt good to be telling someone of what I’d gone through, and I realised that as I spoke to him.

“… And so that’s it,” I finished. By then both of us were sitting on the crates that I didn’t topple over, and had forgotten about the man in the blue robes almost entirely.

“Wow,” said Ace “You’ve had quite a life,”

“Ha,” I replied “Tell me about it! Well, now that I think about it, you can tell me about it…huh. Anyway, what about you? What’s brought you here apart from a ‘feeling’?” Ace looked down at the ground, and I could see a pang of sadness in his green eyes.

“My mother," He said after a while "She'd been murdered. A while ago now, but I was the last person to talk to her. She told me something about finding a person witha circlet on their head when 'you feel the time is right' or something. I haven't felt anything since that night, so when I felt something today, I came," He grins "And then I found you,"

I thought about what he'd said "And someone with a circlet," I add, remembering the weird piece of jewellery on the woman Diala's head. I stood up "She went that way, didn't she?" I said, pointing down the alley. Ace nodded, but didn't get up.

"Yeah, but it's been a bit of a while since," He said uncertainly, looking at me "Lea, you're not going to follow her, are you?"

"No. We are," I replied, pulling him up.

"Wait wait wait. Why should we? Why should I, more like?" I looked at him.

"Why shouldn't you! Did you not just say that your mother said you should find someone with a circlet?"

"Yes, but-"

"But?" He looked at me, then shook his head. What game is he playing at?

"You won't understand. My father would be worried about me, and plus, he's not the nicest guy in the world. I can't just go,"

"Yes you can!" I said, aghast "This person, Diala or whoever she is, from the looks of things, she's not going to stay for long. You must go!"

He looked at me, then shook his head. "I'm sorry Lea. But if you're going, then good luck. I think you'd be able to do it. You seem like the kind," And at that, he took my hand, and kissed it lightly, before running off, back into the desolate streets of his town.