Frost and Flames [GxG]

Chapter 4

Neve's POV

Ember walks closer to me slowly, as if trying not to scare a baby animal. Her hands are in the air, showing me she means no harm.

"What do you want?" I ask coldly, annoyed she found out where I live. What if she tells everyone? To make it all worse, I can't hide out in my box where it's fairly dry because she snuck up on me.

She reaches me, leaving about a five foot distance between us, before she asks dumbly, "You're homeless?"

I internally roll my eyes before saying, "No, I just like to hang out in alleyways when it's raining."

Ember scoffs before stepping closer. Her stance was much more intimidating than it was only a second ago. She almost growls as she says, "What gives you the right to talk to me like that?"

"I only talked to you like that because you asked a stupid question."

She steps even closer, trying to pin me to the wall, but I don't let her get too close. Putting my hands in the air, I say shakily, "Don't come any closer, I don't want to hurt you."

She just scoffs again. "You think a little thing like you could hurt someone like me?"

Feeling a rage bubble up in my chest, I spit out through clenched teeth, "I'm not little."

I hear a cold laugh, chilling my bones. It's not the comfortable chill I'm used to, it's a dangerous chill showing me what is to come. "You are little. You are just a little girl who has no one. How does that feel?"

Tears prick my eyes, knowing she is right. I have no one. The only people I loved left me or died.

We are chest to chest, her face close to mine. I can feel her breath mixing with mine as I breathe heavily, my anger getting to me. "How does it feel to know you are all alone?"

That's the last straw. Not thinking about the consequences, I push against her chest roughly. She falls to the ground not expecting it as frost appears on the alley's walls. Ice coats the ground that Ember is laying on, her looking up to me in shock.

I'm still shaking with anger and sadness as I struggle to breathe. I'm alone. I didn't realize how true that was until now.

Not being in my right mind, I don't notice when Ember scrambles up and comes closer. I turn to the wall, noticing the frost. Looking to the ground, the frozen rain covered the entirety of the alleyways floor. I start to mumble to myself in panic, "Oh no. They'll find me. They'll find me again. They can't."

Ember surprises me by taking me in her arms. I try to push her away quickly, knowing she can't touch me without freezing to death. She holds my hands in hers as I scream out, "Don't touch me! I don't want to hurt you!"

She looks me in the eye, and I notice she isn't frozen, or even shivering. Questions fill my mind, wondering why I haven't accidentally killed this rude girl.

Deciding to voice the question I can't keep in, I ask in a trembling voice, "How are you alive?"