Don't let it control you. Dad's words echoed in the back of my mind once again. Whenever I got too emotional I reminded myself of what he said and it seemed to help keep me in control. But now the words are no help to me, as I practice on the pile of scrap wood. The fire I produce is anything but small. It's a bonfire that looks as if someone had recently doused it in gasoline. I let out a out a scream and the fire grew in size.
"Emmy! Emmy!" My head shot up at the sound of my little sister's voice. She was running towards me-she always did upon seeing any of us. I almost smile before I realize that if she ran to me, she would be too close to the inferno right next to me. Delilah was three inches away from the fire but, still, I could not speak. I tried to scream, to warn her, tell her to stop, but no words came, I only stood there watching. All out of options, I ran towards her, praying I wouldn't hurt her too much. My prayers were answered when I never hit anything; she was gone.
I heard her sweet laughter above me and looked up to see Delilah safe and sound. A few feet away stood Dad. He held one hand towards Delilah to keep her in the air. His face was a mask of confusion, hurt, and something else that I couldn't quite figure out. He's disappointed in me; he told me to control it. There was that voice again, the one that told me anything I didn't want to hear. I ran past my father and sister, who was now on the ground. I had to get away, and this time somewhere they wouldn't find me.
I ran past the garage, the kitchen, past my bedroom and finally stopping at the one door that was never opened. I had to jiggle the knob a little to get it open, revealing an old flight of stairs that creaked under my feet. I had always thought this place would be empty. With no one allowed down here how could it be full. Instead I found piles of boxes. Some had red X's across the front, some had no markings at all, and some had names on the front.
As curiosity took over, I opened one of the boxes. Inside I found a folder marked TOP SECRET in big letters. The folder contained papers I couldn't even begin to understand-something about an op? There was one lone shoe that looked as if it belonged to a teen boy. Next to it was a picture of my mother, Aunt Vida, two other boys and an older woman. Laying on the bottom of the box was a cracked compass on a chain. On the back was a piece of paper that read ...In an hour sunflower. I had never seen any if this stuff in my life-I didn't even know who the boys in the picture were. I looked down at the box and saw it was labeled with a name. JUDE. Who's Jude? Maybe he was one of the boys. I heard a loud crash above my head followed by someone calling my name and took it as my cue to leave. After I heard footsteps receding, I exited knowing I would be coming to my new hideout again.
"Em!" Delilah ran up to me after I emerged from the forbidden basement.
"C'mon Em! We wanna play!" She says grabbing my hand. Why would she want to play with me? I know I'm getting too confused and it will cause me to loose control again.
"I c-can't Dell." She, of course, ignores my answer and keeps pulling me forward.
"Let go. Please…" I beg. My left hand is starting to heat up, soon it'll be too late. Has she not gotten it yet? Does she enjoy near death experiences? Against my will, I'm imagining all the different ways she could die at my hand.
"Let me go Delilah!" I demand while jerking my hand from her grip.
"Please Ember?" She tries grabbing my arm again but the fear of burning her is too much and I shove her into the wall behind us.
"Leave me alone!" I shout as sparks shoot from my fingers, catching on the carpeted hallway. I stomp out the flames on my way to my room. However, I don't miss the look of horror on Charlie's face or the tears on Delilah's face as she calls after me. They used to look up to me, now they're only scared.
"Ember!" Why can't she see I'm just trying to protect her? I pick up speed until I'm sprinting up the stairs but she still follows.
"Leave me be." I risk a look back at her. Tears are still rolling down her rosy red cheeks and she's out of breath. "Ember...w-why?" She takes a step forward and I take a step back.
"J-just leave me be." I quickly turn into my room slamming the door behind me. I sink to the ground and let a few tears turn into sobbing. Delilah was still pounding on my door asking me to come out. No matter what I did she was still as loyal as ever. She's so smart for her age and always making sure I'm okay. Sometimes I think she was supposed to be the older sister.
I hear a second voice outside my door. "Just leave Dellie. She's not worth it." Charlie. He was always looking out for his sister. The three of us had always been inseparable, ever since we were young. We protected each other. You couldn't say something about one of us and not expect the others to get involved. Who could've guessed that one day they would have to protect each other from me?
I tried to make up with the twins by seeing them off to school. Delilah wa the only one to acknowledge me but Charlie always pulled her away before I could hurt her again. Smart boy. If it was possible, I began to hate this disease even more. It was tearing apart my family and ruining my life. I plopped down on the couch in frustration, only to jump back up at the smell of smoke. Another pillow in the trash. I thought, putting out the fire.
"Ember?" My head snapped up at the sound of my father's voice then I quickly adverted my gaze to the floor. I still couldn't meet his eyes after the incident with Delilah almost running into a bonfire.
"That's enough sulking. Look at us." My mother said, walking in behind my father. "Charlie told us about what you did to Delilah." I finally looked at my dad after he said that. I was shocked, we never, ever, told on each other-even if we had physical fights. Part of sticking together was learning to solve our own problems. I smelled smoke again once I heard Mom gasp. I looked around for the source of the fire and landed on my hand. I willed myself to calm down and dropped Charlie's favorite toy car. I ran into Mom's open arms.
This was getting to be too much, I couldn't touch anything. I was about to pull away until I felt a slight tickling feeling at the base of my skull, then Mom was shoving me away. She was talking to Dad but I wasn't listening to what they were saying. I was too busy sorting through the new images in my head. One name seemed to stick out the most, so I interrupted my parents to ask them a question. "Who's Cole?"
This chapter was hard to write. I'm re doing the whole thing from scratch, seeing as the last version had chapters of only 300 words. It starts out a little slow but don't worry the action will start to pick up in the next couple chapters. I hope you're enjoying the story so far and don't forget reviews are always appreciated. :)