Liberosis

Face That Fire

In a hazy afternoon, Chloe Price finds herself laid in her room covered by fog. "If You're Going Through Hell" by Rodney Atkins is playing on the radio, but the tempo seems slower and the voice is transposing down, like a broken record. A door clicks. She opens her eyes abruptly and looks at her surroundings, she can barely tell where she is. Chloe feels ash falling on her bare leg, screaming at the pain of the burn. She realizes she's holding a cigarette, which is fuming with smoke.

"No, no, no, no," Chloe mumbled, panicking. She tries to put out the cigarette by throwing it on the floor and stepping on it, but instead the ground starts to set on fire. Chloe tries running to her window, but a solid figure was in her way. She blinked hard, but his face would stay the same. "D-dad, I'm sorry!"

"I thought I'd smelled smoke!" William spat, speaking in a tone his daughter had never, ever heard before. His face looked pale, his skin filled with ash, his stare dead and his posture firm like a scarecrow.

Chloe opened her mouth, but nothing would come out, completely defenseless.

"What have I told you about smoking?" his loud voice said, his face transforming into David's for a split second. "I don't want it in my house!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Chloe broke. "You've never yelled at me!"

"Fucking little brat," he answered coldly. "I've had enough of your attitude!" Then he raised his hand...

"Stop right there, Chloe," her psychologist said. "Your dad, he would never swear, right?"

Chloe gave it some thought. "Every time he did, he would put a dollar in the swear jar. Most of the times were when he couldn't find his car keys."

"So you could say, he wouldn't swear at you, not even think to insult you."

"I guess..." Chloe trailed off. "When I dreamed it, it felt so real, like I was back with David. But it also felt so odd, but I was too scared to process it."

"Alright, what if the next time he does something off-character, you focus on that? Why not ask him about it?"

"Confront dad?" Chloe echoed. That had never seemed like an option.

"That's a dollar for the swear jar!" Chloe interrupted, shutting her eyes in fear of what would come next.

William seemed to have been taken aback, retracting his hand and reaching for his pocket. "I don't have my wallet on me."

"You should go for it..." his daughter suggested.

He seemed to have considered it for a moment. "Okay." Then he turned around, stepping on flames on his way downstairs. Chloe used this opportunity to go out the window, running towards the edge of the roof and breathe fresh air.

The backyard stood below her. Everything was so bright and sunny for her house to be burning inside. The flowers had bloomed, the swings weren't rusty, swinging happily at the rhythm of the wind.

Suddenly, she heard the glass door slide, goosebumps going through her body. Footsteps got heavier on the shining grass, her Dad stepped into light. He looked nothing like the man in her room. This person was healthy and happy, you could just tell

He picked up a daffodil flower. "You know what these mean? They bloom in Spring, symbolizing new beginnings." Then he reached out his other hand to Chloe, holding the swear jar.

His daughter had looked really confused at first, but then she noticed the dollar inside.

"To new beginnings!"