Ruin.

Burned.

Chapter 8: Burned::

Just after her fifteenth birthday, a boy in her algebra class, the one with the psychotic teacher, passed Ari a note.

She had been so excited because the boy was Micha Dadem. Ari had had a crush on him for months. How could she not have? He was, in their small high school, a god. He was classically handsome, with light blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He wasn’t all that tall, but still managed to be the star of the high school basketball team, earning the respect of the other guys and the adoration of the girls. Micha was popular, gorgeous, and every girl’s dream, including hers.

Ari, keeping one eye on Ms. Downitz or, as the students called her, the Downer, unfolded the note and smoothed it out on the edge of her desk.

She glanced down and quickly read the words scrawled across it.

Will you come to my house after class today? – Micha.

She shot a glance at the sender of the note and nodded, trying in vain to keep the girlish excitement off of her face.

After class, Micha snuck up behind her and stole her books from her desk, leading her toward his older brother’s Camaro. He threw her books into the trunk, along with his backpack, and clambered into the backseat, scooting close to Ari’s side.

The awkward silence lasted a few minutes before Micha cleared his throat. Looking down at his feet and shifting constantly in his seat, he mumbled out a question under his breath.

“What did you say?” Ari asked, not understanding a single word of the question she had been asked. She only knew it was even a question because of the way his voice rose at the end.

“Will you, maybe, only if you want to, be my girlfriend?” He spoke the words quickly, jumbling them together, but she understood most of them this time.

Blushing a bright, beet red, she nodded.

Micha let out the breath he had been holding and shyly reached for her hand, just as a face smushed itself into the glass. Kaylen, Micha’s older brother, banged on the window, causing them both to jump and look up guiltily. He walked around the car to the driver’s door and slid in.

The older boy spun around in his seat, miming kissing at his younger brother.

“Micha’s got a girlfriend!” he crowed, announcing it to the passersby, much to their annoyance.

“Just drive us home,” Micha muttered, blushing almost as red as Ari in his embarrassment.

“Fine. Fine,” he placated, holding his hands up in surrender before turning and focusing in on her. “So, girlfriend, what’s your name?”

Ari’s blush deepened and she mumbled an answer as the car made the turn out of the driveway and onto the street. The questions being fired at her from the front seat continued all the way from school to Micha’s house, only ceasing when Kaylen looked into the mirror and waggled his eyebrows at something she had said.

Finally they arrived at the house. The car sped away after depositing the two kids, leaving them standing alone on the porch. Micha led the way inside and dropped their stuff just inside the door before giving Ari the tour.

They hung out for a while in the living room, watching TV and goofing around. With every moment that passed, her attention was drawn even more to how Micha was so close. Finally, Ari gathered the courage to kiss him. She turned on the couch, taking hold of his hand to spin him to face her.

His warm, chocolate brown eyes widened in surprise as he realized what she was doing, and he froze, a deer in the headlights. Ari leaned forward, her lips now only inches away from Micha’s.

Her heart raced and her stomach felt like a thousand butterflies had suddenly decided to fly around in it. She leaned in even farther, closing the last few inches between them.

Just as her lips met his, she caught the scent of smoke. Micha had placed his hands on either side of her waist and, wanting to get closer, leaned into the light kiss. Ari jerked away, suddenly scared.

“Do you smell that?” she squeaked, sucking air into her lungs through her nose and confirming her suspicions. “It smells like-”

“Smoke,” Micha cut in, finishing the sentence for her. He jumped up and darted toward the stairs, taking them two at a time. Ari, not knowing what to do, followed him.

She thought she had been right behind him, but when she reached the top step, she couldn’t see where he had gone. She called out, but received no answer.

The fire had grown at an overwhelming rate, blocking the entire first floor from view and, more importantly, blocking any chance of exiting through the front door.

She was trapped in an unfamiliar house that was close to being swallowed by flames. Looking down the stairs, she could hardly see past the third step. Tears streamed down her face as she choked on the acrid, thick smoke rising from the floorboards underneath her. She scrambled to find an exit, all the while wondering in the back of her mind how her first date could have turned into something so ugly. She had just kissed Micha, the boy who had asked her over that night, when they caught the scent of smoke rising from somewhere nearby. They had taken off up the stairs and were separated in their haste. Shaking, terrified, she ran from room to room, searching both for a way out and for the boy who had been with her just minutes before. She spotted an open window, one that she somehow knew led out onto the roof, and a trellis that could be climbed down. 

She ran back into the main part of the house, frantically screaming for Micha. She wrestled with her sense of self-preservation, wanting to find him, but the fear took hold and, hearing no reply, she ran toward the window and ducked out. Looking continuously back, she made her way down the trellis, leaving him inside.  

The memories of that night had played through Ari’s mind constantly in the days following. She never stopped wondering, although after time the memories had moved to the back of her mind. Now, finally, she understood what had happened. They had said it couldn’t be explained. That there was no way to tell what had caused it. Now she knew. It was horrible, and it was her fault, but she finally knew and so, finally, had closure.