Into the Flames

Chapter 10

After everyone retired to his or her bedroom, Jenna laid in bed, looking up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, hearing every word Gianna spoke to her rewind in her mind. She slowly got up, and silently walked down the hallway and up another staircase, seeking rooftop entrance. She finally found it two stories higher, in the attic. The cold night air made her shiver. Jenna sat on the tiled roof, crossing her arms to retain heat. The night was clear, and the crescent moon was luminescent. Looking down, she saw that the labyrinth grew into the shape of a large phoenix.

            “What’re you doing up here?” asked a voice behind her. She turned around saw Dylan joining her. He wore only thick pants and a fitted long sleeve shirt, with a small hole around the rib cage. His hair was messed up and sticking up in random places, but he still wore the endearingly annoying smile. He wrapped a thick quilt around her shoulders, and took a seat right beside her.

            “I don’t like to sleep,” she said, looking at him. Shadows covered his angular face, but his eyes looked as if they were glowing in the dark, like a cat. “What about you? Did I wake you up?”

            He shook his head, fixing his hair with his hand. “Sleep hasn’t come easily for me these days. Bad dreams. I like being awake more; it’s better. Why don’t you like to sleep?”

            Jenna shrugged, feeling a lot warmer with the blanket around her. “Everyday, for the past six years, I always went to sleep scared that I wouldn’t wake up. Or that someone else, like Duke, wouldn’t wake up.”

            “Do you love him?”

            Jenna looked away from the gardens and looked at Dylan. “I feel like you’ve been asking me this question often these days.

            “I’m just wondering in case your answer changes.”

            “My answer remains the same. I love him like I would love a brother. That’s what he is; Duke’s my brother. Chris, Jack, Luke, they’re all my brothers. We’ve lived with each other for so long, but I haven’t thought of any of them as more than a brother. I met Duke and Jack six years ago, close to when I began to sneak out of my house, because it was a hellhole. I was scaling a building by using the fire escape, and ended up falling three stories. I cracked two ribs and thought I was going to die until they came along and helped me. We were both young and scared; we had no idea what we were doing. They ran away from their orphanage they stayed at after both of their parents died in a car accident; Jack and I were only ten, and Duke was eleven. We were just young, scared kids. A few months later, Luke and Chris joined us. We created one big family. We were a family.”

            “Were?”

            “I’m not sure anymore, honestly. When we stopped by to visit Duke today, it changed everything.”

            “What happened?” asked Dylan, who was looking at his nails; or rather, the lack of them. They were all chewed down to the beds.

            She swallowed and cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable about sharing her personal thoughts with someone. “He kissed me.”

            Jenna watched as a spasm of emotions crossed Dylan’s face in a span of two seconds. They moved too fast for Jenna to comprehend what each one was. He looked at her with the calm and collected face he always had. “How was that?”

            She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I didn’t like it all that much, but maybe it was because I never thought of him in that way before.”