The Flip Side

First Flame

     That night, I dreamt of my earlier days. The dream starts with the day I discovered I was Gifted. Me, Jay, Mother, and Father are gathering on the couch in front of the TV. Jay puts a movie into the player, and grabs the remote. He hops onto the couch next to Father and grabs the big bowl of popcorn from the end table.
     Our dog, Ember, runs into the room and jumps onto my lap. She was just a pup back then, so she fit perfectly in my lap. Ember is supposed to be a Golden Retriever, but there was some sort of mutation at birth that gave her fur dark orange streaks. We would always say that when she ran it looked like she was on fire, the way the colors of her fur blended together.
     Jay presses a button on the remote, and the movie starts playing. It's mostly a blur, but it seems to be some sort of thriller. Mother drapes her arm over me, and I scoot in closer.
    A few moments later, something happens in the movie that makes the entire family jump. Jay accidentally spills the popcorn, and the entire room glows bright blue. Everyone freezes, Father pauses the movie, and all eyes go to me. Sitting in each of my tiny little palms is a perfect tiny blue flame. I start screaming and Father runs into the kitchen. I do the first thing that comes to mind.
     I clap.
     The flames go out, and everyone lets out a sigh. Nobody's really surprised, because it's not the first time we've had to deal with abilities. Mother and Father had already discovered Jay's ability, which was an odd one. He could emit sparks from his body, but only in small voltages and in the most random places. His first girlfriend was not pleased.
     Father runs back into the room with the fire extinguisher. We all look at him, and the whole room bursts with laughter. We turn off the movie, clean up the popcorn, and head into the kitchen. The dream goes blurry, but I'm reminded in that moment that it was the first and last time I watched a horror movie.
     The dream comes back into focus, but this time I'm somewhere different. I'm in the car. Mother is driving, Father is in the passenger seat, and Jay and I are in the back. There seems to be some tension in the car. Nobody talks, and Jay looks kinda scared.
     We pull into the driveway and Mother gets out of the car. Father follows, and Mother opens the back door on Jay's side, letting him get out. Father opens the door on my side rather aggressively, and unbuckles my seatbelt. I climb cautiously out of the car, not bothering to hold his hand like I usually would. We walk up to the front door, and I notice Jay is clinging to Mother like his life depends on it. He's almost hiding behind her.
     I look up at Father. He looks angry. Maybe someone made him mad earlier. He tended to be a bit physical when he got angry. I put a little bit of distance between us as we walk, and he doesn't seem to mind. Mother opens the door, letting Jay in before she walks in herself. Father rolls his eyes and swings the door open. It hits the side of the house, and there's a loud bang. I flinch, and Father walks in. I catch the door before it closes. Being 7 with a door as heavy as this, I have trouble keeping it open as I wedge myself through.
     Everyone goes their separate ways when we get inside. Father goes to the couch and turns on the TV. Mother goes in the kitchen and grabs a bottle of wine out of the fridge. Jay and I head up to our rooms. Jay shuts his door behind him when he gets to his room. He never does that. He also never liked hearing Mother and Father argue, which seemed bound to happen.
     I walk into my room, gently closing the door behind me. My room is a wreck. I must have been having a rough patch lately, because it looks like someone tried to burn my room to the ground. The walls are scorched, the stuffed animals are practically cremated, and the posters are melting. I sit down on my bed and start crying. I'm not sure why, but I just sit there and cry my eyes out. A few moments after I start, Jay bangs on the wall next to me.
     "Would you SHUT UP?! You've made them mad enough!!" He screams. My flames ignite. I stop crying. I made them mad. I did something. What did I do? I sit quietly and admire the little flames in my palms. It's only been a couple weeks since the night with the horror movie, but they've gotten a bit bigger. I clap out one flame and grab the nearest item. An Electric Blue marker. I admire it for a second, noticing how similar the color of the marker is to the color of the flame.
     I stick the cap end of the marker into the flame, and it slowly begins to melt. The melted plastic drips onto my hand, bubbling at the base of the flame. I pull out the marker and blow on it, cooling it down a bit. I clap out the flame and play with the cap, molding it while it's still hot. I make a little hook, and then straighten it out. I bend it again, but the plastic has cooled, so the tip just snaps off.
     I set down the marker and Mother walks in. She seems calm, but you can tell she's already went through at least one whole bottle of wine. She walks over, bottle in hand, and sits down at the edge of my bed next to me. She nudges me.
     "What you up to?" I pick up the marker and hand it to her. She looks at it for a second, her eyes shallowing. She sets the marker down, takes a drink from the bottle, and starts to cry. I put my hand on her back, and she lets out a pained scream. The plastic. I completely forgot. My hands are still warm from the flames, and have kept the plastic melted.
     Father bursts in through the door. He looks first at Mother, crying out in agony, then at me. He starts walking towards me, and I back away slowly. Mother stands up, arching her back slightly. She puts a hand on Father's chest, trying to get him to stop.
     "She didn't do it on purpose," She croaks. "It was accident, just please don't hurt her." Father pushes her gently aside, and Mother does the first thing she thinks of. She raises the wine bottle, now empty, and swings it at him. You can tell she's losing strength. He catches her by the wrist before the wine bottle reaches him, and grabs it out of her hand.
     "Have you lost your damn mind?!" He yells. She struggles to wrench her arm out of his grasp. She uses her free hand to throw punches at him, none of them appearing to have any affect on him. She lands a solid punch on his jaw, and he shoves her away. Her back slams against the wall with a thud.
     I back all the way against the window of my room, tears streaming down my cheeks. Father starts walking towards me again, the wine bottle still in his hand. I'm not sure what his next move will be. Mother stands up, and lunges for him. Father does something that will haunt my nightmares for years to come. He turns around, raises his arm, and smashes the bottle against her head. She drops to the floor, blood trickling from her mouth. Father drops the remnants of the bottle and starts walking towards me. Right when he's about to reach me, my door swings open.
     It's Jay. "Papa! What are you doing?!" He cries. He starts sparking, the electricity arcing across his body. Father starts walking towards him, calming him down.
     "It's ok, Jason. She'll wake up later." Jay reaches over and grabs a metal broomstick from the corner of my room. His electricity moves into it. This is Jay's only way of focusing his energy. He raises the broomstick.
     "Stay away from Artemis." He says. Father starts walking towards him.
     "Jason, put down the broom." He just tightens his grip, raising the handle higher. Father reaches out to grab him, and Jay slams the broom handle against his hand. I can see the shock arc to Father's wrist, and his entire arm tenses up. Father raises his other arm and smacks Jay square in the face.
     Amongst all the chaos, I hadn't even noticed my arms. My lower arms are ignited. Father turns towards me, his right arm limp at his side. He starts to limp towards me, clenching his left fist. I back against the wall, and raise my arms in defense. I cross them in front of me, screaming in fear.
     The ground in front of me erupts into flames. The flame shoots forward, burning a solid path in front of me. It burns Father's leg, and he falls to the ground. He cries out in agony. Jay stands up, runs around the fire, which is spreading slowly across the room. He grabs me by the arm, which is no longer on fire, and pulls me out of the room.
     We run downstairs, and out of the back door. The screen door slams behind us, and we run into the nearby woods. Looking over my shoulder, I can see smoke coming from my window upstairs. I stop for a second, watching the fire spread, smoke coming out of different openings across the house.
     I feel a tear roll down my cheek. Mother was still in there. She's now probably a pile of ashes, mixed with the ashes of the hardwood floors and sky blue wallpaper I once called home.
     The neighbors step out onto their porches, and a few have phones pressed to their ears. Jay taps my shoulder.
     "Artemis, we need to go." He says. He doesn't sound angry. He almost sounds understanding, his voice gentle and caring.
     That was the last time we saw our parents. We went to town with the few dollars Jay had in his pocket, which was enough for a new look for both of us. We spent the next few nights on the street. We walked without a destination, and slept with the night sky as our only blanket. One day, walking down the edge of the road near the Quik Stop Diner, a car screeches to a stop. We stop, and Jay starts sparking. He's been doing this for every car that stops, that way they know we're Gifted. Most people drive away. But instead, the passenger window rolls down.
     "Quit you're sparking, Jay, you're gonna supercharge my car!" A familiar voice says. It's Great Aunt Cass. She reaches across the car and opens the passenger door. Jay hops in, and I squeeze in next to him. I pull the seat belt across our laps, handing it to Jay to buckle it. Cass drives to her house, and the dream fades to black.
     I wake up, and the covers are on the floor. I'm clutching the pillow, and it's slightly charred. I set the pillow down, and walk into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, I see my Reflection sitting in a chair, wearing a cast. She's not even trying now that I know her secret. I wonder if there'll be times I look into a mirror and see nothing, like a vampire or something.
     I turn the light off, grab a glass of water, and sit down. I don't feel like sleeping. I've seen enough for tonight.