The rage consumed him. It burned. He lost his brother so long ago, how could Mitch show up like this? To fight against him?
He was so confused. Taniel. Mitch. Rowan. This damned gun in his hand. How was he supposed to make a decision like that?
Fights brewed around him. Screams. Agony. Then his brother standing right beside him. He must be losing his mind, his sense, both.
Mitch tried to calm him. To explain what was going on. That was when confusion gave way to anger. He knew what was going on. He knew what Mitch was involved in now—in the trade that had destroyed their family, separated him from his parents—and he wouldn't stand for it. Mitch was part of the problem.
Even still, it surprised him when he shot the gun. Surprised him when Mitch fell, clutching the wound. Scooter was transported back to when they were kids, rough housing in the living room. His parents yelling but brothers laughing, that was until someone got hurt. But then the apologies always made it better, and within minutes they were friends again.
Not this time.
Nothing would ever make this right. Scooter had shot his brother.
Scooter fell to his knees. He didn't know what to think, what to do.
"Scooter..." Mitch said, wheezing.
Feeling overwhelmed Scooter. He wanted to protect them all - Rowan, Taniel, and even Mitch. He wanted to forgive Mitch for disappearing, for not being a part of his life for so long, for being on the wrong side. He was angry that he ever had to be here, that he had to fight for other people. He was so angry his brother betrayed him.
The anger fueled him. Burned him.
Scooter grew red in the face, feeling his blood boil. To protect, to lash out, to cleanse himself. He was angry for everything he has lost. Angry at everything he was about to lose.
The flames licked at every wrong against him, every sore moment, every nerve. It grew wildly and out of control. Into something bigger than himself. The anger for himself and for those he had loved so fiercely it consumed him. They were who he was fighting for.
He watched the flames grow from his hands and catch on the desk.
The flames danced wickedly away from him.
And he let the flames take him away.
YOU ARE READING
Fragments - Book One of the Missing
FantasyFragments is the story of Taniel, a boy whose nightmares are becoming reality, and Rowan, whose comfortable life starts coming apart at the seams. We meet Taniel on his last day of St. Andra's, a school for troubled boys. He is returning to the r...
