Into the Fire

Chapter 3

     Israel opened the front door of the house and hopped on to his bike. The sun burned down on his back, making him sweat uncomfortably. He twisted his handlebars impatiently as Tina jumped on to her own bicycle, giving him a thumbs up. Grinning, Israel pumped the pedals eagerly and the two set off down the road, making their way through town. Cars honked at them as they crossed the street and people stepped out of the way of their bikes. Dodging a few more people, they finally cleared the forest of buildings and suddenly entered a vegetational forest. Their bikes shuddered as they rolled over the uneven terrain. After a few minutes of pedaling furiously, they halted at a small waterfall which fell into a pond. The surrounding trees seemed to whisper as the wind rustled through their green leaves, giving the place a sort of sacred feeling.

Israel parked his bike up against a tree and looked at the gushing water that pounded into the pond below. This was their secret place. A place that only they and God knew about. Israel smiled faintly at Tina as she set her bike down and stood next to him. "This is silly," Tina reminded him. "If Rachel and Jim hear about this, they'll either scold us or laugh." Israel shrugged and pulled out his knife. He rubbed the tip of the blade against his thumb. "We aren't doing anything wrong," he reasoned, "we're just.... Y'know.... Making things official." Tina strained a grin. "Right. Your version of official."

"Hey, you agreed to do this. You had a choice."

"Yeah, but I didn't say it wasn't stupid."

"Why would you want to do something that you think is stupid, then?"

"I didn't think it was stupid at the time!"

"But now you do."

"Yes, I do."

"Are you gonna do this or not?"

"Yes!"

"Okay! Let's go."

Israel pointed the blade of the knife down at his forearm and dug the blade into it. Tina made an audible squeak as he did so. Israel gave her a surprised glance. "It's not that deep," he assured, "just deep enough." Tina still looked disturbed as his arm began to bleed freely. "This is so stupid," she muttered. Israel raised as eyebrow and held out the knife. "Do you want to do it? Or do you want me to—" Tina snatched the item out of his open palm. "I can do it myself." she said with a smirk. Israel sighed and shook his head. He could not believe his sister was actually going to cut herself on purpose. Of course he could imagine himself doing it because, well, he was Israel, but Tina bleeding herself? That was absurd. Yet here he was, watching Tina dig the point of a knife into her arm. He winced as his bleeding limb began to ache.

     "There," Tina said triumphantly, holding up her arm which had begun to leak warm, red fluid. "So.... We just rub our arms together? To get our blood in our cuts?" "Yeah," Israel replied, holding up his own injured forearm for her to see, "at least, that's what Jim said he did with his friend." "I can't believe we're doing this." she grimaced, rubbing her limb against Israel's. "Me neither," Israel laughed, rubbing back. Finally, they decided that their blood had efficiently gone into their bloodstream and they brought out the disinfectant and the Band Aids. "So," Israel grinned foolishly, sticking one in his arm, "we're officially blood siblings." Tina made a face at her arm. "Eew, I forgot that I now have your blood cells inside me. Gross." Israel laughed and patted her on the shoulder.

     "Oh, come on, my blood isn't that dirty." Tina shrugged, still looking a bit out of place. "Um.... Tee...." Israel began, trying to bring up the topic as nicely as possible, "I've noticed that you've been acting strange lately. Do you.... Wanna talk about it?" "No." Tina said immediately, turning away, "I'm fine." "It's okay!" Israel said quickly, "you can trust me! I-I won't tell anyone!" Tina glared at her brother. "Israel! I'm fine." "I know you're not," Israel murmured, kicking a stone. Tina frowned uncomfortably and lowered gaze. "You've been acting strange too, you know." she accused. "Yeah?" Israel challenged, "When? Where?" "All year, in front of a certain Ginn girl." Israel felt heat begin to crawl into his cheeks. "How would you know?" he said defensively. Tina grinned, a sign that she knew she had hit something. She folded her arms and held her chin high. "Today, at school. You stammered and acted like a guy on too much soda. You told me you'd would tell me what was going on."

     "I said maybe," Israel growled, sitting down and folding his arms. Tina smirked and paced slowly. "I knew it," she said, as if she had discovered the nearest inhabitable planet, "you like her!" "Stop it!" Israel snapped, tossing as pebble into the rippling pond. "No wonder you've been funny around her the entire year," Tina mused. "Just stop it!" Israel yelled, his cheeks scarlet. "Just shut up!" Tina frowned at him and replied, "You've gone about it all wrong." Israel blinked, befuddled. "What?" "I said, you've been going about it all wrong!" "Going about what the wrong way, Tee?" Tina groaned and sat in front of him, twirling a spike of her black hair. "Communicating with Louise! You've been doing it wrong. You need to act more...." She thought for a moment. ".... Confident. Like you know what you're doing." "What?" Israel laughed, "Tee, I don't even like her!" Tina rolled her eyes.

     "Oh, Izzy, you can't lie to me. I know you have a crush on her." Israel could not think of anything to say and tossed another stone into the water. "Listen to me," Tina insisted, "I know about these things." "How?" Israel shot back. "Because!" Tina said frankly, "I'm a girl. And since I'm a girl, I tend to know what girl's like." Israel muttered under his breath and stared at the dirt floor. "Now," his sister continued, "you need to act like she doesn't scare you." "I'm not scared of her!" Israel snapped, throwing his hands in the air desperately. Tina continued as if he had never interrupted. "So, I recommend asking her out or something without stammering. That would be a plus. I also suggest you take her to...." Tina stared at the forest ceiling. "Bob's Ice Treats. Yeah, Bob serves good food, he would be a really good choice. Maybe you could even invite her to church!" Tina narrowed her eyes. "Assuming she's a Christian, of course. If she isn't, I propose you spend even more time with her, to let her notice how different you are."

The entire time Tina was talking, Israel had picked up the Band Aids and the disinfectant and had thrown his leg over the seat of his bike. "For the last time," Israel snorted, gripping his handlebars in a stressed fashion, "I don't have a crush on Louise Ginn!" Tina smiled knowingly and mounted her bike as well, giving him a small wink. "Of course you don't."