Flames

The rain was drizzling down slowly, which made the dazzling city lights look like it was a blurred photo most expert photographers would take of intentionally. People were running to take the cover of the bus stops or their umbrellas. I just pulled my hood a little bit closer so that it covers most of my face. The feeling of the rain on my shoulder was a peaceful one after a wild party at Claire's house. Well, it mostly was only the two of us but depend on Claire to lit it up. I like that she is a wild spirit, carefree, outgoing, and fun. In contrast, I am reserved, shy, and prefer indoors than outdoors for the sake of my life. I still laugh when I remember the day we met.

I was sitting by the window in kindergarten with an engaging book on my lap. I was lost in it till I saw a bush of red hair sit down beside me. I tried to ignore her because no one comes to me except to mock me for my unusual behavior. The teachers were concerned that I don't play much like other kids or that I don't do anything other than reading, but my grades satisfy them, so they don't say much to my mother. She didn't move or complain as other kids would do. Intrigued, I turned to find clear blue eyes fixed intently on mine. She was smiling a thin smile as if she knew me from somewhere, but I could see that she was holding a squirming worm in her hands. I screamed right there, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen that was the time I noticed my scream was annoying like a cat being drowned. She chased me around the playground with the stupid smile still plastered on her face. Astonished, the teachers came to my aid and made her put the worm down, still smiling, she put it down and turned to me." You can run fast," she went back to her seat.

From that day on, we became best of friends, first I was wary of her. Nevertheless, she didn't give up on me it, would have been rude to let her down so, I started helping her with her homework bit by bit, the teachers were happy with the increase in her grades and my progression. " Mutual benefit," she had said to me.

I was nearing my house when I saw it. It was a cat with fur as white as snow, razor-sharp claws, and surprisingly bright yellow eyes that actually glow in the dark. The cat was watching me steadily as if I will lunge at it and tear it to pieces. I speed up my pace and went into the dark park behind my house, I could see my house across the freshly mown grass. Other days I would have stopped to breathe in the sweet smell of the flowers but the cat was making me uneasy. I tried throwing stones at it but it won't stop following me. When I passed the fence of our house I could feel the cat had stopped, I broke into a run and unlocked the door with shaking hands. I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the door. I could hear my mother with Sam talking in the kitchen. Sam was a great friend of our family, he is the only one my mother could really trust and rely on. I think he is a great man, he was in my whole life more than my father was in. I have a small suspicion that my mother's and his relation are just only friendship by the way he looks at her I think he wants it to be more than friendship even though I am not sure about my mother.

My mother always had been a hard woman, no one could guess what she was thinking in any situation. People say she is beautiful but I think she is more with her gold hair, golden eyes, and tall but rigid structure. When I was a kid I used to think she was an angel and I will one day catch her glowing a golden light but to my disappointment, she doesn't glow. Her only flaw is that her smile is cold with no emotions the only time I saw her genuine smile is on a photo with my father on their wedding day, she did seem pretty happy then. Sam always tells me I look like my father even though I have my mother's spirit, surprised I asked " Mom, has a spirit?" I was five right then and he laughed but my mother wasn't pretty happy about it then.

It was right I look a lot like him. We have the same black hair, emerald green eyes, and the same pale as white skin. My mother told me that he died in a car accident when I was two so that's why I don't remember him much. I could hear their voices much clearer now, they seemed to be in a deep conversation, not wanting to interrupt them I started to make my way softly upstairs but stopped when I heard my name in between.

".... he won't find her here, Dahlia," that was Sam, he sounded unusually anxious.

"I know, but-"

" No buts, Auctoria is safe right here"

"Don't say that name," it sounded like she had hissed at him.

" Ok sorry, but you don't need to worry about her, she is a brilliant girl and could take care of herself in any circumstance, you just need to believe in her."

" I do it's just if only she could listen more to me," my mother sounded very tired that I can imagine the lines around her eyes and mouth.

"I think she ought to be here right now."

I took that as my cue to leave and I started to ascend the stairs slowly not wanting to wake my little sister. I didn't need to, she ran fast to me from my room the moment I reached the door. She was wearing her favorite pink pajama with a white bunny in front. She had her long brown hair tied in a loose bun on top of her head, it wobbled when she ran. She hugged me tight around my legs.

" Mommy was worried about you," she said still clutching tight onto me.

" Why?"

" I don't know she was pacing till Sam told her to stop, she really made me anxious too."

"Well, thanks Emma but now you better sleep," I noticed that she was yawning widely.

"Ok,...." she muttered somethings I didn't catch.

I hugged her tight and kissed her on the cheek. she walked slowly till her room while I watched her with a smile plastered on my face. She stopped at her door and turned slowly toward me with brown eyes full of sleep. For a moment I thought she would fall but she held herself together.

"Allyn," she said in a sleep-deprived voice

" Mhmm-mm"

"Take care and don't make mom worry again."

"I won't now shoo," I said mockingly.

She giggled and went to her room to dream about unicorns and fairies in her dreamland till morning, while I turned to my room my head buzzing with so many questions it hurt. If only Emma was my real sister. She was adopted when I was 12 and she was a few months old. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. She was so tiny I could have missed her in the big bundle of blankets she was in. She looked like an angel with soft brown hair which was a bit long for a baby, rosy cheeks, and warm brown eyes. I could see that my mother is fighting with herself, I guessed she loved her as much as I did. For a moment I saw something flicker behind her eyes as recognization but it went off. For the next years, Emma became the center of my world I am sure I would do anything for her. I want to just squeeze her and hid her safe in my heart where no one could reach her. But that love is my number one fear, I am afraid that I couldn't overcome anything that might happen to her or that my over protectiveness would make her distance from the real world.

With a deep sigh, I turned to my room and smiled. It was a mess of clothes, pencils, books, and papers. It wasn't the same neat room I always liked. I stood in the middle and looked around, the walls were painted sapphire blue, there is a huge shelf full of books beside my bed, my desk was cluttered with papers across my bed, a closet widely open with its contents all on the floor. I moved to my desk and picked one of the papers. Emma had drawn portraits of me that looked very real. Emma had the unusual power of drawing things that look realistic since she could hold a pencil. My mother didn't seem worried about it but I was freaked out I thought maybe that some black magician had performed some magic on her or that she was abducted by aliens and they gave her powers or that her mother was... luckily my mother assured me that it was her special talent before I got another crazy idea. Even though I still freak out when I see her drawings, they make up my day. I smiled when I picked one of the drawings but my smile faded as I saw the drawing.

On one drawing I was holding a book with a pen in my hand as usual, but there was something off, there were people I didn't know and people I do know, I recognized my mother, Sam, and Emma, but the others were unfamiliar and it looked like I was protecting them judging by the way they were surrounding me and by the light that seems to glow from me. On the other drawing I was alone with a pen and a book but another boy was facing me he was surrounded by darkness while I was in the light side he looks like me but at the same time doesn't look like me he has the same black hair like mine but only darker, his eyes were black and seemed like a dark tunnel that stretches for eternity. In the next drawing, I was in darkness this time and my face looked distorted and the book I was holding was black there were bodies at my feet. I dropped the picture in pure horror and scrambled into my bed desperately regretting that I saw the drawings.

I could hear footsteps outside my door as I suspected my mother walked in carrying the air of exhaustion, I heard the sigh that indicated that she saw the mess in my room. She stopped at the side of my bed clearly debating whether to wake me or not. At last, she turned on her heels and moved. Instantly I started praying silently that she won't see the drawings. I knew my prayer wasn't heard when she gave a small gasp that indicated that she already saw them. I can hear her hurrying out of the room and down the stairs probably to tell Sam.

At the mention of Sam, I started to wonder about what I heard before. Who is Auctoria? Why does my mother hate her or from whom are they protecting her from? What was her relation with my mother when she exclaimed that she would prefer it if she hears her more? With these questions and more swirling in my head, I stood up to see through the window. The cat was still prowling around the house it's eyes gleaming red.