Inferno

Chapter Two

The next morning:

*BEEP, BEEP, BEEP*. My alarm clock goes off right next to my ear and I jump up. I have my morning shower and get dressed. I have some toast and grab my breaking bag.

As I arrive at school I can hear the familiar sound of “ASH”. I soon realise that Elloise is behind me. Elloise is short, stubby, greasy blond haired daughter of a billionaire that owns half the city. She also sees everyone as a potential boyfriend. Her favourite guy to hang around recently just so happens to be me

“Hi Ash” Elloise says whilst twirling her hair.

“Oh, Elloise. Hi”

“You can call me Ellie if you want”

“No, that’s okay”.

“So, Ash. Do you have a girlfriend yet?”

“No, thank you for asking again”.

“You could you know. I’m available”.

“That’s really alright, besides, I think that Aaron likes you”.

“No he doesn’t. I already asked him”.

“What about Claus?”

“Claus is okay, I guess.” Elloise says “But I like you better. Claus is too short”

She strokes my shoulder and I begin to feel more uncomfortable than usual around Elloise. Thinking of no better option, I say “Look over there” realising that it is the oldest trick in the book and accepting that it isn’t going to work. To my surprise though, Elloise looks around and I quickly run behind a tree. The bell goes and I check to see if the coast is clear from Elloise. I swiftly move towards my class room and complete that day of school.

After school:

As I practice the song that I wrote I can feel my body temperature rising. ‘Not again’ I think to myself and run to the bathroom. I start a cold bath to cool myself down. But this time the water didn’t evaporate, the bath starts to sink. I quickly jump out of the bath and can see that the ceramic/plastic has melted down into a shallow bowl. I am now too curious and anxious to shake this incident off and I choose to discuss what’s been going on with my parents.

I walk out into the living room and sit down on the couch opposite my parents.

“Hi darling, what’s up?” my mum says

“I have something to tell you”

“I knew this day was coming… it’s okay, you can like whoever you want, gender doesn’t matter” my dad says

“WHAT? I’m not gay”

“Oh, I see. Go on”

“There is something that’s been going on with me.”

“That’s puberty sweetie. It’s normal for a 15 year old boy. Tony, I think it’s time you gave Ash the talk.”

“No. that’s okay. I know about puberty. This is different.”

“You can tell us anything, son.”

“My body is getting.” I paused for a second not really knowing how to describe it. “Hot, I guess.”

“Oh dear. I don’t believe that they taught us about this in school.” Mum said, a bit confused and worried.

“When did it start son?”

“Yesterday. I tried to wash my hands and the water evaporated straight off them.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner sweetie?”

“I didn’t think it was serious because nothing happened really but… the bath…”

“What about the bath?” my parents said in unison.

“It’s um, melted.”

“Dear, dear, dear. This is serious. We need to see a doctor about this.”

“So you don’t know what’s going on?”

“No son. We are just as confused as you are.”

Two days later:

I could hear my mum on the phone to my school telling them that I wouldn’t be coming in as I was going to the doctors. I packed my stuff up and got in the car. When I was getting in I could see that my mum had invested in fireproof seat covers. I suddenly felt a flush of guilt run through me. As we drive I can feel myself getting hotter until my eyes close and I can hear a voice, it says: “you’re name. It tells your destiny. Your future results in suffering and ash.” I wake up from the hallucination and shake my head to clear my thoughts. As we arrive at the hospital I start to regret the decision. I just know that at least one of the people in my friend group will ask where I was and I can’t just say: “don’t worry, it’s fine, I’m just melting things by sitting in them, no problems”.

I sit down in the patient’s chair and wait for the doctor to meet me.

When the doctor walks in they are definitely not what I expected. A young man, not bad looking (I’m not gay). He sits down in front of me and begins the examination.

{A\N}

Chapter 2 is here!

Hope you enjoy

- chookyj