fire starter | l.s [1]

nine

His tall frame loomed over me, casting a dark shadow across my body. He wore an evil grin among his old features as he held onto my shoulder tightly. My mustard yellow uniform was thin, and I could feel his grip burning holes into it, at least that's what if felt like.

The man bent down, so he was almost the same height as me. His breath smelt like coffee and his teeth were yellow. The man cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Do you speak?" He had asked but I didn't respond.

This angered him, and he shoved me backward, so I fell into the mud behind me. Heads from behind tall bushed turned my way to watch what was going on. The bucket I was holding had fallen from my grip and the contents had spilled out onto the floor.

The man took another step towards me and I whimpered, pushing myself backward. He laughed. Laughed. My fingers were trembling, and anxiety was forming at the pit of my stomach. I glanced over at the boys, the one with piercing blue eyes and another with dark chocolate skin stared at me with sympathy written over their faces. I glanced back at the guard who had just pushed me over.

"You're a sad excuse of a yellow, you know that girl?" He yelled, making me flinch and look away. The man seemed to be enjoying himself, "Do you?"

I nodded as tears formed into my eyes. The man reached out towards me and grabbed my arm roughly. He pulled me up from the ground and pushed me forwards, ordering me to walk. I felt dozens of pairs of eyes on me as I started to walk shamefully in front of him. I kept my gaze on my muddy shoes as we continued to walk.

We entered one of the concrete structures and he pushed me down the hall until there was an empty room. He shoved me into the room, he followed close behind and slammed the door shut. The man pushed me down onto the floor and I landed with a thud. That earned a laugh from him.

"Now, tell me, girl, why would you use your freakish powers when you know what would happen to you?" He asked as he pulled the stick from around his belt.

"I didn't mean too," I said quietly, my bottom lip quivering.

"Hmm, maybe you should learn how to control that pesky little 'gift' of yours then, huh," The man's voice was thick of poison.

His boot made a loud thud as he stepped closer to me, raising the thick stick above my head right before-

I jolted awake, my chest moving rapidly, trying to pump air back into my lungs. My hand was clutched over my chest as I regained the ability to breathe again. The other hand was gripping onto the handle of the door.

A different hand grabbed my arm and I jumped, turning my head ready to strike whoever was touching me. Much to my surprise, it was just Liam. His hair was sticking up and I noticed the van was parked and it was almost completely light outside. My body started to stop shaking and I fell back into the chair. There was a blanket hanging over my legs and I brought it up to wipe away the sweat from my forehead.

"Everything okay? Did you have a nightmare?" He asked, his voice was thick with sleep meaning I must have woken him up, making me feel guilty.

Not knowing if I could speak, I only nodded. Liam wore a look of concern, the same look he had worn in the dream. Nightmare. My heart was still pounding loudly in my chest because of the image that was still fresh in my mind. Tears formed pools in the brims of my eyes but only one of them dared to slide down my cheeks.

"Hey, hey, you're okay. You're with me, Lia," he reassures, moving from his seat and kneeling beside me.

The boy reached out to me and swiped the tear away with the pad of his calloused thumb. His hand lingered there for a moment before removing it and placing it on my shoulder. Another tear escaped from my eye and dripped onto the blanket that was now covering my whole body.