Chapter 1: Like A Lit Match
Like a lit match in a room full of gasoline, the spark grows at exponential speeds. Having been running for too long, the girl who set it off tightly shuts her eyes one last time, basking in her unholy obsession more than she ever thought she would.
This is it, this is the end.
The flash of light engulfs her, and the building floods with fire and debris before collapsing in all directions.
She became Cherri Bomb before she realized it, descending down into hell with all of her sins following after her to define her eternally damned soul. Every sin but zero apologies or regrets.
The flash of light turns into a flash of life as Cherri Bomb is left without a body. Her entire life flashes before her eyes. All of it. Just like the movie she always wanted her life to be.
So ends, but begins, her story.
Before she was Cherri Bomb, her name was Tracy.
The year was 1964, the month was June.
This is when Tracy was brought into the world for the first time, and she will be taken out of this world into death in July of 1988. Tracy will be 24 years old when her life expires, but that life will be a life with no absence of triumphant might laced with glory.
In the first few years of her life, Tracy was raised by an average middle class family in Australia, and indirectly raised by the 60's mentality of rebelling against the establishment. Some of her favorite movies were from the late 60's and early 70's, all of which focusing on escaping the life you don't want and entering something you create for yourself.
Her heart strived for such adventure, but she was only a child at the time with no control over her life. She had indeed been brought into this world, but she had yet to experience the world. And she did not grow out of this mindset when she got older.
The year was 1979 and then into the early 1980's.
Outside of hanging out in school skipping classes with friends, Tracy spent a lot of time sitting alone in her room wishing her life was more interesting, staring at the walls and ceiling. She thought about how many other interesting lives were happening in the world at the moment, people traveling on the road, starting their own legends, being who they want to be in life. Pretty much living their lives like it were a movie.
Tracy longed to be one of these people. She wanted to see vast rolling hills in the sunrise and crashing waves on the beach, not the same old walls and ceiling of her bedroom every day. It's almost as though she was partying alone whenever she would turn on the radio and enjoy the rock music she loved to listen to, such as popular songs like "Go Your Own Way" that came out in 1977. Tracy imagined herself running away from home and traveling the world instead, wishing her life was like a movie that she'd not only watch, but write, direct and star in.
Speaking of movies, Tracy also loved to binge-watch various action movies coming out at the time. Tracy loved all of the action she saw in the movies, like when the main character went around beating up the bad guys, or even when the villain was beating up a bunch of good guys, but something about the parts with explosions stood out to her. She found something enticing about watching something burst into a suddenly massive cloud of fire and sparks with an awesomely loud boom. It was like magic, but for real. At least, that's how Tracy saw it.
Eventually, Tracy graduated from high school after being held back one year due to skipping school too much and getting so many detentions. She didn't care, she was just glad she was done with high school and could use college as an excuse to travel to another country and away from her same old town and family. She bid her friends goodbye after being accepted into a college in Florida in the United States.
Tracy, in a sense, wanted to start her life over and make it more fun and interesting. There was only so much fun to be had from tossing bang-snaps at the sidewalk and pretending they were larger fireworks. And while Tracy was enthralled by these things, this quiet town she grew up in didn't sell that many of them at the time anyway. And she loved these things, making them pop and startle people with the sudden crackling noise.
Since America was known for their more large-scale fireworks, Tracy was more than certain she could add "more bang-snaps" to the list of pros regarding going to college in the United States as a foreign exchange student. It was a nice change of scenery as well.
The year is 1984. July 4th. Wednesday.
All of the above is what Tracy nostalgically reflects upon whenever she stares out her dorm window, unaware of her inevitable death that will happen in about 4 years. An unknowing, unintentional ticking time bomb.
Skipping lectures once again, a now 20-years-old Tracy stares around at the inside of her college dorm, thinking about what she wants to do with her life. On the upside, she's away from her family and has the freedom to party and fool around whenever she wants. She doesn't even have to go to church anymore.
On the downside, she's still in school and has to worry about grades and other boring stuff. She already stopped going to class on account of the lectures often making her fall asleep, though she did pick up a couple of things she found interesting.
In her entry-level astronomy class, she learned lots of details about how stars in space would live for billions of years, and the ones that lived longer wouldn't shine as bright and die a less interesting death than the ones that lived shorter lives and burst into supernovas. In her history class, Tracy enjoyed a couple of lectures that included historical accounts of Samurais in medieval Japan who lived short but action-packed lives of warfare. She liked the concept of living one's life like a cherry blossom that dies quickly but is absolutely breathtaking during its short life. This sort of idea seems to keep appearing in things Tracy is learning, or maybe she's just only paying attention to these things.
It is a nice coincidence that she always liked how those little bang-snaps she'd buy in packs always looked like cute little cherries as she held them in the palm of her hand. Tracy notices this as she walks through the college campus while holding these things, waiting for it to get dark enough for the official firework show to start in a nearby park. There's a bench by a pond facing a sidewalk where Tracy sits with Tanya, a friend she met up with.
Tanya tilts her head up towards the sky with her arms crossed as Tracy leans back with one arm hanging over the back of the bench. The sky begins to turn pink and orange, and the warm summer breeze barely changes the trajectory path of the bang-snaps after Tracy tosses them in the direction of some nearby ducks. The popping sound startles them into flapping their wings and fleeing to the water. This amuses Tracy, forcing a giddy chuckle out of her.
"Tracy, what the fuck?" Tanya was just as startled as the ducks were, but is still laughing along.
Tracy simply holds another one of the mini firecrackers next to her grinning face, raising her eyebrows and shrugging. She then tosses another even further to catch up with a couple of the fleeing ducks.
"Aww, the poor things!" Tanya keeps chuckling anyway. "Look, you're givin' them 'Nam flashbacks!"
"Oh they'll be fine, it's not gonna kill them or anything." Responds Tracy. "That's what they get for shitting on my bike anyway."
Tanya playfully elbows Tracy as this continues, soon resulting in Tracy prompting Tanya to throw a couple of bang-snaps herself after a couple of ducks return, through only a minuscule amount of peer pressure.
"Hah! Look at them waddle!" Exclaims Tanya, tossing another over and missing by a mile. "Oh my gosh!"
"Aw, they're too far away now." Tracy pours the rest of the novelty fireworks back into the box before slipping it into her backpack.
"We are sooooo going to hell for that." Jokes Tanya.
"Psssh, as if." Tracy notices someone walking over after noticing what happened.
The two girls quickly pick up their things and start to evade the scene themselves.
"Excuse me!" One of the college professors makes a detour from her way to her lecture to give. "What's going on here?"
"Not much, hangin' out." Tracy zips her backpack closed.
"That was really cruel and inconsiderate what you were doing just now. You know that?" The stern middle-aged lady continues anyway. "Did you put those in your backpack?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Tracy lies rather comfortably despite knowing the professor lady clearly saw her slip the box into her backpack. "Anyway, we were just leaving."
"If I catch you doing that again, I'm reporting you!"
"Go, go, go!" Tanya pushes Tracy along. "C'mon!"
The professor shakes her head in perturbed disappointment and continues on to the lecture she has to give.
Well this is a lovely Wednesday evening.
Tanya is still worried about being possibly reported by that professor, but Tracy assures her that it's nothing to worry about.
"They never actually do anything. And even if they did, so what?" Scoffs Tracy as she gets into the passenger seat of Tanya's car. "Are the big bad campus police gonna come after me? Oooooh, I'm terrified!"
"Did I not tell you about what happened my first year here? I almost got dismissed." Recalls Tanya.
"Oh really? What happened?"
"It's a long story."
"Isn't it gonna be about 10 minutes to get to the park anyway?" Tracy really just wants to hear the story.
Tanya eventually gives the "brief" version of how she and her roommate got caught sneaking beer into a party one time. She wasn't kicked out of the university but it did go on her permanent record. Tracy doesn't seem fazed by this, however.
"So that's it?" Tracy quietly smirks. "You got something on your permanent record and you're too scared to have fun now?"
"Well… yeah? But actually no."
"That's so lame! You're letting that one tiny thing… I mean… REALLY?!"
"You serious?" Asks Tanya after the longest pause.
"Do I look like I give a fuck about my permanent record?" Tracy uses a dopey voice to mock an imaginary judge or cop for the last two words.
"So you like, genuinely don't care if you get dismissed from the university? Or worse?"
"Shit, I guess not." Tracy shrugs with a cute smile. "Oh well."
"Why, though?"
"Why should I? I mean, what even IS life?" Tracy starts up. "Like, hold on, lemme put it this way. Would you rather live 90 years going to school, then working in a cubicle most of every day, then being old, weak, ugly and smelly before one of your sad medical conditions takes you down… OR… would you rather live 20 or 30 years doing whatever the hell you want and dying happy and fulfilled?"
"Define happy and fulfilled!" Tanya responds in a snarky but humorous tone. "Really!"
"Happy and fulfilled as in… not dying too old to have fun after wasting your youth working."
"Well, I see where you're coming from. But I ain't feelin' it, hon. We go to college for a reason, y'know."
"Bet you 20 bucks my reason's different than yours." Tracy challenges. "And better, too." She adds under her breath.
This decreasingly serious argument continues on for the rest of the car ride over to the park. Tracy doesn't even seem like she wants to change Tanya's mind or anything, nor is it vice versa. The two and essentially comparing eachother's world views to see who sounds dumber like they usually do as friends from time to time.
"Ugh, whatever." Tanya turns off the car after pulling into the parking space. "Just… wear your seatbelt next time, at least. Okay?"
"Fiiiiine!" Tracy rolls her eyes and is the first to step out of the car.
Through the zigzagging and fading dots of fireflies in the field, the two close friends walk across the grass from the car towards the crowd of people next to the recreation building, fixing to meet up with more friends there. The sky above is really dark now, with only hints of the bright colors that dominated it before. The outlines of palm trees sway back and forth in the same summer breeze as before that persists into the night.
"Hurry! We're gonna miss it!" Tracy urges Tanya to walk faster.
"Oh, so now everything matters when it's fireworks eh?" Teases Tanya.
"It's the small things in life that matter! And I don't wanna miss this one!"
"Okay, okay. Sheesh."
Tracy and Tanya laugh together while jabbing eachother in the sides of the arm as they approach more people. Tracy's backpack full of some of her favorite types of things swings around before tracy has to hold it still to keep more of the bang-snaps from possibly popping, not wanting to waste them.
Those bang-snaps may be Tracy's favorite kind of toy, but these things were just her entry-level amusement before she started buying larger actual fireworks with friends and setting them off every time the 4th of July rolled around.
From explosions in movies to bang-snaps on the sidewalk to holiday fireworks, Tracy always had some passion for making things explode. So much, that the only times she ever went to the library was to go to the chemistry section and learn as much as she can about how to make explosives of her own.
She's made a little bit of progress, but rarely tells anyone about it until she knows how to make some interesting stuff from raw materials. It's simply a hobby of hers that she prefers over sitting in class all day long. She'll probably show her friends after this main event ends, which is just beginning.
Immediately, Tracy averts her gaze from everything except the sky, watching the 4th of July celebration culminate in a firework show. She watches the most beautiful thing she's ever seen in her life.
All those different bright colors would spread into the night sky, piercing the darkness like a dagger as the deafening booms would instantly follow and make the ground shake if they were loud enough. Tracy wanted her life to be where the fireworks and explosions go off, and she would bring such things into her own life if she had to.
Tanya went off somewhere to find the rest of the group as Tracy sits down somewhere and observes, taken away by every detail in the sky.
This is what life should be like, as far as Tracy is concerned. Her plans to move to Miami and do something there are genuine, because she is young and naïve without a strong grasp of how the world is supposed to work. But she knows how her own little world works, and that's all she wants to need. Whether or not she dies and goes to hell is irrelevant to her concerns. This isn't about how happy she is in death, it's about how happy she is in life.
At some point into the night, Tracy really started considering dropping out of college on purpose. That firework show ending and everyone going back to their boring lives is something Tracy's heart will never accept. She wants more happening in her life than only this amount of good parts from time to time.
She eventually meets up with Tanya and the rest of the gang, and they go to a party at one of their houses. So the night wasn't *entirely* over yet. And why would Tracy want it to be over?
Look at the street lamps lining the road outside the window. That gentle blue glow every several feet obscured in the mist of the summer night is impossible to ignore. It's beautiful.
It's Thursday by the time Tracy returns to her dorm, waking up her roommate in the process of entering. Probably about two in the morning or something, Tracy doesn't even pay attention to the clock, it doesn't matter. She wants every day to be like this: worth living. Even if that means less days.
She is about to make a decision that will change the course, and length, of her life forever.
To be continued.