I don't own Firestarter.
Endless Tests.
Why can't they leave me and my daddy alone?
Charlie had asked her father that question many times over the years she'd grown up despite knowing the answer, from the moment she discovered her pyrokinetic powers, the day she'd accidentally set her own mother alight; that incident at the airport had been one of the most stupidest things she had ever done, Charlie could understand that.
The Shop wanted to turn her into a weapon, and for the last year since mum had been murdered whilst trying to protect her, Charlie had gained a very strong loathing for the Shop, and for everything that it stood for. In later years as she made her way out into the world and when she grew older and came to learn more about American history, Charlie would look back on her experiences as a kid, and realise it was a facade.
All the government and the military wanted was the latest weapon, and they did not give a damn who suffered so long as they got their own way, and as she looked at what had occurred with her parents, and the experiments which had given her mother Vicky McGee telepathic abilities while her dad could make people do what he wanted and believe what he wanted, although the mental strain gave him nasty nosebleeds.
Somehow Charlie had gained the abilities to set things alight.
Despite her experiences, Charlie would be the first person to admit to herself she had no idea how her powers worked, she didn't even understand why she'd gained them in the first place.
As she stood in the testing room the Shop had put her in - she had done what John wanted her to do, submit to the tests even though she could never forgive the Shop for chasing her and her dad across half of the country, never mind what had happened to her mother - Charlie tried to think of a foolproof way she could escape with her dad, although she had no idea what had happened; the Shop refused to even let her see him.
She had been thinking of nothing else.
As she stood in the middle of the room, Charlie concentrated hard; the Shop had made this particular test more interesting. They had erected a large wall of cinder blocks instead of using wood chips. On the wall was a large sensor for measuring temperature, and there were chunks of ice nearby.
That made sense.
From what she knew of the Shop, thanks to her parent's stories, Charlie knew they enjoyed checking and rechecking their facts. Wood chips were basic stuff, she'd said so herself during the first round. And in truth, a part of Charlie was actually looking forward to the challenge. She had set people on fire, caused petrol tanks in cars to explode, although that mess at the Manders Farm was mostly down to the stress and strain of the moment.
Charlie had become totally frustrated and angered by how the Shop simply could not leave her or her family alone, the gunshots, the fear she'd felt either she or her father, or the Manders themselves heaven forbid being shot and killed by accident - the Shop may have wanted her and the agents were under orders not to harm her or her father, but accidents did happen; she knew that only too well - and she'd snapped.
But here the whole thing was carefully controlled. The Shop had known what they were doing. One look around herself told her that; there was no doubt in her mind, if she wanted to set this place on fire it would be hard for her. They wanted to know the best way of transforming her into a weapon…
Well, she was not going to give them that satisfaction.
Charlie took a deep breath and concentrated. Slowly she felt the air around her beginning to warm up, a warm wind slowly filtering through the chamber, lifting her hair up gently as it caressed her skin like the warm touch of a loving mother. Gradually she felt it getting hotter and hotter - she knew thanks to long experience other people became oppressed by the onset of her powers, but it didn't bother her - while she concentrated on the cinder blocks.
With her mind, Charlie pictured the cinder blocks getting hotter until they began to burn; she pictured them catching fire, and she pushed that vision in slowly using the techniques her parents had learnt for themselves since they hadn't had anybody else around to teach them their powers, so they'd needed to put into place a trial and error system while they learnt of their abilities, and what their limits were.
Mum and Dad hadn't wanted them to go through the same issues they had when they'd learnt of her pyrokinetic powers, so they had taken the time needed to teach her the same techniques they'd learnt; reading minds and pushing suggestions and commands into the minds of others was one thing, setting things alight was out of her parents' depth, but they had taught her what she knew.
Besides, pyrokinesis was mind-controlled anyway.
Slowly the cinder blocks began to crack as they showed signs of being set alight, but Charlie went further. She pictured the fires becoming stronger, pictured the flames gradually but strongly pushing through the cracks being created by the overwhelming heat of the initial flames. She pictured new fires being generated in structurally weaker points in the wall, seeking out the other flames, growing stronger with every second. Idly Charlie noted the heat and the force of the flames was melting the sensor, and the plastic material on the sides, but she didn't put much attention to it.
Slowly but surely, Charlie's efforts paid off, but she wasn't surprised; she had been taught not to set everything alight at once, but to do it slowly to stop putting so much strain over herself.
The brick wall suddenly exploded in a shower of chips and dust, and Charlie smirked at it.
How's that for a test? She thought to herself.