The Altercations with 24

Fire Burns Faster When Accelerated

"Wait, what?" Casey asked, stunned. She backed up until her back hit the counter. "I don't understand. You said I could go." What changed in the moments they were apart? One of the personalities must have said something. She bet it was Patricia. Her thoughts were interrupted by the Beast speaking.

"I didn't mean literally. Everyone needs to think we are dead so no one will look for us. The best way to do that is by killing us in a fire." The Beast set the bags down at a nearby table and leaned against it, facing her.

Casey relaxed against the counter. "What do you need me to do?" The Beast pushed off the table and went searching in the bags for something.

"I need you to collect the bodies of your friends." He stated casually.

"They weren't my friends." Casey corrected him. The Beast didn't turn around, but he gave a small smirk. "They invited me to that party out of pity." She continued, unsure why it was so important for him to know why she was with them.

The man stayed quiet, pulling out a grey shirt from one of the bags. "They weren't my friends," Casey continued, "But I can't just collect their bodies. Besides, didn't you eat them?"

The man's head jerked to the side and Patricia's voice came out. "I thought she was supposed to do everything you said. No complaints."

He jerked his head again and spoke with the Beast's voice. "Give the girl a break, Patricia. I was just curious to see if she would."

Casey watched the interaction between the two with amazement. Two people were having an argument in one body. Their voices changed, their posture, even the accent in which they spoke. Then a third voice came out.

"The mess. It's such a mess. I need-" Dennis's recognizable Boston accent was cut of by Hedwig.

"I want to help Casey. She's my friend! Excetera!"

Hedwig's voice disappeared and was replaced with Patricia's harsh voice. "Shut up now, Hedwig. This is a matter for grown ups." The man twitched his head again and was replaced with Hedwig.

"I want to listen!". He spun around to face Casey. "Casey, tell her I can listen! I've been a good boy!" Casey didn't know what to do. She expected the Beast to take over by now.
Hedwig waited impatiently for a response. Casey closed the gap between the two and cradled Hedwig's face in her hands.

"Hedwig," she said in a mother's voice. She felt strange talking to a thirty year old like a child, but she had to remember that right now, his personality was a child.

"I know you want to help. You are such a good boy for wanting to. But Ms. Patricia and the Beast don't want you to get hurt. We're going to set a fire and being burned really hurts. You can come out and play later, how about that?" He pouted, but didn't move away from Casey.

"I'm not going anywhere, Hedwig. Not anymore. I promise. We'll play later."
She gave him a kiss on his forehead and Hedwig seemed to accept her promise.

He looked into her eyes and asked, "You pinky promise? Excetera?" Casey smiled at his youthful innocence and felt a pang of jealously. She wished she could have been innocent.

"I pinky promise." She said, removing her hands from his face and wrapping her right pinky to his left one.
Hedwig gave her one last smile and with that he was gone. The Beast untangled their pinkies and took a step back.

"Good job handling the boy. He trusts you. I hope you don't do anything to break that trust." She nodded at his threat and waited for his next instructions. "I will go and collect what remains of your not friends. You find the matches." And with that he disappeared down a hall.

Casey began searching in the kitchen drawers for the matches. She hoped he had a better plan than just setting the place aflame. She found two boxes of matches in the last drawer and placed them on the counter. He returned, his chest covered in blood that she knew wasn't his. She couldn't help but flinch a little bit at the sight of him. She could have sworn he smirked at her reaction, but she couldn't tell.

"Take the bags out. Just follow the way we came from and you'll find an exit close to where you were. Make haste." He commanded.

Casey took all five bags at once and left without looking back. The bags were heavy and she struggled under their weight, but she didn't dare slow down. It was dark from where he crushed the lightbulbs, but she made due. "Just think, no more uncle. Never again." She whispered to herself ever so often as a sort of inspiration. She stumbled once or twice, but always kept going.

When she finally reached the exit she felt herself sigh in relief. Her shoulders were aching from the weight of the bags. Since he didn't give her a general direction as to where to put the bags, he just placed them off to the side of the door. She was about to walk back to the housing unit when she heard a noise behind her. Casey spun around and almost ran into Dennis. She could tell it was him by the grey shirt he was wearing and the glasses on his face.

"Wh- what are you doing here?" She asked, caught off guard. Even now, he freaked her out. He looked down on her with an unreadable expression.

"We need to go. The fire will reach us soon." He walked past her and picked up a couple of bags.

"You set the fire already? Did you use an accelerant? Gasoline?" She questioned him, getting no response. He gave a quick chuckle at her last question.

"I used something better than gasoline." Was his only reply.
Casey grabbed the other bags and followed him.

"Where are we going? Do you have a car?" Dennis walked a couple of places ahead of her and heard all her questions, but chose to ignore them. Casey gave up and quietly followed behind him. She looked around at her surroundings and saw that they were in some sort of zoo. She was amazed at all the wildlife she saw all around her.

She didn't have enough time to enjoy the view and they came up to a grey car a few moments later. "So you do have a car." Casey muttered under her breath. Dennis pulled keys out of his pants pocket popped open the trunk.

"It's an in case of emergencies car. And I don't have a car, we have a car." Dennis corrected, placing the bags in a certain direction that seemed to please him.

He turned to take the bags from Casey when he said, "Not you and me 'we'. Myself and the others."

Casey resisted the urge to toll her eyes at him. She obviously knew what he meant. Instead, Casey just nodded. She didn't know how long she would be stuck with this personality in a small car and didn't want to increase her chances of him pushing her out. She tried to help him out the bags away, but everything she did wasn't right. She gave up and went to go wait in the passenger seat of the car. As Casey waited for Dennis to finally stop messing around with the bags, she thought of the fire that was supposed to have killed her.

Would that be enough? Would the bodies be so far gone that she would be declined dead? She felt unsafe, but not with Dennis and his personalities. She felt unsafe thinking of her uncle coming to look for her. What would he do if he found her?

She jumped when Dennis opened the driver's side door and got in. He turned on the car and started to peel away. As they drove by, Casey could start to see the beginnings of the fire appear in the sky. Dennis only spoke once their entire car ride and it was when they drove past the building.

He simply said, "You know, fire burns faster when accelerated." He seemed to speak to no one in particular.