I woke to the scent of something burning. Wide eyed, I shot straight up in bed, scanning the room for the source. The source ended up being Kindle, stamping out the now charred and smoldering sheet that used to be on the bed. I cleared my throat to get his attention, raising my eyebrows in silent question.
"Set the bed on fire," Kindle replied casually, though he seemed slightly embarrassed. "Caught it before it got too bad." He smothered the last bit of flame, waving his hand to clear the smoke.
"Maybe you should just go back to sleeping in the chair," I laughed. "I'd really prefer not to be accidentally cooked in the middle of the night."
Ever since the night Lydia poisoned him, a little over a week ago, Kindle and I had been sharing the bed. Sharing with him wasn't as awkward as I had thought it would be, Kindle stayed on his side and I stayed on mine, but I did keep myself as far from him as the bed would allow. I couldn't stop thinking about what Carlyle had told me: Kindle had feelings for me. And I still wasn't entirely sure how that made me feel.
"It's no big deal, really." Kindle shrugged, moving back to the bed and sitting down. I turned to face him. "I used to go through at least five sheets a month," He explained, "Sometimes I just sort of catch on fire, as I explained before, other times I'll be playing with a little flame and I'll fall back asleep or become distracted and it'll latch itself onto the nearest flammable surface and burn."
"So, basically I'm putting myself at risk just being in the same room with you at night?" I asked. I was working hard to keep my expression serious, after all, catching on fire was a serious matter, but I really wanted to burst out laughing.
"Yes," Kindle nodded. He was much better at keeping a straight face than I was. Just looking at his overly-concerned expression was enough to send me into a fit of giggles. Kindle smiled, fighting back laughter of his own, "You're pretty hardcore, Blondie. The thought of burning alive makes you laugh, that's intense."
"Shut up," I rolled my eyes and shoved him backwards. Either I used more force than I meant to, or he simply wasn't expecting it, because to my great surprise Kindle actually tumbled backward off the bed. "Oh my god, Kindle!" I gasped clamoring to the other side of the bed to peek over the edge at him. "Are you okay?"
Kindle was lying on the floor, laughing hysterically.
Oh Lord, I thought in a panic, I broke him. "Kindle?" I asked again, leaning over the edge and tentatively reaching out a finger to poke him.
Suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and tugged me downward. I slipped from the edge of the bed and landed partially next to him, partially on top of him.
I scooted myself entirely off of him and pushed myself into sitting position as quickly as possible to avoid awkwardness. I crossed my arms and glared at him, "You're a jerk."
"Whatever you say, Pouty." Kindle grinned, not even bother to sit up.
"Coming in, you both better be dressed!" Carlyle exclaimed, materializing in the chair in the corner of the room, a sly smile on his face.
I rolled my eyes, climbing back up onto the bed. "No matter how many times you come into the room saying that, we are never not going to be dressed."
"Mhm, sure." Carlyle replied, his smile widening, "What were you doing on the floor?"
"Kindle attacked me." I informed him, shooting another glare at Kindle as he stood up off the floor, still grinning like an idiot.
"Ah, young love." Carlyle sighed dramatically.
Kindle hurled a pillow at him, but the pillow went directly through Carlyle's head and hit the wall behind him with a smack. "You're dead, can't you just go be dead?" Kindle grumbled.
YOU ARE READING
CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]
FantasyFor the sake of nostalgia and because I spent far too much of my life on these drafts to just give them up, this is where you can find previous versions of my book A Gamble of Paintings and Poison A Girl's Guide to Hardcore Gaming: started in 2012...