Freaks

XV

I could feel sunlight warm my cheeks as I lied motionless in Peter's arms.
"You're going to be okay, Firefly," he assured me as he held me closer to his chest and ran further into brush of trees.
I didn't have the physical strength to say anything. I couldn't even sense what he was feeling. The world was numb against my skin.
But I could see it in his eyes—the fear he had of losing me. It was a look I had never seen in anyone else's face before.
We were deep in the woods and came across a lush green carpet of grass. He laid me down gently and immediately I felt stronger. I felt each individual blade shoot energy up into my body. I sensed the life among the dirt beneath me and the trees' roots tunneling energy up to the branches above me. Most of all, though, I felt Peter's love for me—stronger than anything in the entire forest.
I sat up slowly, gripping onto the grass to steady myself.
Peter stroked the side of my head and smiled before pulling me towards him to press his lips against mine.
A surge of energy flushed throughout my body, sending glowing streams around us. I began to emit a soft warm glow as I spoke my first words in days,
"I love you, Peter."
His eyes turned glassy with tears as he replied,
"Everyone always says how I'm just a big joker, how I don't take anything seriously. And they may be right but when it comes to you, that's where they're wrong. I'm fully serious when I say that ___, I love you with every single inch of my being."
The soft glow flowing out from my body intensified into radiant beams of light. Peter held up a hand to shield from the intense brightness. 
He laughed his laugh that always warms my chest,
"I'm also serious when I say that I love it when you do that."
I uncontrollably smiled and rested my forehead against his, stuck in the moment for a blissful eternity.
"Sometimes I think you say things just so I'll glow."
"Guilty."

                                        *

I sat enclosed within a thick knit blanket, my arms wrapped around a house plant.
In the silence my mind suddenly drew back to what had happened before I had blacked out.
My grandmother. The police. The explosion.
It flashed before my eyes as if it was happening to me that second.
I muttered softly under my breath,
"It must be on the news."
I scanned Peter's basement in search of the remote and found it wedged between the couch cushions. The television screen flashed on with a ping and the sound of static crackling. I flipped through multiple channels until I found it —the image of a gaping hole in the earth, filled with nothing but ashes as black as obsidian.
Good evening, and welcome to the five o'clock edition of today's news. A recent update on an explosion leaving ten dead and sixteen injured. The explosion was believed to have originated from a local elderly woman's home, whose remains were found on the premises. The explosion was previously believed to have been caused by gas leakage but is now unknown after city workers tested the air quality of the area. The explosion's diameter extended over about a quarter of the city block, which also leads officials to believe it was much too large to be caused by a gas leak. Suspicions arose when the remains of the elderly woman's granddaughter, who is believed to have been living with her at the time of the explosion, were not found, leaving authorities to assume she's still alive and possibly in the area. A widespread search for the girl has now sparked throughout the community in attempts to get to the bottom of what caused this mysterious, most destructive explosion the city has ever seen...
I looked at Peter who was now standing on the bottom step. A tear raced down my cheek,
"Why didn't you tell me?"
He flashed over next to me.
"___, I didn't—"
I cut him off,
"How long was I out for?"
He was silent as he kept his eyes on the floor.
"Peter, how long?"
His eyes met mine for a split second then veered away as he answered,
"Three weeks."
I stood up and headed towards the door. Peter rushed past me at met me at the top of the stairs.
"I didn't want you to feel bad," he said.
"You didn't want me to feel bad? Peter, I killed ten people. Not to mention the other sixteen still in the hospital."
I ran past him and opened his front door, where he was already waiting for me in the front lawn.
"___, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't control it!"
I looked into his eyes,
"My grandmother was right. I am a freak."
He stood expressionless on the sidewalk as I turned and walked off into the distance.