TO LIGHT MY FIRE 17-19

SEVENTEEN

‘I was in an orphanage half of my childhood. My Mom dropped me there when I was six and claimed that she was going to search for my father.’

Clark’s head remained in my lap as I played with his hair. The sun started to shine through my blinds on the misty Sunday morning. I wasn’t able to sleep because all I could think about was how close he was to me. I thought if I made any sudden movements that he was going to realize that he made a mistake in confiding in me.

‘You couldn’t have been in an orphanage. Your parents dropped you off here every Sunday so you and Par- I mean Oz could have play dates.’

I was still adjusting to the new name.

He turned his body so he was looking up at me with an irkness displayed on his beautiful features.

‘They weren’t play dates, we were hanging out. However, to answer that statement, those weren’t my parents. They were Amelia Mitchell’s’

My brain paused for a couple of moments and my hand stopped twisting his soft hair. This could only mean one thing; Amelia was his stepsister.

Sorry God, but literally kill me now.

‘So, her parents adopted you?’

‘No, not really. Apparently my Mom was best friends with Amelia’s Dad and he made it his ‘Duty’ to take me in.’

He scrunched his face in frustration like he would do when we’d watch criminal television. ‘I’m not mad at him though. He did something that my own Dad didn’t have the balls to do in the first place.’

‘Are they ‘Gifted’ too? Is that’s why everyone reside and trains at Hawthorn?’

‘They are, Mr Mitchell is a Wolf Man and Mrs Mitchell is a V ---pire.’

‘So what does that make Amelia? V---pire or Wolf hybrid?’ I asked curiously.

‘We haven’t seen any hint of power in her. As of now, she’s just a human. Although she should’ve made her transformation on her 18th birthday. I haven’t seen her since my concert.’

‘Me neither.’ I tried to think back to the night of her birthday and remember that the after - party was cancelled.

‘How do you tolerate her?’ I honestly asked and he laughed.

‘I usually just have to let her flirt with me and touch my arms.’ Clark continued to laugh but I didn’t take it as a joke.

How could he be with her in that way? Is that what he likes? A girl who puts herself out there and isn’t afraid to rub on a guy’s arm?

I released his hair and began to grip my palms with my fingernails to release my jealousy.

‘Hey, what just happened?’ He must’ve saw the dry look on my face. Clark sat up like he knew what I was thinking and pulled me to his chest.

‘What are you doing?’ I attempted to push away from him but his grip around my arms didn’t loosen. ‘Let me go!’

‘Not until you tell me what’s wrong with you!’ He cradled my head until I wasn’t shaking out of his hold anymore.

‘Instead of going to Amelia, you sneak into my room and cry your eyes out. You blab all this crap about not wanting ME to leave you and to promise you these things. Why didn’t you go to her?’

When I felt that his grip wasn’t as tight I finally got out of his grasp. When he went for me again I held a finger between us and repeated my question.

‘Why didn’t you go to her?’

I was now sitting across from him and saw that his eyes were cloudy. It seemed like he was having an internal battle with his conscience, and his conscience was winning.

‘Don’t freak out because I know this might sound weird.’

‘Weirder than me being Mother Nature.’ I lowered my voice so I wouldn’t wake my parents.

‘Most likely.’ Clark took a quivering breath and ran a quick hand over his beard nervously.

‘I’ve been watching you every day since I first hung out with your brother when we were kids. The first time is saw you, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. Your bright hazel eyes have been in my mind all these years.’

He scooted closer to me and held both of my crossed knees in his hands.

‘You’ve grown into this selfless, delicious being that it want to praise.’

‘When Oz wanted to leave I almost didn’t go with him because I didn’t want to leave you behind. I saw that he wanted to save you, and I wanted to save you too. So I left, but I don’t regret it.’ He held my cheek in his palm and I was too shocked to move it away.

‘I’ve been obsessed with you since the first time I saw your hair in little twists. Your scent is so excruciatingly intoxicating that I want more. I knew at an early age that I wanted to protect you.’

Wasn’t he just talking about how he would let Amelia Mitchell caress him?

My head would not stop spinning as he continued to talk.

‘If your brother would’ve never decided to run away we would have never known what we were up against.’

I finally broke out of my confused state and smacked his hand away.

‘What are we up against?’

Knocking sounded at my door and I could’ve sworn I saw Clark flinch.

‘Eve! Get ready, now. We have nine o’clock service this morning!’

Clark made a throwing up motion which I shook my head to.

‘Yes, ma’am!’ I looked at Clark’s scrumptious lips and back at his face doing annoying jesters about God.

‘If you want a taste, you don’t have to ask.’ He attacked my wrist and pinned them together at the top of my head.

Straddling my waist, he moved so close that I could feel his cool breath on my cheek.

‘I won’t bite,’ his face was now inches from my neck and he inhaled. I shivered at his close proximity.

‘Not unless you want me to.’

Right as I felt something sharp scrape against the skin around my ear, the door slammed open. I quickly scrambled to my feet and stumbled to the floor.

‘Ow’

‘Honey, now how’d you do that?’ Mom stood at my door with a laundry basket in her arms.

Strange, she never has done laundry in years. She always hired a maid to help at home.

I glanced around to see where Clark went but my wide open window answered my question.

‘I was trying to find something to wear.’ I got up and walked over to my closet.

‘Good. Now hurry up, your Father has to be at the church early.’

Just as I thought I was gonna have a sweet but unusual day because Clark basically confessed that he was my stalker, Mom of course had to ruin it.

‘Close that window before I throw you out of it.’

There’s the unpleasant woman I recognized.

EIGHTEEN

In church, we would always have Testimony Sundays. This would give every member the chance to share what God has done for them.

Many people tell about their inspiring revelations.

‘I just want to thank God for returning me safely back to my wife and kids because the roads were so bumpy that I thought I was going to trip.’

Then those people would sometimes over share.

‘Those bumps were full of my prostitutes who I still owe money to. Thank you Lord for not letting them find me and kill me.’

Rinny laughed under her breath as she held onto her stomach so she could calm down her giggles.

This was her first time back in church in weeks and everyone acted like she was foreign. They kept staring at her like she just got released from prison.

I get their reasons since she is a ‘Presence’. They can most likely feel the aura that follows her.

Her entire family were decedents of the ‘Dark Nature‘. Well, except for her mother who was a mermaid apparently.

Her father was an ‘Influencer’ which explained why women and men always faint around him.

‘Why did I stop coming to church?’

Rinny threw her head back in laughter as the microphone was snatched from Deacon O’Brian’s dark hand.

‘You don’t know how lucky you are. While I have to listen to this nonsense you get to go off and hump someone in their dreams.’ While jokingly scolding her, Mom just so happened to turn around to shush us.

‘Sorry, Mrs Palmer.’ Rinny has always been a very respectful person since we were kids.

Mom knows this but she continues to treat her terribly.

‘Keep it down,’ she turned back around with a scowl on her face.

‘She can be such a pain sometimes.’ I whispered to Rinny as Dad went up to the podium to end the service.

‘Hey, that’s your mother you’re talking about. Even though she could be hard sometimes you still have to respect her. Treat others how you want to be treated.

Remember that verse?’

Her calm voice scared me like it always did. Rinny is so nice that she would let an ant cross the crosswalk before she would continue driving.

I huffed and stood when Dad motioned the congregation to sing our closing song.

‘Just make sure you say it when she’s not listening next time. Then I would laugh…’

The cool water from my neighbours’ water guns made me jump out of my seat.

I completely forgot that Mom was hosting a cookout at our house today. All the kids were running loose while the adults were either standing by the grill with Dad or fetching a bottle of wine with Mom.

Another sprout of water was shot in my face and this time I was over it.

‘That’s it.’ I picked up a water gun from the side of the house and chased the tweens around the house like a mad woman.

‘Eve!’

Just as I used my powers to forcefully shoot at one kid’s back Dad called my name again.

I gave the boy one last hard look, threw down my weapon, and ran over to the grill to see him talking to Derrick, our church’s drummer.

‘Eeeevvve, can you show Derrick to the bathroom?’ He flipped one of the burgers over while showing off his new grill to the other dads.

‘Do I even have a Choice?’

‘What was that, Honey?’

‘Right this way Derrick.’ I walked through our back sliding door to get into the house and Derrick followed behind me.

‘I can sense that you don’t like me very much.’ Derrick’s deep voice startled me a little since I hadn’t really heard him talk before.

‘Oh, sorry. No…’

‘You don’t have to lie or tell me why you don’t. Just answer this one question for me.’

We turned the corner by our kitchen which had a hallway with the bathroom at the end of it.

‘What is it?’ I asked hesitantly as we come to a stop in front of the door.

Who braids your hair?’

I was taken aback by his question because I for sure thought he was going to ask something that was inappropriate.

‘I do it myself.’ My hair was still in the cornrows I did last night before Clark came.

‘If you don’t mind, and you can say no to this if you want; but can you redo mine?’

His eye never let mine.

I grinned at him for the first time ever.

‘Of course.’

He nodded his head with a smile on his face and disappeared into the bathroom.

His teeth are so white.

Maybe I misjudged him a little bit when I first met him. Dad did say that Derrick was looking at people strangely a couple weeks ago because his eyes were dilated from going to the Doctor that morning.

The door opened and the first things I noticed was his teeth again. Now that I’m not silently cringing from him I’m focusing more on his features.

He was not a bad looking guy. His chocolate skin was glowing from under the hallway light and his grey eyes squinted at me while I was eye raping him.

‘Sorry. I can do your hair now if you want?’ I stuttered out like an idiot as he closed the door behind him.

‘That would be great.’ Derrick chuckled which sent tingles down my spine.

‘Right this way,’ I led him up the stairs until we mad it to my bedroom.

‘Cozy.’ He looked around at my cadet blue walls that were covered in band and Cold Shoulder and Once Bitten posters.

At this moment the embarrassment was settling in of how silly my room might have looked to him.

‘Just make yourself comfortable.’ I went into my bathroom and grabbed some conditioner, a water bottle, a comb, and some edge control.

When I came out I saw that he was sitting on the floor in front of my bed looking at one of my notebooks.

‘You write songs?’ He held up the black and white composition book in amazement.

Trying my best not to yell at him for going through my things, I snatched the book from his hand.

‘Yes.’ I short answered him and sat behind his head on my bed.

‘Can I hear one of them?’ He turned around with his pleading, gorgeous grey eyes and I gave in.

‘Just one, but no commentary.’ He clapped his hands like a little kid at a magic show while I began taking down his hair.

‘When I need you, you’re not there,

My pillow and blanket,

Sometimes life is not fair,

My eagerness and despair,

What I see may be true,

But it definitely will not do,

Because my soul is a Den of sand,

I need water’

I sprayed down his hair and moisturized it with the conditioner. Sectioning the first part, I pinned the rest to the side and started to braid.

‘Knowing now what I’ve got,

Doesn’t seem like enough,

Each and everyday,

It gets more and more tough,

Trying to find my air in all this dust,

My lungs are beginning to rust,’

Once I finished braided it down to the middle of his head where his hair stopped, I sectioned the middle piece and continued.

‘With all the scares,

Being a definite promise,

Being a vague painting is a Gift,

Though when its said and done,

And there’s no turning back,’

I finished his three braids and put it in a bun in the back.

I realized I had the cluttered path.

In ablaze,

What was supposed to keep me safe,

My pillow and blanket.’

Laying his edges back and down I pulled out my phone camera so he could look at his hair.

He spun his body so that he was on his knees in between mine. Derrick placed his hands on either side of my hips on my bed and smirked.

‘Would it be inappropriate to ask you to marry me right now?’

I lowly giggled and leaned in closer to him.

‘VERY.’

NINETEEN

Derrick and I were becoming closer than I’d ever anticipated us to be in just a few hours.

We were laying on my bed as he showed me some of his work that was on his phone. Other than being a drummer, Derrick was a very gifted photographer and artist.

There were beautiful pictures of the meadow at Peterland Lake and rustic photos of Beerpond Street that was swarmed with people dancing.

The music outside got louder the darker it became and more voices were being heard. I decided to stay in my room with Derrick for the rest of the night because I enjoyed his company.

Mom’s cackling and heavy steps from downstairs made me get up to close my door to drown her out.

“Excuse her. She normally doesn’t do this in front of company.’ I sat on the foot on my bed next to his feet.

‘NO, I Get it. Even First Lady’s have a little fun.’ I laughed with him for a while.

‘What are your parents like?’ He placed my right foot in his lap and began to massage it. Humming in satisfactory, he smiled softly and continued to rub my foot.

‘The strictest people ever,’ he paused to laugh at a memory.

‘However, they have great hearts. They still live in the Rivier ent. My mom cooking crepes every morning for tourists and my dad playing up-beat songs on his violin brings back times when I had to help my mom with the food and my dad teaching me how to tune his violin.’

‘When did you come to this country?’ I tilted my head at him curiously.

‘Two years ago. I wanted to go to college in Louisville because there was a better photography program and I was almost legal to get a Citizen ID document for myself. My parents allowed me to continue my last year of high school in Louisville and then start college in the fall.’ He sat down my foot and I surprised myself when I moved to put head on his lap to the point where I was looking up at him.

‘Do you visit them a lot?’

‘I try my best, but it’s not so easy. When I first moved here, they were willing to drop everything to come here so we could be together. Our family had never been separated for so long, but it’s extremely tough to get certified for a ID. They ran up to almost a twenty thousand rands and sometimes more.

Thankfully I knew where I wanted to go for college at an early age as I was able to save up by playing in the quarter and earning money for selling crepes with ma mère.’ He gently ran his fingers across my braids which felt good. It was like I could lay with him for days and not get tired of him.

Then a sad look clouded his fine features. ‘I found a ID holder when I made it to this country who was willing to drop the price down by thousands. It took a couple of months, but with my mom’s cart money and my dad’s music lesson funds that he raised for teaching neighbours, they were able to cross the border and live Louisville with me.’

‘Why do you look so upset? Does your mom always come up to your dorm to embarrass you?’ My smile faded when he released my braid and ran his hand over his face.

‘There was a sweep three months after they moved here. They were checking for who had verification for them to be in the country. It was rumoured that many people were sold an invalid green ID that was like an empty Burger King gift card.

They checked my parents’, and in a blink of an eye they were right back in the Rivier ent.’ He bit his lip in anger while looking at something on my floor.

‘I haven’t been able to visit them at all. As hard as it is to get into this country, it’s twice as hard getting out. At least legally it is.’

I sat up and held his face in my hands. My lips were turned downward in a frown as reality kicked in. No one should have to go through this. No one have to be separated from their family. No one should have to spend a ridiculous amount of money for a stupid card to experience how life is somewhere else. Where does that money go anyway?

‘Listen to me, we live in a messed up system with messed people who don’t know what or who to trust.’ I was on the edge of tears when his miserable grey eyes met mine.

‘It’s believable how this shitty place has so many enemies.’ I joked and put my forehead on his as my tears ran down my hot cheeks.

‘How do they manage to have great colleges?’ We laughed through out blubbering and I looked up at him.

Hew raised his thumb to wipe my tear stained face but he didn’t move his hand.

Then he looked at me.

Damn it. I guess I’m on another high speed love train.

When I gazed into his eyes I could see his pain and I just wanted to hold him and never let him go until he was happy again.

He quickly ran his tongue across his lip and looked down to mine.

‘I’m thinking about doing something really stupid.’ He gripped my neck and drew small circles on it with his thumb.

‘How stupid?’ I spoke in a hushed tone as he moved closer to me. I couldn’t help myself from inching closer either.

Just as our lips skimmed, a loud knock made us both jump up to different sides of the bed.

‘Eve! This backyard won’t clean itself!’ Mom hollered as she banged on the door even harder.

‘I’ll be down in a second!’ I shuffled to my window and noticed an array of empty red cups scatter across our lawn and silly string hanging along our bushes.

Groaning, I turned to Derrick who was putting his white converse on.

My eyes opened in panic as he was heading for my bedroom door.

‘No! You can’t go that way!’ I whisper yelled and opened my window.

‘You Can’t be serious.’ He gave me an incredulous look and I grabbed his arm so he could jump out.

‘Very actually. Climb over onto the tree and you should have enough grip to ascend down to the ground.’ I knew this would work because that’s how Clark got up to my room every night.

I gave Derrick a peck on the cheek and pushed him out. He barely caught the tree branch.

‘Wow, a kiss on the cheek is supposed to give me strength? Is that what you silly people believe?’ He continued to hang on the branch like he was on the monkey bars.

‘Leave!’ I dismissed his comment and giggled as he struggled down the tree. Before running off, he blew a kiss with a wink.

Exhaling, I Closed my window and smiled to myself.

A knock seconds later on the glass made me yelp. I held my hand over my heart in comfort as I turned ready to bicker with Derrick for coming back.

‘Who was that?’ Clark’s nostrils flared in annoyance as he sat on the tree Derrick was hanging on just a second ago.

‘Eve! You better start cleaning before you’re up all night!’ Mom yelled again as Clark continued to glare at me.