Short Stories

Forty-Two: Ember

 Ember sat in the cafeteria with her friends, eating her lunch like normal. It was the beginning of lunch, and it was a nice sunny day outside, and the black-haired girl had just finished laughing at something her friend said. Her silver eyes darted around the cafeteria worriedly however when she heard that familiar laugh. She shook her head and thought, he won't get under my skin this time. She turned back to her friend, a short chubby girl with honey-colored hair and chocolate doe eyes. Ember's friend piled some chicken and mashed potatoes onto her spoon before it toppled over onto the table.

Ember giggled a bit at her tragedy as her friend made an overly dramatic scene at the sight of her precious food spilled onto the plastic table. She shoved Ember a bit when the silver-eyed girl laughed at her misfortune, but she knew it was all in good fun. The friend started to pile more food onto her spoon when Ember noticed someone sit at their table. Oh, it was him. He wasn't really a bully, but he was quite annoying. He always made awkward comments that never made sense. And, he always said something that dampened their spirits, intentional or not. However, he was also easily ignorable.

Ember went along her business with her friend, not really paying attention to the similar-aged boy. She went back to poking fun at her friend while her friend did the same to her. Ember went back to eat something from her cafeteria lunch when she found some of her food missing. Specifically, the fries she had paid extra for. She whipped her head around and found the boy eating the fries that she paid for.

Ember yelled at him for stealing her food. He threw a handful of broccoli at her face. It smacked her in the face, and he said, "here. Have this instead." Ember was ticked now. She didn't want broccoli. She wanted her damn fries. She had paid for them with her first job as a babysitter. She frowned and glared at the boy. You know what? She thought. I'm fucking 13 now. I'm not a little piece of shit you can push around. I'm taking those fries back. She grabbed the little cardboard container that held the rest of the fries and pulled it back to her tray.

The boy whined, "Hey! That's mine! Give it back you bitch!"

"I paid for those you fucker," Ember growled, tugging back. The boy sat up out of his seat and scratched her hand with his uncut nails, bringing up blood. Ember yelled out from the sudden pain. The boy grabbed back the fries, shoving them in his mouth, smirking triumphantly. Ember felt something snap inside of her. She felt her friend tug at her sleeve frantically as she stood up. She walked over to him, stared him down, and fucking K.Oed his face. He screamed in pain as he felt his nose break, drawing the attention of both students and teachers. Tears sprung to his eyes as he frantically tried to cover up his bleeding nose.

Ember growled at him as she went to throw another punch. The boy flailed around and whacked Ember weakly at her stomach. He kept on wailing and wailing and wailing as Ember stood there and watched him suffer. A teacher pulled her back and was yelling at her, but she didn't care. She smiled as she could still feel cartilage snapping under her fist. Then, right in the range of her hearing. She could hear the boy complaining and say she tried to steal his fries.

She turned towards him and yelled at him for being a liar. The teacher didn't listen to her and pulled her back now full-on screaming at her face. Ember was now furious again. They sided with that piece of chickenshit? She could her anger boiling over. Why? Why did they side with him? Why was she the one who got yelled out when he did the wrong thing first?! She was so done with everything. She was so done with him. Ember felt tears welling up in her eyes. Of course, she was in the wrong. She was always in the wrong. She felt her tears spill over, and she scolded herself for being weak. She shouldn't be crying. But, she was. The teacher who was screaming at her slapped her.

Ember fell down onto the cold linoleum floor. There was a sting where she had been slapped. Ember growled and stood up. She could feel a bright light and heat surrounding her. There was a flash of blinding white light, and suddenly the teachers were shorter than her. However, Ember didn't care. She slapped the teacher back. There were talons where her fingers used to be, and they sliced right through the teacher, sending bloody bits of them spraying throughout the cafeteria. Screaming echoed through Ember's ears, all of them pointed at her as they ran away. The boy Ember had fought with earlier tried running away but couldn't see where he was going. He tripped over a chair, breaking his wrist in the process. He cried out in pain while Ember stood there in front of him.

No mercy. She opened her mouth and felt something bubbling in the back of her throat. Ember saw bursts of fire shooting out and watched as they scorched the boy. She watched as the boy burned, his flesh bubbling and boiling. Ember watched as the flesh turned black in the middle of the bright flames. The flames died away. There were flickers of fire everywhere, slowly lighting the plastic on fire. Ember turned around to face her friend. The girl, her friend, lay on the floor, slowly crawling away from Ember. She took a step toward her friend when the girl on the floor scrambled to her feet and ran away. Ember let out a deep call for her friend, and she watched as her friend ran away. Ember turned around and found a man standing behind her. She let out a deep growl.

The strange man shot something at her. Then, everything turned black.