Darkling

27| Soup

Chapter 27: Soup (Clara's POV)

I was stirring the soup by the sink in his room that I forced the lunch lady to make for him. Again. And I think she hates me because this is boiling and will take forever to cool. 

"I can drink it," he groaned from his spot on the bed. 

"You'll burn your throat. Again. And even if that feels good, it doesn't mean it's helping your throat." 

"But it burns so good," he whined. 

I glanced at him over my shoulder, looking at him weirdly. 

"Have you ever held a lighter to your finger?" he asked. 

"Am I insane? No," I scoffed. I picked up the bowl and walked over, sitting in front of him, still stirring it to help it cool faster. 

"Look," he said, opening his drawer and pulling out a lighter. 

I thought he kept it in the bathroom. 

He flicked it, the flame coming up, and put his finger over it. 

I smacked his hand down. "Are you crazy?!" 

He chuckled. "You know fire doesn't really burn me. Maybe I just have tolerance," he shrugged. "I can even put it to my tongue. Wanna see?" 

"No," I shook my head, taking the lighter from him and handing him the bowl. "Soup burns are better than lighter burns," I mumbled, staring at the lighter. It was black with gold stars and a silver moon and little white specks. 

"You know, as a kid, I used to collect lighters. I still have the box somewhere in my closet." 

I looked at him. "Can I look for it?" 

He nodded, sipping on the soup. 

I opened his closet and walked inside. At the very bottom, buried under a pile of clothes, was a small shoebox. I pulled it out and walked back to the bed. I opened it, my eyes widening. "That's a lot of lighters," I chuckled. "Why did you collect them?" 

There was every kind of lighter here. Fancy ones, hello kitty ones, blingy ones with rhinestones, a few clear ones with flowers stuck in them. 

"I just liked fire," he answered. 

"Can I keep this one?" I asked, holding up the hello kitty lighter. 

"Take this one too," he said, handing me a white lighter that had a 666 written in silver with a pink heart and some rhinestones around it. "It matches you," he said, glancing at my white t-shirt that had a pink heart in the center of it with white pearls around the border. 

I chuckled, taking the two of them. I sat there, playing with the lighters, looking at all of them. There were some clear ones that if you shook, the neon liquid inside would move. "I had a feeling you really liked fire. Since you picked it for the assignment in history," I said. 

"And why did you choose fire?" he asked. 

"I just think it's cool that some people could control fire. I don't know if they really could but... it would be cool if they did," I chuckled. There was a knock on the door and I went to answer it, setting the box on the bed from my lap. I opened the door, getting startled. "Hi, what are you doing here, dad?" 

"You couldn't come to see me so I came by," he shrugged, ruffling my hair before walking past me and into the room like he knew every inch of it. Like he's been here before. 

I shut the door, walking to the bed where Callum was trying not to choke. 

"What happened to you?" my dad asked.