Element of Fire

CHAPTER VIII

The Element of Fire

As the six unusual substance of gas divided itself and went for different directions, the two elements that shares its power continued the quest together. The two elements of fire. Of course, this type of gas can travel more than 10 feet per second, according to Pax. And since the mixtures they made had enough energy, those gas particles can travel light speed at it’s best. They can go on whatever country they want, as long as they spot the special one who gets to inhale the gas for themselves. The element of fire traveled from Chicago, U.S.A to City of London, U.K. In a normal apartment somewhere in Ilford.

     “Roxced! Come here would ya?” yelled Roxenne, a ginger girl that died her hair black because she was too cool for school. Her room had brown walls, filled with posters of her favorite band. She was playing her favorite song in loud speakers. Sitting in her black swivel chair that was used by his dad in his office a year ago. “Roxced! You have to see this!” she yelled once again, louder this time. She heard her twin’s loud alternate footsteps come to her room. And her bedroom door burst open.

“Turn that bloody thing off would ya?” he bellowed. Roxced, Roxenne’s twin brother that she was jealous of because of his natural hazelnut brown hair, “that would be better than being ginger” she once thought.  Roxced hadn’t got any band posters in his room, just a big bulletin board full of memos, pictures, and sometimes the suspicious crimes in London he found on the newspaper their dad was reading. Their mum on the other hand, loved to paint and to play elegant instruments, Roxenne would often roll her eyes over the gentle music and say “Try playing an electric guitar mum, maybe drums so it won’t make me whinge all about it.” Their mum was a clean, well-mannered person, it often made Roxenne question about where she got her habits from. 

“What’s wrong with it? It’s called music Sed, you might as well get familiar with it.” She swiveled around her chair for a few seconds and pushed it with her feet. Making it go to the area where the speaker was. She raised her finger near the off button and pressed it. “So… why’re you here?”

“What? You just called me over! You said to you have something to show! You’re acting like a nutter Roxenne.” He hissed, walking to Roxenne’s bed. “Now if you’re going to show me that your favorite band just released a new song, I’m telling you I won’t like it.”

“I haven’t even showed you anything yet!” she swiveled her chair left and right repeatedly, “Well, it isn’t about that really. Watch what I can do to that candle.”

 “Roxenne, if you’re pulling my leg right now I swear to God.” He stood up, assuming Roxenne was just wasting his time. “Stop waving your hand like that you can’t possibly-“ He stopped talking as soon as the candle lit up by itself.

“Wicked, right?!” she chortled. “It can go around my hand too! But sometimes I can’t control it so better not brag about it then.” The fire that lit the candle a minute ago was now in her right hand, going around it, it left Roxced with his mouth open. It was like she was playing with the chimney a minute ago and decided to put gasoline around her hand. But it didn’t burn her, it went pass her like it was a hologram from Star Wars. Roxced was a bit of a geek, when he was twelve he loved those typical type of fictional series. He even thought of reading Harry Potter. A few seconds after, the little amount of fire she was playing with arose 3 feet higher. Roxced immediately banged the door shut so their parents wouldn’t think about the dodgy noise coming from upstairs. 

“Woah! Woah! Woah! Stop that! Stop it!” He whispered loudly, both his hands raised averagely gesturing for Roxenne to stop. “Blimey! What the bloody heck was that?”

“I’ll tell you the whole story if you don’t tell anyone.” She continued swiveling her chair again. She was wearing the clothes she would wear at home. After she graduated and not have school a few months ago, she’d just wear long-sleeves, off-shoulder shirts. And she’d sometimes pair it with a jumper, but if it was quite rainy that day, she’d wear sweatpants and a hoodie. Her hair was a long curly black, often can be spotted as dark brown if she were in a place with great amount of light. It had tips of her ginger hair atop, since she was always lazy to dye her hair again. 

The two of them were letting their parents live with them after college, for they cared about them too much to just leave in a nursing house all alone. 

“What is there in the story to not tell anybody? Who am I going to tell it to anyway?” Roxced replied, he sat back in the bed, and lay there. “So…what happened? How did you get all shambled up?” 

“You won’t say this to anyone? Promise?” she asked, “oh, Sed don’t touch my CDs please.” Without hesitation, he dropped what he was currently touching, put it back in the drawer next to the bed and pretended to act natural. 

“Yeah, not touching anything… I Promise not to tell, just bloody spill it.”

“okay, so today, I was planning to I don’t know, maybe go on a date with this gentleman I talked with while waiting for the bus 2 days ago. He asked for my number and we texted for a while and then he-“

“oohhh, someone fancies Roxenne! Did you guys snog each other?”

“Shut up! We absolutely did not of course!” she rebuked. “Moving on,  and so we went to this concert since both of us likes this band. And it was so crowded and loud, and just like the other people, I was singing along, both of us sang along, it was fun, it was great alright. I wore a t-shirt and ripped jeans and he wore a-a Sando top that showed his big bice-“

“Change the topic please, I’m not interested in what you’re both wearing and his what-ya-call big biceps.” 

“Oh okay, anyway. We were just singing along. And then I smelled something a bit fragrant. It smelled like smores with the fire but no it smelled so elegant. And so I said to him that I admire that he put cologne to our date. And then, he said that he didn’t and maybe I was smelling other things. And so I just ignored it. Later on, I..”

“You set fire to the entire stage and everyone went out? Knew it, bloody brilliant your story is though.” 

“No, Sed. Stop interrupting me. Later, I saw that his Sando top had a red thingy on it, like a neon red. I thought he painted his body with neon paint, I asked him again, and he said ‘No, I’m not. But if you want me too take off my shirt I can.’ Of course, I said no because he’d be known as bugger to me if he did. So, people being people, he looked at his sando and I wasn’t neon paint, it was fire. And so obviously he screamed and started to put it out. When he did, I set the microphone stand on fire, and everybody just went out. I feel so sorry about the band, it’s all my fault.”

“That’s somehow close to what I said.” He sat up from the bed. “So, you expect me to not be shocked and startled that you actually have supernatural powers?”

Pause.

“yeah…?” she said. “Look, it’s not supernatural powers, it’s just that maybe I control fire. It’s more realistic than a wizard going to wizard school anyway. And battling aliens in outer space and whatever.”

“Fine! I won’t tell anyone about it. Why’d you tell me then?”

“because maybe…you can do some research about it?”

“Oh, I knew it.” He sighed. “your fault, your problem, your task.” He stood up, and he was going for the doorknob until Roxenne said something.

“You’ll do research about it anyway.” She leaned back on her swiveling chair. “You have it too.”

“What? Me? No. I don’t.” He stuttered. 

“Sed, I know you twinny. If you found out I can light that candle up without touching it, you’d run away, or tell mum. Probably send me to a nuthouse.” She smiled, “Even if you believe in theories, you won’t believe in what I can do… Unless you also have it.”

“I-I don’t! What’re you bloody talking about!” He blurted.

“Stop lying Roxced, I know stuff. Now show me.” She finally stood up from her chair and placed her arms in her chest.

“I-I don’t have it! I don’t!” he said raising his arms like he was somehow trying to surrender.

“Sed! Your face seemed so peculiar this dinner, I know you have it.”

“Fine! You learned how to control it so bloody fast, I was confused!” he waved his hand in his front and fire started to build up in his fingers.

“Bloody Wicked.” Roxenne stared at it. “I can’t control it that well, I just learned how to light a candle you wanker.”  Roxenne was still staring for a few seconds, amazed by the flames dancing around their fingers. Until Roxced waved his hand rapidly to put out the fire. 

“My room?” He suggested, pointing to the door. 

“Your room.” She repeated and went out.

    They were in Roxced’s room. Green walls, the giant corkboard, sometimes includes red strings, his bed, a long table, just near the corkboard, and some bookshelves. Roxced’s shelves were filled with action figures and DVDs, while Roxenne’s was filled with CDs of her favorite band’s albums. His bed was bouncier than Roxenne’s, so somehow, she wanted to sit in her brother’s bed more often than in hers.

“So… How’d you get it?” she asked. “If you won’t tell mine, I won’t tell yours.”

“While you went to the concert with your date, I went to a bakery to buy a snack. And, to have a conversation with the Baker’s son. Him and I became friends since the other day. That other day, I was supposed to meet someone there but turns out he was just a thief. I wasn’t fast, you know me, and so the baker’s son…Name’s Finlay. With an A. He chased the thief and brought my money back. We became friends. And so here I am, going to meet him there. So I went on and bought a scotch bread. Good thing that he wrapped it in plastic and then wrapped it in a paper bag. On the way home, I smell something burning, I thought the house was on fire. And so, I hurried and everything seemed normal. I was about to give mum and dad the scotch bread but then I saw inside that-“

“It turned into ashes.” She continued, “Well, at least you just missed your afternoon snack. I missed my date which was going absobloodylutely great.”

“I was going to drink coffee with it! I read a book without coffee!” he muttered and meanwhile sighed, “Thanks for showing that to me a while ago.”

“No problem, I just want you to research on it anyway.” She stood up from Roxced’s bouncy bed. “Do some would you? And don’t burn anything in the house. Let me know if you found some unusual sightings in the net. Ta-ta!” The door closed. Roxced was alone in his room, still staring blankly at the door, wondering what he’ll find later. 

The Element of Fire succeeded its quest. Now it was time for the others.