Shattering Me

19~ the Request

When Ryan walked into his house and saw the state his roommate was in, he made up his mind to get Kyle into the play.

"I'm home. Now put on your clothes," he growled.

Kyle's head whipped around like a whip and his eyes widened in shock. That shock only lasted for a second before it faded and he got up to pull on his boxers. It wasn't the first time Ryan had caught him lazing around undressed, and he honestly doubted it would be the last.

So Kyle figured it was pointless to bother trying to conceal himself from Ryan at all.

"I thought you'd be out for a little longer than that," he grumbled and zipped up his jeans. He was shameless as he fell back onto the couch and retrieved his phone.

"You make it sound like that should make a difference," Ryan growled again. He didn't understand how his roommate could be so utterly relaxed and it burned him up inside. He crashed carefully onto the seat next to Kyle and tried to cast the images and memory aside. "So there's this play next month..."

"The Christmas festival?"

"Yeah. You already know about it?" Ryan asked.

"Of course, Rye. They do those stupid plays and events every year around New Years. It makes tourists feel like we have winter during the rainy season. It's stupid because it almost never drops below 65 degrees."

That bit of information wasn't something he expected. "That sucks. Back home, snow sculpting during the winter was the best thing in the world. I got a special chisel for carving ice and it was great," before Ryan realized it, he was smiling.

"It's not like clay because you can't be too rough. You have to take your time and move fast, which sounds crazy but it's true. My dad and I would go out and purchase these huge blocks of ice. We'd fill the house with air conditioners and put them on full blast.

"He would say, 'take your time so you don't overheat.' But I would get carried away and melt chunks off anyway." His sharp yellow eyes took on a softer curve as he told Kyle stories of back home. He even started laughing when he told him about his brother's visits. "Carman was a monster back then, you have no idea.

"If big bro walked into the house when I was sculpting, it didn't matter how many AC's were blasting cold air. His body heat would throw everything off balance and start melting the ice."

Kyle got curious at that remark and asked, "What's the deal with him and fire anyway? Is he fire-proof or something?"

"No of course not. Carman is just too fast to be burned. When the great Tokyo inferno broke loose, it wasn't even because he started it. He ran into a burning building to save a pregnant woman from the fire." His eyes dipped as if recounting a sad memory. "He thought he could save her, but burns were already too harsh. After that...the fire department arrived so late that the fire had spread to multiple buildings.

"I don't know exactly what happened next, but Carman went into a rage. The fire department couldn't handle him and the police tried stepping in, but that just made it worse. When my brother gets angry his body overheats and he has to move to keep from burning up inside. He moves so fast that he can just stay within an inferno and dodge bullets.

"They poured so much attention on taking him down that the inferno went unchecked for hours."

"How did they put it out?"

Ryan hesitated, but finally said, "I don't know. I think they just called my dad."

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Short chapter, but you know how it goes. The short ones always set up for bigger scenes ;)

While re-reading this chapter for upload, it really hit me that there's a lot of this story that I want to expand upon when I go back through it for main edits. Let me know which scenes you thought were the best.

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