WildFire

Chapter 1~ Starting Off

"Darcy!" Molly calls, her high voice penetrating the fog of my brain. It's seven o' clock on a weekend, and right now I should be sleeping.

But I'm not.

"Darcyyyyy!" Molly calls again.

I pull my pillow over my head. I am so not in the mood for this.

"Darcy, I have a grey hair!"

"What?" My head snaps up.

"I have a grey hair!" Molly repeats.

I roll over and climb out of bed, rubbing my eyes. "Molly, you're five. You can't have a grey hair- its just your imagination."

"It isn't!" Molly insists.

"Where's mom?" I ask, pulling off my pjamas and putting on skinny jeans and a purple top.

"Out, shopping. But Darcy, you need to see this!"

I walk into the bathroom, and what I see makes me gasp.

All of Molly's beautiful blonde hair is gone. In its place is a slate-grey coulor, which makes her face look haggard and wrinkly. "Oh my God." I say, unable to come up with something better than that. On her neck there is a single mark in the shape of a cresent moon, shining silver. "Oh my God."
Six months later....

Molly was one of the first. We didn't recognise the signs, because there wasn't anything to recognise. The nurses and doctors tried to tell us that it wasn't our fault, that even if we had found it earlier we couldn't have saved her.

But it still hurts.

Now, the disease is spreading like wildfire. That's what people have started calling it- WildFire.

Once you have it.... That's it. You're dead. There is no way out. If you live in the same place as someone with WildFire, then chances are you're going to get it too.

I'm just waiting for the moment when I get the disease.

Right now, I'm sitting in the waiting room of a hospital. Well, actually, I'm sitting in a two person cell. Because they don't want anymore people catching it, they have these waiting rooms, that are cleaned the instant you leave.

In my opinion, it doesn't help.

My foot is tapping on the floor, and I scan the walls.

We've been summoned for a check-up, to see if we have WildFire. I don't get that. I mean, I'm not stupid. I think I would notice if my hair turned grey, I had a silver moon on ky neck, and... Well, let's not go into the other symptoms of WildFire.

A nurse walks in. Her face is pale, and she's standing rigidly, like she's scared someone will tell her off for slouching.

"This is a quick examination." She says sharply. "The first symptom of WildFire is the silver moon. Ladies, please pull back your hair."

I do so, pulling my hair up and away from my neck. The nurse nods at me, then looks at Mom.

"Madam? Hair, please."

Mom's lower lip trembles as she looks down at her feet.

"Come on, Mom," I whisper. "You don't have it, so you?"

The nurse walks over to her and pulls her hair back. My ears ring.

I stare at the silver moon on my moms neck.

"Darcy, please, I was only trying to protect you-" Mom starts.

I don't want to hear it. I can't, because the ringing in my ears is getting louder.