Heavenly Fire

Chapter 1

Aaron Milner welcomed the drumming sound of the bass line that penetrated through the barriers of his ear drums. His body swayed and moved carelessly out of sync to the beat, grinding up and down his nearest sleaze. Little did he care, he was lost in the music. 

Teenagers spread amongst the house. The lights down low but the music reaching new heights. They let the music take them to a state only they could describe, their body was no longer their own but a slave to the music and the alcohol that flowed through their willing veins.  

Young drunks held together like long-lost lovers, lips in and out of sync, with people they may have never met before this night. The black leather couch was no longer available to anyone's use, legs and arms flailed from their owners locked on to their party night lovers. The music was loud. The kids had gone wild. The party was only just getting started.  

At 10pm, Aaron was already far past intoxicated - his vision seeing double and his words a slur. He staggered up the spiral stairs, moving from door to door to finally reach the bathroom. There he found his friend, Kyle, leaning over a closed toilet seat with one arm spread across it and his head resting against the arm.  

"Kyle, man..." He started, shaking his head wildly, trying to clear the blur of his vision. As his vision returned to him, Aaron was able to see Kyle's true actions. There, on the toilet seat, laid out a mess of ingredients to send him into a state beyond intoxication. White papers stuck in clumps surrounded by an unpleasant spread of a substance easily mistaken for simple tobacco, but Aaron knew all too well of its true identity. Weed.  

"Hey A...a...dam, you want some?" Kyle slurred, raising a carelessly rolled spliff in to the air.  

"No, Kyle and neither do you." He snapped, snatching the roll up from Kyle's fingers, knowing all too well of the dangers of drug use. Kyle's mouth fell ajar like a chastised child, but soon recovered once he realised there was more waiting for him. 

"C'mon Adam, don't be s... such a buzz kill." 

"It's Aaron, you moron." 

"Whatever man." 

Aaron looked at him with an almost pitiful smile but within seconds it became his usual grimace. His dark blue eyes, dilated from the alcohol searing through his blood, burned with a certain hatred he could not explain. It was not just Kyle he hated. It was the world. And everyone in it. 

He stomped back toward the spiral staircase, slamming the bathroom door behind him - although it was energy wasted with the music to drown it out. He had to push past the dancing teens, the imposing people from the high school, all of which were testing his patience. 

At the bottom of the stair case Gracie McIntyre stood against the once white but now beer-stained wall. Her blonde curls raised into a high pony tail and her brown eyes framed with a thin layer of eye liner, topped off with a hint of mascara. She wore a simple outfit of a baggy green top and black leggings that clung to her hips and thighs.  

Aaron had seen her many times before, with her being in most of his classes but he had never taken much notice of her. Looking at her he realised she was quite beautiful. Her face was a simple circle accompanied by a button nose, dotted with freckles and pale pink lips with an exquisite cupids bow. He noticed her eyes. Those brown eyes that brought him visions of the forest and the warmth of chestnuts. Along side her constant flinching away from the crowd, he couldn't help but be reminded of the innocence of Bambi.  

He thought about approaching her but he couldn't. It would never be approved. He was stereotypically the most popular guy in school, feared by all. Whilst Gracie was a nobody, just another face amongst many. She was the 'nerd' and he was the 'jock'. He was at the top of the food chain whilst she lingered in the pits. His friends would mock him just for the association with her. No. In his eyes, it was social suicide. Instead, he grabbed another beer from a nearby table and welcomed its poison.