TO LIGHT MY FIRE

TWELVE

Time stopped. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets if I saw anything else out of the ordinary.

Bridget seemed normal when she wiped off the last bit of blood from her chin, but the sight of Annabelle’s lifeless body in the corner kept me on my toes.

Bridget saw what we were looking at and glanced behind her like she had forgotten about our classmate whom she just murdered.

‘Oh, sorry,’ she clenched her teeth in slight embarrassment. ‘Let me get rid of that.’

With a snap of her fingers, Annabelle turned into brown dust and disappeared in the air.

‘Before you guys ask questions, follow me.’ She sounded so demanding that Cassi and I didn’t hesitate to take orders from her.

‘Nice job with quieting the noise by the way. Eve, ‘Bridget winked at me as we walked out the deadly quiet building.

All you could hear was the hard bottoms of our school shoes hit the floor as we walked. This was the first time that it felt like no one was watching us. When we walked past the security guard standing outside the main entrance he didn’t even blink.

I saw his hefty stomach still moving so he wasn’t dead.

‘Should we call the cops? I mean, you can’t call the cops on a V---pire, can you?

Don’t they have special weapons that can kill her?’ Cassi rambled on in panic as she stared down at the frozen security guard.

‘Come on, we’re wasting time.’ Bridget waved her hand and a long motorcycle popped up behind her. The wheels were huge and looked like they were filled to capacity with air. Its Dark red body was decorated with tiny black specks. She hopped in front and pulled out two black helmets.

‘Come.’ Her voice became more intimidating the longer we made her wait. Cassi and I cautiously walked over to the weird looking bike, took the helmets, and sat behind her. Cassi sat behind Bridget and I took the liberty of sitting at the back. It wasn’t like I was scared of falling off and becoming road kill.

‘You might want to hold on, sunshine,’ Bridget put Cassi’s arms around her torso like she was a sloth. ‘Hold on to the invisible banister, Eve.’

Just for a second I thought she was a decent person. Just for a second.

How about you just fix that chicken grease dripped hair?

I held my comment and she laughed like she knew that she was annoying me.

‘And if you guys’ were wondering, I am not a V---pire. Of course you would say that. Those idiots are always taking the spotlight,’ she ticked her tongue and revved the lethal bike.

‘Then what the heck are you?’ Cassi asked.

Bridget slipped on her goggle, which of course came from a mysterious place, and whisked us off after answering Cassi.

‘Ever heard of a Mandurugo….?’

We drove so fast that I couldn’t see where we were going. Green Blobs, which I assumed were trees, were all I saw and my mind kept deciding if it was wise to hop on a motorcycle with Bridget.

Maybe she won’t kill us.

I think we were getting closer to a lake because I could smell the crisp saltiness of water and the dingy odour of algae.

I felt like I was flying as the woodsy aroma surrounded me like the smell of Mom’s oatmeal raisin cookies.

Closing my eyes, I loosened my grip on Cassi and the thought of skipping rocks with Parker popped into my mind. The splash of the water calmed me and the songs from the birds was music to my ears. At a young age I knew I loved nature. From its dark and twisty storms to its bright and shiny days. I’d almost forgotten that I was on the back of a V----pire’s, I mean mandurugo’s, motorcycle when Cassi yelled over the motor.

‘Why are we heading towards the water?’

‘We have to cross it. We can either fly, or Eve could do her thing,’ Bridget yelled back.

‘What ‘thing’? Eve what is she talking about!’

I was so involved in my own forest wonderland that I didn’t hear Cassi shrieking like she was falling. Then my feet felt wet.

When I opened my eyes I couldn’t believe that we weren’t sinking. Bridget’s motorcycle was going right across the surface of the large lake.

‘Nice, Eve. At least I didn’t have to do it myself,’ Bridget went fast across the lake until a house came into view.

I pulled my feet up in shock. ‘How are we not sinking?’ I had to holler over the splashing of the wheels through the water.

Bridget snickered and sped us at high speed across the lake until I saw the house becoming more familiar. I’d recognize that massive front lawn from anywhere. That stone walkway brought up memories of me hanging onto my father’s leg to keep me away from the daughter of that house.

Bridget rode us out of the water and onto the stone walkway of the Hawthorn lake house.

The grounds were empty and seemed like we were the only ones here. Why are we at Amelia Mitchell’s lake house?

Bridget came to a stop in front of the humongous grey gate before the house. The grounds were dotted with bright green English Oak trees which were enormous. The only tree out of place was the Weeping Willow next to the sparkling blue lake. It was always my favourite because it would be the best hiding spot for Hide - and - go - seek.

Bridget pressed the button on the intercom box to our left.

‘Siwo myèl, mwen lakay.’ The gates opened right after she spoke those weird words. I could translate the strange sentence to, ‘Honey, I’m home.’

‘How do I know what you said?’ Cassi asked confusingly.

‘Both of your minds are hardwired to retain Creole. One of the many creepy things about you.

You’ll always know what I’m saying behind your back.’ I could hear the annoyance in her voice. We rode through the gate until we were parked in the vast driveway.

I got off the magical bike as quick as I could and straightened out my plaid school skirt. Cassi followed suit but sneered at Bridget when she got off with a smirk and scratched her scalp.

With a nod towards the entrance, we followed her down the long walkway. Nothing was out of the ordinary here, but it strangely felt l wanted to be. It felt like home.

The three of us stood in front of the glass doors which were outlined with light bamboo. Bridget knocked and took another scratch to her head.

Looking around again I could’ve sworn that I saw the bushes by the garage move. The longer I stared the more it moved.

I flinched when the suspect came out and turned out to be a black crow. It flew up to the tops of the trees until I couldn’t see its dark coat anymore.

The door opened and there was a sweat covered Oz. ‘I knew I would be seeing you two soon,’ his smile reached his eyes and brought back old memories. I noticed that he had a nose ring in this time in his right nostril.

He waved us in and stood to the side to let us through.

Not having been to this place in years made me have some weird vibes. I couldn’t believe how old this house was since it was a plantation in the past.

The dark walnut coloured floor didn’t even squeak under our feet - although it didn’t look like the house had been remodelled since I’d been here last.

‘You both have a lot to learn in such a short time, however you’re in luck because you have the best teacher.’ I furrowed my brows in confusion and so did Cassi thinking he was going to be the one to rip the band aid off.

Out came a chummy face with carrot dyed curly hair braided into a crown around her mane.

‘Rinny!’ We hugged and then my questions started.

‘Where have you been? The church has been worried! You know I can’t sit an entire service next to my mom!’

‘I’ve been here the whole time. I’m so glad that you’re here now,’ she playfully punched my arm which hurt a bit.

Glancing at Oz, I leaned in to whisper something to Rinny.

‘Is he really my brother?’ I asked seriously and tried to find any sign of lying in her brown eyes.

‘Yes.’ I took her confidence as the truth. Nodding my head, I sceptically looked at Oz.

‘Well I’ll be going, and leave you to your history lesson,’ he uncomfortably scratched the back of his neck and swiftly walked away.

Rinny shook her head with a grin on her face and it got even wider when she saw Bridget. All she did was hold out her hand and Bridget went fishing through her pockets until she found a wrinkled twenty rand.

‘Classy,’ Rinny scrunched her face as she tried to smooth out the twenty rand.

‘Hey, be grateful,’ Bridget scratched her head for what seemed like the tenth time today.

‘Just take that hideous thing off. It’s making me itch,’ Rinny pinched her lips in annoyance and walked toward long wooden double doors.

Bridget exasperated and snatched her oily black hair off to reveal a gorgeous golden blonde locks under. Her green eyes popped more with the light shade.

‘No way,’ Cassi blew out as she stared at Bridget’s five second makeover.

‘Don’t stare too long, she might just put a hole in your neck and drink you dry,’ Rinny opened the doors and we went in.

The room was decorated with beautiful pictures of the five elements and antique vases were placed in each corner. There was an old - fashioned fire place with dusty bricks on our right and I could feel the warmth of the fire on my finger tips from the door.

In the middle was a semi-circle espresso shaded leather couch facing an L-shaped wooden desk that had six drawers, three on each inner part.

Behind is was glass doors that led out to the balcony which had a perfect view of the lake.

‘This is our Head Prexy’s office, she had to tend to a pressing matter, but please sit.’ Cassi and I sat on the couch and Rinny pulled up a chair in front of us. Bridget sat behind the desk and put her feet up.

‘Eve, Cassi,’ she looked between both of us, ’by now I know that you know that the impossible is quite possible.’

We nodded our heads.

‘What I’m about to tell you will change your lives forever if that ride over the lake didn’t change it already.’ She side glanced Bridget who was picking her nails and not paying attention.

‘Cassandra, you are a living and breathing voodoo doll. Oz told me what happened last night at the concert and I know you have questions. To answer the major ones, you have the ability to toy or mess with another human being or creature.

You do this by doing to yourself what you want done to whomever you’re against, or in Lucy’s case you can be like a bullet hitting a wall and bouncing back to the shooter. If someone does something to you, for example cutting your neck, you can reflect your pain to your attacker and they’ll get a slice in the neck too. Bridget side of it is that you’ll heal.’

Cassi was biting her lip in excitement trying to think of words to say. ‘That is awesome. Can I try it out now?’

‘I don’t think-’

Cassi slapped herself as hard as she could and Bridget fell out of her seat. She angrily got up and began to stalk toward Cassi but was stopped by Rinny.

‘Yes, kind of like that.’ Rinny looked at Bridget’s clenched jaw and dark eyes.

‘Leave her be,’ she spoke through her teeth. Bridget flicked Cassi off and returned to her seat.

‘Totally worth it,’ we all burst out in laughter except for Bridget who probably was coming up with a plan to murder Cassi in her sleep.

Rinny turned to me and I could’ve sworn I saw her head bow a little.

‘Eve, you have a gift that many bow down to and praise. You can control the winds, the waves in the oceans, the length of the grass, the burn of the sun.’ Alright she definitely was bowing and so was Bridget’s annoyed face.

‘Welcome home, my Queen. Evie, you’re Mother Nature.’

I’m supposed to be in P.E. right now….