Carved by Fire

Part 1

The world was an inferno and Caleb was the cause. A building collapsed leaving a crater in the scorched concrete, it wasn't the only one; rubble lay all around him in piles of varying height.

"You lied to us" He had, he'd been too scared of what his friends might do if they knew what lurked inside him.

He looked down at the charred remains of his mother and friends; No, His best friends Ryan, Avery, Ella, and Xavier. Avery had been right to fear fire, first it had claimed her mother and now it had claimed her. She had trusted him and he'd fought to repay her trust but the fire had loosed its bounds. He'd failed. A second building collapsed.

"You're a murderer." The voices continued to come as he arrived at Whitehall High. It lay in rubble going no higher than his shoulders. The sight of what had happened to it made him furious, he had so many amazing memories of it. He'd been the one who always tried to better himself rather than his goals. Ryan had been popular, while Avery had been kind.

"You killed us." He didn't hear it because there, a flicker on the edge of his vision. There was something not right about this. How had he arrived at Whitehall without walking there... He drowned out the voices and the answer came to him. This was all a ghoulish nightmare. The voices came in a wave, seeking to derail him and keep him in this hell.

"You're a psychopath." A dagger to the back; flung by Ryan.

"You're conceited." Ella, another dagger joined the first.

"You killed us." Xavier, the daggers were driven in all the way. Then after a few seconds of white-hot pain, they disintegrated. He couldn't take it anymore, he could no longer fight it. He lay down face first, the fire finally consuming him, it raged along his body and inside his lungs. The most painful sensation he'd endured in a long, long time even more than the excruciating pain of the double daggers. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them, there was a light beam of light peering in through the curtains. His mom would already be at work because it was a Monday, then he remembered that meant school. Yay, he thought sarcastically if that was possible. To make matters worse it was already 8:00. He rushed through getting ready and ate only two pieces of toast. He wished slightly he had eaten more, but it would have to do.