burning at the stake | o.r.

chapter 3: cliffhanger

Olivia struck a match, preparing to drop it before she felt water trickle against the sides of her ankles.

"Uh, what's with the water?" She called out to the girl who had disappeared into the restroom only 3 minutes before.

"It's the overfilling sink! Soon to be accompanied by... the overflowing tub!" Mariposa announced joyfully as she walked out of the door from which water was spewing from.

"His whole room's gonna be flooded!" Olivia said with a little remorse that she accidentally let slip past her stone-cold facade.

"Yeah and he made us fucking immortal, so who's the real bad guy here?" Mariposa said, her argument showing promise.

"You're right." Olivia nodded as she planned to dropped the match on the ugly patterned curtains.

"Wait!" Mariposa stopped the girl, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Remember that stupid radio he has?" She asked, hopeful for direction.

"Yeah, the one with all the Tony Hawk stickers." Olivia remembered, mentally noting that it was yet another red flag that had gone unnoticed.

Mariposa snickered. "Yeah that one, do you remember where he kept it?"

"Top shelf in his closet." Olivia answered, thinking back thoroughly.

"Nice." Mariposa skipped into and out of the boy's messy closet with a tiny red boom box covered in Tony Hawk stickers.

She plopped it on the bed and looked to Olivia. "Drop the match when I press play"

She pulled out a cassette tape from the inner pocket of her leather jacket and clicked it into the radio. She tapped the play button as Olivia dropped the match on the curtains coated in gasoline. The girls watched in immense satisfaction as the walls of the boy's room went up in flames, the water rising to their calves, leaving them untouchable to the fire as smiles grace their features.

The first verse of the song playing on the radio went unnoticed as the roar of the fire had overtaken the minds of both girls. It was when Mariposa realized this that she cranked the volume to full potential and the chorus rolled around.

Well, good for you! You look happy and healthy!
Not me! If you ever cared to ask!

The girls set all banter aside as they held hands and jumped up and down, dancing with the taste of revenge sweet on their tongues. They screamed the lyrics as they laughed at the flames and splashed in ways that screamed "Fuck you!"

Good for you, you're doing great out there without me
Baby

They threw around Josh's possessions in the rage of their heartbreak, ripping posters of magazines and medals off the wall.

God, I wish that I could do that!
I've lost my mind, I've spent the night crying on the floor of my bathroom!

They laughed and cried and laughed some more, subconsciously holding each other up to keep from falling as they were drunk under the influence of revenge.

It was when the flames reached the ceiling and burning wooden pieces began falling that they decided it was time to skedaddle. Mariposa grabbed the radio from its place on the bed, as it held an undeniable place in her heart now.

They jumped through the same window they entered, careful not to touch the surrounding flames.

As soon as their feet hit the grass they fell into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. Anyone else would deem them as psychotic arsonists if they were to witness the scene, but to them, they were just being teenage girls.