Disclaimer: Just ask the bunnies who set fire to all they touch, I don't own W.I.T.C.H.

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Joe was traveling down the street, wondering how long until something bad happened. He kept staring at the ground, while his grey New Balance shoes scraped the ground under his slightly baggy jeans. There was a slight breeze, and his orange shirt with two tiger heads and an ace of spades on the bottom and top corners, making it look like a playing card, annoyingly fluttered around him. He heard the mention of heat, and shuddered. Why heat, of all things? I remember back when I liked it. Suddenly, the memories started coming back, and he was leaning against a wall, palm burning, during his haunting.

---Memory Sequence---

Woods, everywhere. Why'd I get this idea? Thought Joe as he kept running from the wolf. Every time he thought he was safe, the wolf came up from behind and almost bit his ass off. It was almost as if Joe was being toyed with. Finally, he found a small cave, and naively hoped he could hide there. Oddly enough, after jumping in, the wolf turned around, almost fearfully. Panting, Joe turned around.

---End Memory Sequence---

Joe caught himself before he could remember too much farther. The burning in his palm was cooling down, the girls who had mentioned heat earlier were gone by now, and a black mark was disappearing from the source of the burn. I won't let you hurt anyone as long as I can help it. Joe thought, turning to continue his walk.

That isn't your choice. You will have people important to you, and I will kill them. thought something else. This demon-like voice began laughing maniacally.

Will, Irma, Cornelia, Taranee, and Hay-Lin were all sitting at the restaurant. Once again, word of the stench kept people away. This was the perfect opportunity to talk in private. They believed that someone was listening to them earlier, so they had to talk indoors.

"Anyway," Will brought up, "we still have to find out what that heat flash was last night. Once again, are we all sure we felt it at the same time?"

After a nod from everyone, Blunk excluded since he's not allowed in the restaurant, Hay-Lin spoke up. "That guy we think was listening in; did anyone else see him painfully lean up against the wall?" Everyone shook their heads. Hay-Lin couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the boy they saw. But certainly it was something a doctor and some medicine would fix. Hay-Lin just shrugged it off and continued the discussion.

After everyone had decided to wait for more clues as to what they felt, the talk ended and everyone went home. It was 4:30, and there was still nothing to do. Caleb hadn't even heard a thing from the rebellion, and this event prevented Cornelia from being able to comfortably ask out Caleb. On the way home, Will saw a sudden flash of fire in an alley. The fire was followed by the scream of several people. When the fire died out, Will noticed the boy the Guardians had seen earlier tiredly walking out, and heading down the road. Shocked, Will didn't bother to ask him what happened. All she saw when she looked in the alley was a burnt dumpster and a bunch of ashes. By the time she was done looking, the boy was gone. I think we found our clue.

---Memory/Dream sequence---

Joe decided to take a walk into an alley. He wished he'd brought his mp3 player. Linkin Park always cheered him up. Out of the shadows came three random thugs, two holding clubs and one with a pocket knife. They immediately asked Joe for all his money, which was promptly followed by a "Kiss my ass" from Joe. The leader, who was holding the knife, didn't like being talked to like that. He immediately proceeded to punch Joe in the right side of his chest. That was the last thing Joe remembered before waking up to a burnt alley, feeling tired.

---End sequence---

Joe awoke with a start, behind a restaurant. God. My grandma's going to kill me after she's done worrying about me. Joe was used to people dying around him. He was surprised his grandma had stayed alive. He looked at a Star Wars Phantom Menace watch he kept in his pocket, and found it to say 8:26. "Yep," Joe thought to himself, "she'll be worried." While he was walking out, Hay-Lin came out the door to kick Blunk out of the dumpster again, and noticed Joe walking off. The others, except for Will, were there to hang out with Hay-Lin and came out with her. Will would've been there, but her mom had her doing chores, so Will couldn't come or call over. Irma watched Joe leave, wondering why he could be here with that stench. Taranee and Cornelia went back in, while Hay-Lin kept watching him leave. There was something about him that seemed strange, and she was trying to point it out. Blunk appeared out of the dumpster.

"Who that?" he asked.

It's school tomorrow. Maybe you'll make some new friends. I'll invite them to a barbeque.

Joe awoke slowly after hearing that. It was 11 according to his alarm clock. He didn't even get to sleep for an hour. By the time he had gotten home, he was lucky his grandma hadn't yet heard about the alley incident. All he got yelled at for was getting home late, and she almost suspected something. Maybe if I stay away from everyone, things will be okay, and I won't get to close to anyone. Joe decided to light some candles and search for a particular book. However, Joe only needed to light them in the Taranee needed to, by throwing fire at them. He still had some control over the fire that burnt the alley.

Joe's been keeping a logbook since weird things started happening to him. When he's down and his grandma's asleep, he would often take a look at the days where nothing had happened. However, something told him to look at the sad parts. He hated the first two days the most, so he had them ripped out last night. He decided to start on page 3.

Day 3: Dear journal,

Another fire set out at school today. They are small for now, but I fear they may get bigger. I wish I had never taken that dare. The kids don't know it, but they were right to fear the place. The school has noticed that I'm the only one who's always in the classrooms the fires appear in. They called my grandma, and I was forced to tell her about my run in with the wolf, and what happened afterwards. She thought it would stay small. I only hope she's right.

Joe skipped to day 8.

Day 8: Dear journal,

As you know, people have been catching fire at school for a few days. The last one was a guy making fun of me. And as usual, I blacked out when it happened. Last time I hanged out with my best friend, Chad, I could feel the heating sensation that told me I was about to see Chad burn. I quickly made a traditional "I have to use the bathroom" excuse, and avoided everyone until the bell rang. I'm scared. My grandma is worried. She plans to move, hoping that getting farther from the cave will stop this problem. But I keep hearing the demonic voice. I don't think that'll help. I asked the voice why it does these things. It says it doesn't remember anything about the past. It just knows it wants to kill. Ironically, the last time I touched my Fire themed Yu-Gi-Oh deck, the top card, Infernal Flame Emperor, began to burn. I must learn to control this. However, it could take months for grandma to sell our house so we can move.

Getting tired, Joe skipped to the third to last day, taking the journal with him to lie down.

Month 4, Day 18: Dear Journal,

We're moving tomorrow. You won't see your drawer until the movers get here. I'm going to keep you with me, I don't want anything to happen to you. It's going to be a place called Heathers Field. It's in another state, so Commerce, GA, will be safe. I'm sorry to be leaving Chris and Anthony, but my grandma says this is for the best. I don't plan to tell any of this to them, but I told them my grandma had to help somewhere, causing us to move. It's not a total lie, it will help them.

Joe fell asleep reading, and almost decided to burn the alarm clock when it rang. Well, time for school. thought Joe.