Satan's Gift

Chapter two: Strange Scar

I regained consciousness to find myself in my car which Xenette was driving. I got up and looked at her.
"We are about to reach my place. Do you think you can drive back?", she asked worryingly. I just nodded as an indication of my answer.
"What happened out there?", I asked her confusingly.
"I don't know; you just fell just as we were about to reach the car. It was an exhausting process of getting you into the vehicle," she replied with a sigh. I didn't say anything afterwards. I felt weak because of the lack of sleep and I had a hectic night also. She got off at her place and I moved to the drivers seat to get the wheel.
"Bye, Ian. Take care of yourself," she said with a smile.
"Bye. You also take care," I replied with a forced smile. She went and stood in front of the door and rang the bell. Mrs. Ali opened the door and she went in. I started driving and headed my way home. On the way, my loneliness burst many thoughts in my mind. I kept thinking about sixty-seven James street. Kept thinking about the push from behind. Ten minutes drive seemed longer with all the strange thoughts on my mind. I picked my phone and called mom. The phone was ringing and she picked up.
"Ian, where are you?", she asked in a very angry and an unpleasant manner.
"I'm on my way, mom," I replied in a typical teenage manner. I hung up and was hoping to avoid the inevitable, interrogations which is. I was already tired and didn't have the energy to go through a long lecture on how careless I am.

Just as I reached home, mom got the door.
"You're in a lot of trouble, mister!", she said in a very aggressive manner.
"Where have you been? Sent Darren with couple of strangers. And look at you! Looking as if you have been running a marathon," she added.
"I was with Xenette, mom. We were just hanging out with couple of friend of ours.", I replied as if nothing happened, in a very casual manner.
"Go get yourself cleaned and dad will talk to you tomorrow." She told me with a sigh. I was too tired to stay awake for another minute. I went straight to bed and passed out.

I was woken up by mom at around seven in the morning the very next day.
"Ian! Get your lazy butt out of bed and come in the dining room for breakfast when you're ready," she shouted from outside my room.
"Yes, mom," I replied lazily. I got up and took off the suit I was wearing last night. Went in front of the mirror to check my back, apparently it had a strange scar. "I fell on my front side, then how did that get there?", I asked myself, all confused. Just as I continued staring at the scar, it just disappeared right from my eyes. It healed within two seconds. I freaked out at first. "Am I being delusional?", I wondered in a very shocked manner. It took me ten minutes to process what was going on with me. Thought of sharing this with someone. My parents would definitely scold me if I tell them that I went to that abandoned house last night with Xenette. Xenette! Yes, I can talk to Xenette! I called Xenette once and no one answered, she answered the phone in my second attempt.
"Hello...?", Xenette, sounding really sleepy and lazy to talk.
"Hey, Xenette. I gotta tell you something really crazy about last night. Apparently, you're the only one I know who won't think I'm crazy," I told her with great haste.
"Can we talk about this later, Ian? I'm really sleepy and tired," she replied.

Entire day I was thinking about the previous night. I was confused, slowly the confusion turned into stress and later aggression. I was angry for not being able to figure out what was happening to me. I made a hard fist and the most bizarre thing happened; my fist caught fire! I freaked out and quickly put it out. For sometime I just stared at my hand. It didn't burn nor it hurt. I made a fist again. Nothing happened. I was getting sick of all this. I made a fist again aggressively, it caught fire. This time I didn't put it out. I just stared at it in awe. It was bright and I didn't feel anything. Neither did I feel hot and nor did I burn. I tried to burn something in the fire which was on my fist. I grabbed a piece of paper with my other hand and tried to burn it, it just burned within a second. Faster than the usual speed in which a paper burns. I slowly came to terms with what was happening to me, but now the question was, how did it happen?
"Oh, God! I gotta do something. I can't just show this to someone. I gotta talk to Xenette", I thought to myself in a worried manner. I quickly grabbed my car key and went outside without informing anyone where I was going. I took my phone out off my pocket and dialed Xenette's number. The phone rang.
"Hello?", Xenette answered.
"Hey, it's Ian. Can you come to Alice's Cafe? I need to talk to you," I told Xenette.
"Oh, yes!", I'll be there in half an hour," she replied in a much more lively voice this time.
I hung up and reached the cafe in fifteen minutes. Sat there and kept checking the time continously. After twenty minutes, the door opened. Xenette walked in and stood there, trying to spot me.
"Over here, Xen," I called Xenette, casually.
"Hello!", Xenette said with a cheerful smile.
"Hello. You okay?", I asked Xenette in a worried manner.
"Hehe. I should be the one asking you that, actually. And yeah, I'm okay," Xenette replied, pouting.
"What happened. Is everything alright? You sounded really worried on the phone," she added.
"No, nothing is alright. Strange things have been happening after last night," I told her in a very low tone voice.
"What exactly are we talking about? What strange things?", she asked in a very worried manner.
"I woke up this morning and it's been bugging me. I was trying to make sense of what all happened last night. As a result, I got aggravated. Made a hard fist and it caught fire on its own," I told her that much, expecting her not to call me crazy but that was very unlikely.
"Wait, what the f***! That's absurd!", she replied surprisingly.
"I know, you must be thinking that I'm crazy and I don't blame you for that. For a moment, even I felt as if I'm going crazy. Oh! And I had a strange scar on the back which instantly disappeared right in front of my eyes. It just healed, I replied in a haste.
"You know what? If your hand caught fire then where's the wound?", she asked with a furrow.
"I don't know! My hand didn't burn at all when the fire started. It was cool," I replied to her question while shrugging my shoulders.
"You know what, Ian. You sound crazy. I think you should go home and rest. Go see a doctor if needed," she replied sarcastically.
"I'm not crazy!", I replied furiously. I made hard fists again and smoke started coming out of it. Xenette just stared at my fists with a shocked look while I wasn't aware of what was happening.

"Ian! Your hands!", Xenette said in a very terrified tone. I immediately cooled down and put my hands inside my pocket that was on my jacket.
"Now you know what I'm talking about?", I asked Xenette with a furrow.
"Oh my God! How did this happen?!", she asked me in a haste.
"That's what we're gonna find out. Whatever I told you is all I know," I replied to her question. I looked at her face. Xenette was just sitting there, her eyes wide and she in a state of disbelief. Terror crossed her face and she just froze.
"I know that all this feels surreal but you're the only one I could turn to," I told Xenette with a sigh of tiredness. She looks at me again and started processing everything.
"Where shall we begin?", she asked in her casual up-for-an-adventure kind of manner. We got in the rover and started driving to that, supposedly haunted, house.
"Do that again, Ian," Xenette asked me while I was driving.
"Do what?", I asked her confusingly.
"That fire thingy with your hands," she replied eagerly.
"Xenette, I'm driving. And I won't do it anyway because I am scared of that shit," I replied with a furrow. In few minutes, we reached the place. Now it wasn't as scary as it was the night before but the memories from that night still increased our heart beats. The air around us was dry as we approached the back of the house where the woods are.
"Um, Ian. I ain't going in there again if you're thinking of doing that, just so you know," Xenette told me in a worried manner.
"Okay, but I'm going. If you want to stay back here and wait for me then you can," I replied Xenette. It was more of a button that I was looking to press in order to make her change her mind.
"Ahggrr! Let's go," she replied me in a very disappointed manner. I carried on with a smile on my face. The woods was lively at that time of the day. Birds were chattering and the breeze was cool and moist. In a matter of minutes, we had reached at the point of the woods where we were supposedly pursued. I felt something moving from the side of my eye just few feet away from me, in the bush. It moved very swiftly.
"Stay close, Xenette!" I said to her in a very low tone of voice. She came close to me and held my right arm with hers. A very demonic voice echoed around the woods this time. Fear ran up and down my spine as it continued.
"Ian, let's get outta here, please!", Xenette pleaded. Suddenly, the skies turned black, wind started blowing more aggressively and the woods looked darker. My heart beat was skyrocketing but I stood my ground and was ready to burn anything that comes on my way into ashes! The strong wind was moist and cold. It felt as if it was talking to me, I felt the wind on my cheek, and blowing into my ear. It was talking to me, but I couldn't understand anything. As if it spoke in some other language.
"Do you hear that?", I asked Xenette in a loud voice due to the strong wind.
"Hear what? The strong wind and the trees? Sure," she replied a little sarcastically even in such a situation.

The environment around us started to fill up with white smoke. By now we were freaking out but there wasn't anywhere to run. I didn't have the courage to run back from the path we came from. The smoke started surrounding us in a circular motion. All of a sudden, a big blow of smoke covered us entirely; everything went white. I held on to Xenette's hand tight, my emotions were a mixture of terror, courage, fear and bravery. All of a sudden, I didn't feel Xenette's hand in mine. The smoke started to clear and I couldn't find her anywhere. I looked right, left, at the back and front again but she was nowhere. And I realized slowly, I wasn't in the woods anymore. It was a small town. Felt old, as if I went back fifty years or so.