The Shooting Star

(1) Uno: El Viaje A Brunswick

AN: In case it confuses anyone, each chapter alternates back and forth between POV. You can also tell with the font of the word and the chapter names. The Spanish Chapters are Jasmine POV, and the Thai Chapters with the italics is Henries. Just so you know.

I never really left my house much, that's what Mama wanted. She always feared that I'd one day burn down the city and we'd have to relocate again just like when I was 14, but things have changed now. Many, many years ago, I made myself these beautiful gloves (I made them a few times, actually) and they have helped me control my... abilities.
Ever since I was about 10 (about as early as I can remember) I have had this issue with fire. Everything I touch, whether it was a pencil, or a dog, or even a bus, would just burst into flames, and I still haven't been able to control it. If I focus hard enough, I can extinguish the flames, but I'm pretty sure it happens at random. My mom moved us out to this house in the woods in Georgetown, South Carolina, and I haven't been expected to do much in life, just sit around a control my excitement. She has left the walls in the house white, and added in some extra boring furniture and dim lights, and it's really killing my spirit. I have set many things on fire out of anger because my mom refuses to let me leave the house, it's as if she is scared of people finding me and I can't protect myself. She has chained me to my bed, barricaded my door, and even has sprayed me with fire extinguishers multiple times to make sure I don't cause any unnecessary attention.
Most of the time I'm just sitting in my room thinking about life. I've taught myself to create fires that don't burn, and I use it all the time to play around and light up my house when my mom isn't home, but she hates it when I do. Long story short, I am a housebound hell demon with an overprotective parent, but something changed over the weekend.
I was sitting in my room when I heard my mom pull into the driveway. Normally, I wouldn't pay her any mind, but I noticed her tires screech louder than ever, and when I heard her come in the house, I noticed that she didn't even stop the car. I got up off my bed and open the door.
"Mija," My mother said, hair frizzed and breathing heavily, "Empaca las maletas, Jasmín. Tenemos que ir a Georgia."

"Why do we have to go to Georgia?" I asked, in all confusion. It was the most unorthodox thing I have heard my mom said. She went from hating all outside contact to force me to travel to another state? "Te lo explicaré en el camino."

Not fully understanding what's going on, I run into my room and start throwing all kinds of clothes into a suitcase. Yeah, I've snuck around my yard a few times, but this will be the first time I will have traveled, the first time I'll get to see the world. Maybe mama has relatives she needs to see, maybe she has business. Maybe it's about me.

Mama never really has been one for small talk, so I wasn't super sure about how to approach her with the question of why we are going. She can get very violent if I nag her too much about something, so when we started heading down to a small city called Brunswick, I kept quiet. I had forgotten that we lived so close to the water, and I was fascinated to see all of the ocean and beaches as we drove down, it made me forget about the sudden, inexplicable urge to travel by mama. However, I couldn't help to notice the dark, dreary feeling in the car the closer we got to Brunswick. The car would feel colder and emptier, and I knew my mom was hiding something.

"Que pasa, mama? Vamos a Brunswick por mi culpa, verdad?" I asked, knowing that we were going because of me. She gave an angry glare, knowing that she had already ignored this question before.

"Has tenido estos poderes toda tu vida, pero no sabemos cómo controlarlos. Vamos a ver a algunas personas que pueden saber cómo... hacerlo."

"What?" I said, a little nervous. "I can control my powers just fine, and who are we meeting with? Why are you so comfortable letting some random guy talk to me?"

"Ah, te callas y haz lo que te digo, voy a conseguir mucho dinero por tu cu---" She paused and gave a look of surprise. "What did you just say?" I asked, scared and a little angry, "You're selling me.. to some psycho?" It all began to make sense. Mama has always considered me to be a hassle, and she has always feared that some mad scientists would come up to the house and try to abduct me. Well, now she's selling me to those mad scientists, so I can be tested on. I never considered myself a freak, but now I really feel like a lab rat. I never thought about it, but I am more powerful than I think, and I refuse to be taken by some random people who will do God knows what. I remained calm.

Slowly, I removed my gloves from my hands. I had to do so without mama seeing it; they're basically the only things that keep me from setting things on fire. Mama was sitting in the driver's seat, eyes fixed on the road. She was ready to get me to the destination, and I had only a few minutes left, I could tell. I got my gloves off and with good concentration, I was able to put my hands in my pocket without setting my pants on fire. We sat in silence for a minute as I thought of a plan. It was mostly just beach, swamp, and grassland most of the way to the city, and it was bright as day. I realized that I couldn't wait much longer, and when the grass got very high, I made my move. I don't really know much about the fire, but I have learned that the more force I put on an object, the more it tends to burn. I saw the gear shift in between our two seats, and I raised my hand out into the air. Mama turned and looked at me, I saw a little bit of fear in her eyes as she screamed, "Jasmín!" I slapped the gear shift as hard as I could and between us shot up a large wall of fire. Screaming, my mom swerved the car side to side as she tried to put out the fire, and as fast as I could, I jumped out the door into a wet, grassy ditch. My mom drove just a few meters ahead of me before crashing the car into another ditch, still trying to put the fire out. "Donde estás, tu bruja!" She screamed as I ran into the tall grass, hidden from her fury.

I quickly put my gloves back on preventing myself from catching these grasslands on fire as I ran through. I wasn't sure where I was going, but the farther I got into the marshes, the more I could hear the sounds of cars, so I knew I was getting close to some civilization. I thought about the fight with my mom. When I slapped her car, I noticed a few things: One, the fire was the normal fire color, but I also saw some flames glowing green and blue, which is the first time I've seen it do that. Also, I noticed that when I slapped the car, the car got a boost of energy, we shot forward an extra 20 or 30 miles per hour immediately, and the car's lights even started to glow a greenish color. I wasn't sure what it was about, but I didn't think much of it.

After about another 30 minutes of walking in marshes, I came up behind a small building. It was dirty, and it wasn't a home, it was a store. I get up, my legs muddy and wet, and see that it's a gas station. I watched a lot of TV when I didn't have online school, so even though I have almost never been outside, I know what a lot of outside things are. I go inside the building, and many people notice my muddy legs and stench. I ask the guy upfront, "Hey, is there anywhere I can go to clean up?" He looked confused, "Um yeah, there's the women's bathroom right down this hall." I go into the bathroom and up to the sink. With paper towels, I wiped the mud off my arms and legs clean, and I cleaned my hair of mud and grass, it looked a lot darker with all of the mud in it, so I washed it in the public sink and dried it with the public air dryer, and it went back to that shiny light brown color. My eyes had become noticeably greener than they were earlier today, but maybe it's just because of the sun. I kept cleaning myself until I heard a bang on the door, a woman telling me I was taking too long, then I headed out. I bought a few snacks with the small amount of money I had saved up and sat outside. I wasn't sure what to do and I had no idea where I was, but something about me felt happy. For now, at least, I was free, and I could do whatever I wanted to do. I could walk down this road a little bit longer and travel the city. I could see the beach, I could explore. I didn't have mama telling me to stay inside, and now that I knew that she planned on selling me, I knew that she couldn't be trusted.

After thinking to myself for a little bit on the curb of the gas station, I decided to get up and start walking towards this town that I could see in the distance. I grabbed most of my snacks, but before I could walk away, A group of tall, older men pull up in front of me in front of the gas station. They were dirty and their car looked old, and I felt bad energy from them. I stood back nervously, not sure what to do.

"Hey little lady," the driver said with an old, ragged voice, "You here all by yourself?" I stood up, looking strong, "Who's asking?" He laughed, "Why, were just trying to be polite. Come on in, we'll give you a lift to wherever you need to go." He gave me a dirty look, and the men in the back looked very intimidating. They were large, built, and all staring at me.

"I'm, I'm good," I said, stuttering, "My mom's coming to get me."

Things immediately began to escalate. "Bullshit," one of the guys in the back said, "I'm your momma today, and your ass is coming with us!" He was yelling at me, and all of a sudden, all three of the guys got out of the car. I tried to run back into the store, but one of the guys blocked the door shut. I ran over to the side of the store, but that side was closed off by a gate. I turned around, and I was surrounded. I don't think these were the guys that planned on buying me, I think that they have different intentions. I needed to be confident, and I know that I am stronger than them. I pull off my gloves, still wet from the mud and water, and throw them on the ground. I am ready for anything.