Playing with Fire

e p i s o d e | o n e

Fire. There's fire everywhere.

I stared at the crumpled pieces of metal that were once recognizable as a vehicle. I'd been in that vehicle. I'd been in the backseat, staring out the side window, when all of a sudden, I heard my parents shriek. There was the sound of crashing, and there was motion – a lot of motion – as the world spun around me. And then, I remember somehow crawling out of there. Everything was sore, but I knew that I had to get out of the car. And there I was, watching as it exploded into flames.

Everything after that is a blur. The hospital, the police station, the courtroom ... that all happened somewhere in between that event and the start of my new life. I don't recall those things as clearly.

But one thing I do remember clearly is the man's face. I remember because I've seen it so many times – on the road, in the police station, in the courtroom, on the news – everywhere. I remember his name clearly. I'll never forget, because that's the man who killed them. My parents.

Somehow, maybe because I was only eight years old and still naïve about the world, I forgave him. And I stopped thinking about that incident and I forgot about it for a long time.

Of course, the memories still haunt me.

"Anna!"

I blink my eyes open and fuzzily gaze up at the unidentifiable blob that slowly morphs into a familiar face above me. It doesn't take long for me to let out a gasp and snap into an upright position on my bed. When I slowly turn my head to face the person who had woken me, he folds his arms and nods his head.

"Yes, Anna. Spring break is over. School's starting again."

I let out a small sigh before glancing over my shoulder at the clock hanging on the wall. Leave it to him to wake me up half an hour early so that I'll have enough time to get ready. "Thanks, Kai," I squeak. "I'll hurry."

Kai starts walking out of my room and points good-naturedly at me before he leaves. "See? I told you that senioritis would catch up to even a good student like you," he teases.

I dismissively wave him off and rub my eyes for a few moments before jumping out of bed. Right, there was this thing called school that I attended. It's surprising what one week of ignorance can do to your mind – especially when you're part of the high school group that's dying to get out of school the most: the seniors.

Grandma isn't surprised when I slide into the kitchen later than Kai and his twin sister Valentine. "You forgot, didn't you?" she asks me, raising a gray eyebrow in amusement.

"Shh, let it go," I whisper to the breakfast table. "Let it go."

"Wait until the school finds out that its star student nearly forgot about its existence," Valentine teases me, taking a bite out of a piece of toast as she fixates her bright green onto mine. Her voice morphs into that of an announcer's. "'Breaking news: Anna Silver – valedictorian-to-be, was recently spotted, unable to awaken from a deep sleep on the morning of the first day back to school from spring break. We attribute this symptom to the deadly outbreak of senioritis, which has been spreading like wildfire throughout the Eastbrook seniors.'"