The Elementals

I Try To Drown The Bane Of My Existence

When we reach the lake, no one's there. The mud where Coal attacked me is dry and hard now. Around the outskirts of the clearing on the other side are the remains of a campfire. Walking over to it, I can see that it has been stomped on to be put out. Coal inspects the ash, putting his fingers in it.

"It's been out for about an hour." he declares.

"How do you know?" He looks at me. "Right, right, fire." I remember. I imagine my face is red.

Coal snickers. He paces down to the water's edge. "So," he starts, and I can tell he's having trouble on where to begin. His face lights up. "After you punched me yesterday, what were you feeling that made you control the water?"

"Um, I was really mad?" I try, "Yeah, I was pretty mad."

"Good, good. Now why were you mad?" Coal asks innocently, like the jerk hadn't tried to deck me.

"Because you had this surprised look on your face, like it was shocking that I could possibly hit you."

Coal nods. "Well, it was."

"What?"

"I mean, you're just some random orphan girl that ran away. I didn't expect you to be able to react so fast."

"So you got punched." I snap, annoyed by the "orphan" comment.

"Yeah, but it was a lucky shot. I wasn't trying very hard." Coal waves his hand as if to brush the matter aside.

"I think it was a little more than luck-" I argue, my voice rising.

"Keep telling yourself that," He snorts. "I knew you weren't going to put up much of a fight."

"Much of a fight?" I say in heated disbelief. "I punched you pretty hard."

"It was an okay hit." Coal smirks, "For a girl."

My blood boils. Every memory of every kid who said I can't do something just because I was a girl resurfaces. Resentment bubbles inside me. I'll show him. I feel the power, the energy, spreading from my chest. With a low growl, I shove my hands out at Coal and feel the lake water burst up in a wave behind me.

Coal's eyes widen in fear. It didn't occur to me that he might be afraid of water. It makes sense. A rippling shadow of the mountain of water falls over him and he winces. Everything is going in slow motion. I can hear the roaring of water in my ears and I'm not sure if it's from inside me or from the wave. I see Coal cowering underneath the water and I think about Celina, towering over me.

I am Celina. It's that realization that stops me.

I gasp and my hands drop to my side. The energy leaks out of me. The wave drops with my arms and a blanket of water falls onto me and Coal, the force sending me to the ground. I sit there, soaking and breathing raggedly, while water floods around my ankles. I look around, trying to find Coal.

"I thought you were going to kill me, Flippers." he sputters ten feet away from me.

"So did I," I say, never so relieved to see someone alive. Of course, I had never thought I'd killed someone before, so...

"I thought I over did it, but hey, it worked!"

"Over did what?"

Coal stands up, dripping "Making you mad. Man, when you brought that wave up, I thought I was toast."

"Wait, you tried to make me mad? On purpose?"

"Yeah," He grins sheepishly, "I mean I didn't know how else to get you to use your powers." Suddenly, he looks at me, frowning slightly. "You didn't actually think I was being a jerk for real, right?"