Accidents
a jem fanfic by d.l. schizoauthoress
It was an accident.
Really.
Eric never told him that these women ran around in the middle of the night with candles, for pity's sake! It was the twentieth century -- hadn't they heard of using flashlights when the power went out? And how, exactly, was it his fault that the fire spread so quickly? It was an old house. A firetrap. And no way was he going to stay in that trap to get cooked. Let those idiots sort themselves out.
The window glass really hurt, though, especially when he landed on it.
At the time though, he hadn't been worried about being hurt. He just wanted to get out of there, and fast. He ran down the block, to his motorcycle, and started it up. In the distance, sirens wailed at an indeterminable location, louder and louder as they approached. Zipper wanted nothing more than to peel out of there as fast as he could go, but to do so would risk the attention of police. With his record, that was the last thing he needed.
His jaw clenched -- his hands fisted tight around the handlebars. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to run, to evade pursuit at top speed. Reasonably, though, there was no pursuit (yet), and he'd be foolish to attract one. He held himself still, felt every muscle tense, felt and fought rising panic. No good. If he didn't calm down, he was likely to get into an auto accident. Having his head become a mess of teeth, blood, and brains strewn across the highway was not on his list of life goals.
One deep breath. Another.
He relaxed his grip. The sirens were closer that ever, but he could identify the direction they were coming from now. He was cool; he was gonna be just fine.
As he drove away, at the speed limit, Zipper reflected that, really, the very last thing he needed -- a burning Victorian house and several people who might be able to identify him to the authorities -- was exactly what he'd gotten. That, sad to say, was the normal state of affairs in his life.