Gracie

3.

The drive home was somewhat awkward for Gracie, who didn't really have anything to say to her mother. After a few minutes of silence, Gracie's mum cleared her throat.
"So, how was your sleepover?" She asked, taking her eyes off the road briefly to look at Gracie.
"It was fun." Gracie replied, smiling briefly.
"That's good. Her mother said, then they both lapsed into silence once again. When they arrived home, Gracie stepped out of the car slowly, mentally preparing herself to convince her step father to let her stay with Lacey and go to the ball. She walked up the steps and pushed open the front door, stepping inside. Her mother followed right behind her. Gracie say him lying on the couch in the living room, watching TV. She took a few deep breaths then walked up and stood in front of him.
"Get out of the way, I'm trying to watch Tv you..." He started, but stopped when he saw Gracie's mum frowning at him slightly.
"Oh. Um, I mean, Gracie, could you please move to the side for me so I can watch this show?" He said, attempting a smile.
"No. I need to talk to you." He sighed and stood up, then walked to the kitchen to get a drink. After he had taken a sip, and wiped his grubby face on his shirt, he looked over at Gracie.
"What would you like to talk about?" He grinned sardonically at her. Gracie gulped, slightly nervous, but the she straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eyes.
"I don't want to go camping with you. There's a school ball on and I really want to go. You and mum can go camping by yourself and I can stay at Lacey's, but I don't want to go camping!"
"What? No, of course you're coming camping with us! It's already booked!" Gracie's hand, which had been resting on the marble bench, started heating up suddenly. She looked down at it curiously, and she could have sworn she saw tendrils of smoke drifting up from the bench. She shook her head in frustration and look back up at her step dad, who was gazing at her intensely.
"No! I really don't want to go camping! Why can't you just go by yourselves? Or take someone else if you've already booked?" His gaze turned furious as she kept arguing.
"No! My decision is final! You are coming with us and you will not go to your stupid school ball!" At this point, Gracie's hand was really starting to burn, and she could definitely see smoke coming from under her hand. Her heart began to pound as she lifted it off the bench and clenched her fist, putting her hands on her hips and attempting to ignore the now singing pain in her hand.
"No! You don't even want me to go camping! You don't even like me, and you just want me to not be able to go to the ball! I hate you!" Then, his eyes turned murderous, and he lunged for Gracie with a shout.
"Why you little ungrateful rat!" He tried to grab for her throat, Gracie's mother shouting and running to try and stop him, but before she could shove herself in front of Gracie, Gracie had raised her hands defensively, feeling some sort of indescribable power bubble up inside of her, and just before her step fathers hands reached her, fire burst forth from Gracie's fingertips, hitting him in the centre of his chest and knocking him off his feet. He was airborne for a matter of seconds, then he slammed onto the ground, where he slumped unconscious, or dead, steam rising from his chest in lazy swirls. Gracie stands there in shock, completely dumbfounded for what might have been seconds, or hours, she'll never know. But when she finally regained her senses somewhat, she shakes her head. What have I just done? How did that happen? Is he dead? She thought, hands shaking, then, to her relief, she saw his chest rise and then fall, albeit slowly. Then suddenly, just as she heard her mum say her name in a shaky voice, her knees gave way underneath her, and she dropped to the floor, into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was her mother saying her name softly over and over again...