Flames

Chapter One : Art

"Love is the most violent act" that was pretty much the only sentence I heard from the lecture.  Thank god it was over. I have always hated that teacher though, I mean ,  literature is not the problem , it's the teacher , Mrs. Jones  .She is a skinny ,grumpy old woman who is strict and literally hates every teenager ,I don't even do anything  to annoy her or and she totally despi-

    "Yoo!Ethan , wait up dude!!" I turned around and saw Nate jogging towards me. Nate has been my best friend ever since we were freshmen, call him Nathan once and you'll be dead.  We are seniors now .Everyone in this school is scared of me, actually they should be, well everyone except Nate.

"From earth to Ethan...Hellooo"

"Sorry, what were you saying?" " I was asking you if you wanna hangout at my place after school "

"I can't man, my dad is home and I have to go home early before he comes back from work "

" Dude , you got to figure something out , you can't keep living like this  , just run away or something "  I know he wants the best for me but I have nowhere else to go , I just got to wait till I'm eighteen and I'll move out , I have a job and a scholarship , but I don't want to leave to NYC , I love it here .

"I don't want to bring problems Nate, If my father knew that I'll be moving out or that I told anyone he will probably hire a freaking hit man to murder me, and no one will suspect it was him since he's 'the kind, amazing, handsome and caring man who all women throw themselves at his feet but he can't bring himself to love another woman after my mother passed away'' but who would ever know what happened?! What really happened?"

no! No one knows as Valarie Clarke died mysteriously as she tripped over and fell over the stairs and broke her fucking neck and died!! That's what everyone knows I knew that I was on the verge of losing control but I didn't care then, I wanted to let it out, I wanted to tell everyone that it was his fault! He killed her!! And it was no fucking mystery but who knew right?! I saw her die in front of me right between his hands, I felt anger, sadness and grieve all at once, it didn't make my anger any better.

"No one knows what happened, Nate!!"  . He never knew I was there, he never knew I was watching.

Nate has started dragging me somewhere else rather than since I hadn't noticed that people have formed a circle around us, no one would believe me though, it is a closed case, and they knew my father, they couldn't possibly believe that the most successful CEO did that. Nate looked at me with sympathy in his eyes, he knew how much I loved my mom but he didn't believe me as well.

He thought that I probably grieved over my mother so bad I imagined the whole thing and just couldn't accept that she was simply gone so I made it up, but I didn't. I know what I saw.

"Ethan, you have to calm down man "Nate almost whispered to me.

I shrugged his hand from over my shoulder and stormed off to the bathroom. I just went to the sinks and stared into my reflection , my ocean blue eyes seemed so lifeless and tired , I had dark circles under my eyes , my dark hair was so messy as I didn't brush it this morning and just wore the hood over my head , my pale lips who were once pink are now slightly cracked and pale , I looked like those vampires from the movies I was so pale even though I had a tanned skin .I was breathing heavily and screamed as I punched the mirror , I felt the warm liquid running down my fingers , I, no longer feel emotions  .

I was the popular kid, I was so heartless with everyone , no one dares to make eye contact with me after my mother passed away I couldn't  get over it , I always drew portraits of her . I loved painting and art in general. I know it sounds cliché but I don't know why did they even name me that?! I mean every one calls me Ethan ,because no one knows that my real name was Art , and when I say no one , I mean no one.

However, I never stopped making portraits of my mom , it was always the same photo I don't know why but that's just what I feel like doing , my father always gets rid of  them when he finds them but I don't stop, you know .No one knows I paint, literally no one not even Nate .

I got out and I saw that Nate was waiting for me.

"Ethan! Are you okay?"

'I'm fine" I replied while I started walking towards my locker , it was the only red locker so it was easy to identify , you may wonder why is it the 'only' one ; it's because I painted it myself , I never liked the depressing grey color the lockers were painted by .

"Where are you going?!" I stayed silent and didn't answer ,  I was having those moment were you can't stand anyone , I slightly have a short temper . Well, maybe a little more.

"Ethan, don't even start now!" I didn't reply again and it pissed Nate off."Dude if you are mad at something then you deal with it, you don't just keep silent, and if your dad is so bad then might as well go to the police or something, this sounds absolutely crazy!!"I just glanced at him silently giving him a blank expression and just started walking away.

"Oh, c'mon!!" I didn't look back but I heard him "fine! Go ahead and just do nothing .....Valarie wouldn't have wanted you like this"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around, I walked towards him and grabbed his collar and pinned him to the lockers. He winced as pain travelled up his back."Don't you dare bring up her name "I growled .I slammed him to the lockers and released him, he groaned as a response. " I'm sorry dude; you're just not the Ethan I knew anymore"

"I'm going home" I heard him sigh and walk away, I glanced back toward him and he was nowhere in sight.

I headed towards the parking lot; I wore my helmet and hopped on my motorcycle, a black Harley to be exact. I started he engine, I heard that roar and then I drove off.

After few minutes I reached the house and surprisingly I found the lights on, this means that my father was there .I rolled my eyes and parked the motorcycle and took of the helmet and went inside.

I went to the door and slowly opened the door trying not to make a noise, I heard voices coming from the kitchen and I debated on whether to just go to my room or go to the kitchen I decided to see who's in there, my father never brings anyone home or neither he invites anyone, I approached slowly and entered, I saw my dad chatting uncomfortably with two police officers.

The officer looked at me and smiled "oh hello! You must be Ethan!" I just nodded towards him and glanced towards my dad and he gave me a dangerous look but soon he put on the fakest smile he could master up.

"Officer Martin and I came here to ask you some questions; can we talk to him alone Mr. Clarke?"My father looked kind of hesitant but then smiled and nodded "Yeah sure, I'll be in the backyard if anybody needed me!"I looked at the officers , officer Martin was a young woman in her twenties maybe, she was a redhead , she had freckles splattered over her nose and cheeks ,she had ocean blue eyes similar to mine but except hers were much prettier, she wasn't tall nor short , she reached just above my shoulders ,on the other hand the other officer whom I don't know his name yet , was a muscular guy , he was tall , he had black hair and yellowish green eyes , he had a very sharp jaw line and I can clearly see through his shirt that he hits the gym a lot .

"Thank you, Mr. Clarke, we won't take long"

My father slightly nodded with a small smile and left with his cup of coffee, I was surprised, he never drinks coffee but that's new.

And with that he left me alone with the two officers.