Burn

Chapter 9

“What do you know about August?” I ask Chris. She studies the ground.

“Lots of secrets that I cannot tell you,” She sternly says. I groan.

“I’ve been asking you the same question for ten minutes!” I shout. It’s true of course. We’ve been sitting on the couch for ten minutes and she has just repeated the same line every time I ask her about him.

“Fine,” I say. “Why do I hear voices in my head?”

“You are blessed with a power that no-one else has. You can never die unless you kill yourself. The voice helps you in situations where you can’t help yourself. It’s strange really. I’ve been studying it for an awfully long time,” she explains.

“Wait so why does the city want me dead? It’s not like I’m harming them or anything like that. Is there anyone else like me? Is August like me?” I ask. There are so many questions to be answered that are in my head. “I don’t understand…”

“You are different and there is no-one like you. They are afraid of that. For August, I cannot tell you,” she sighs. I look at the ground. I’m getting frustrated with this whole August thing.

“Look, just tell me. I won’t tell anyone I swear on my life,” I plead.

“There are many secrets about August that I cannot tell you,” she says. I slowly get up.

“You said that you would tell me ANYTHING I wanted to know and right now you aren’t telling me a whole lot!” I scream.

“There are many secrets about August that I cannot tell you,” she cries. I roll my eyes. I walk over to her and pull her up off the couch.

“You are not helping me at all. I need to find him before something bad happens!” I shout into her frightened face.

“If I tell you, bad things will happen trust me. August will be fine just stop asking about him, please,” she sobs. I push her onto the couch. I look around to see another room with the door closed.

“What room is this?” I ask her.

“No please, don’t go in there,” she begs. I run towards the door, only to be tackled by her. We both fall to the ground.

“Get off me, now!” I snap.

“Lee can hear you! Stop being so violent,” she snaps back.

“You’re the one tackling me, not the other way around!” I yell. “Now get off me and let me go into the room!”

“Fine but promise me this,”

“What?” I ask, as I slowly open the door.

“Look after Lee for me,” she says. Then she falls to the ground. I run towards her. I start shaking her.

“Wake up!” I shout, but it doesn’t wake her up. “Lee, come here please.” I look around for some water. I found my water bottle and poured some water onto her face. No movement. I look up to see a teenage girl with light blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail.

“Who are you?” I ask her.

“It’s me, Lee. I guess you have just discovered my power,” she laughs at me.

“You-your power? You’re like me?” I stutter. She nods. “I tried to go into that room and-“

“It’s okay, the spell has worn off now,” she says. “Now we can figure out everyone’s powers and try to stop the city.” Her voice sounded determined.

“What is your power exactly?” I ask her. I slowly get off the ground. “Is Chris going to be okay?”

“Well no, Chris is now dead. If someone other than her opens that door, she dies. It’s a spell, I guess. She was always known as the keeper of secrets. Her secrets must be kept in there,” she points to the other room. “And well my power is that I age really quick. I stop aging when I age to a teenager so I guess I’m not going to age anytime soon,” she laughs. I smile.

“Shall we go in then?” I ask her, holding my hand out.

“Sure. Maybe we can find stuff about August while we search,” she says as she takes my hand.

“Do you have any idea about what’s in there?” I question. She shakes her head.

“I have no clue.”