Lessons in Love

Ch 5

     Alexander carefully made his way around the trash bins. He felt his heart racing in his chest and his hands were clenched inside his pockets.

     The house in front of him was painted a messy dark green, the walls looking like they were just dumped with random buckets of paint. Light green moss slithered up the bottom of the house, giving the house a old kind of haunted look. The roof looked like it was about to cave in, Alexander wondered how anyone could actually live here... May was right... The Flowerew were slobs.

     He sucked in a breath and scanned the area warily, making sure no one was around. Very carefully he fished out the matchbox from his pocket. He taps his metal wristband, twice. The metal mesh uncurls from his wrist and drops down onto the ground, morphing into  small spider. It skitters away, going back to the headquarters... probably. He looks down at his wrist, it had a red ring around it, where the metal dug into his skin. Alexander grits his teeth and scrambles up the stairs and pushing the door open as quietly as he could. Thankfully he didn't have to waste time trying to pick the lock, the girl had left it unlocked. He slipped in quietly and looked inside, the light was dim and he could see the hallway, barely. a worn red carpet filled the hallway, spreading out into the dimness like spilled blood. He shivered at the thought and descended into the house. 

     The interior wasn't as bad as he imagined. The carpet was green, instead of the blood red of the front hall's. He could make out in the dim light a velvet couch pushed up into the corner and a round glass table placed smack in the middle of the room. a small blown glass figure was placed on top of the table, it's beady red eyes seeming to follow Alexander's every movement. 

     Carefully he struck the match against the side of the box. This kind of thing is a child's toy. He tried to convince himself. Fire flickered at the end of the match, creating dancing shadows, stretching across the room. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His hand was trembling. He couldn't admit it, but he was terrified of flames. He let the match fall from his hand, and almost instantly he lit the carpet on fire. The fire rose up in front of him, like a flaming monster it's intentions; to eat Alexander. He held back a scream and scrambled backwards, the fire making him sweat furiously. The flames crept over the glass table, slowly disintegrating the wolf statue, it's eyes seeming to shame Alexander. As for Alexander, he was frozen stiff in fear, watching the horrible scene unfold before him.