Flames untouched

I felt exhausted as I made my way through the heavy undergrowth, trying to get to my Uncle's house that apparently hid in the midst of this forest. How could my dad just have disposed of me, in this forest!? I may have had dangerous powers, but I was still human! Tears of fire flickered down my cheek, but my powers protected me. I was all alone, with no friends, in the middle of nowhere.

"WHY ME?!" I screamed at my surroundings, as the tree branches stretched out to me, tearing at me. "YOU TOOK MY MOTHER AWAY FROM THIS WORLD, ARE YOU TRYING NOW TO TAKE ME TOO!?" I collapsed in the mud and buried myself in my sorrow, shutting myself off from everything around me.

Suddenly a figure burst out of a nearby bush. He was bald and wrinkly, probably in his late sixties. He gave an evil grin and stepped towards me, scarred hands out-stretched, clearly about to hurt me. I tried to create a wall of fire around me using my powers, but the rain instantly put it out, trying to choke out every glimmer of hope I had. I screamed as a blur shot in front of me, knocking me over, and a flash of fire exploded behind me. A silhouette grabbed me and held me down.

"Shush." The figure put a finger on my lips. I finally got a good look at him, and realised he looked the same age as me. The other man let out a ghastly scream, captured by the flames. I shivered as the man's body melted into the earth.

The fire raged on despite the heavy downpour. The two elemental forces almost seemed to be fighting each other. The fire, creating dancing shadows all around us along with the whistling wind made it seem like a hundred chanting witch doctors surrounding us, placing curses on us.

We stood up, rain dripping off our bodies, and I shook off that terrible feeling. "What the heck was that!? I hissed, trying to understand the mayhem that had just occurred, emotions building up again. I sobbed, confused and scared.

"I think you know what that was," he whispered.

The fire that started spontaneously, his eyes that had that strange red tinge.

Of course. He was like me. A "freak". A person that could somehow control fire. I wasn't alone! Flames started to grow between me and him. "Where is my Uncle?" I asked.

"I'm sorry," he said, "you're uncle is dead."

I cried, bent over on the ground, and I let loose. I screamed at everything, wanting to just somehow leave this world right then and there. Fire billowed everywhere, in sync with my emotions, crying with me. They formed a wall around me, almost like a fence. Protecting me.

The boy reached down and took my hand, and this time, I didn't resist. He pulled me up. I looked at the ground, body shaking, but something made me stop. I felt something indescribable. As we touched, I could feel a heat completely different to the fire that swirled around us in the breeze. This boy had saved me. He was my other half, another person with powers like me. He pulled me into a hug, heat radiating through both of our bodies. Despite all this mayhem around me, I felt calm and at peace. This one boy I barely even knew cared about me. He chose to save me. He treated me like a normal human being, which nobody had ever done. Even when I was abandoned by everyone I knew because I was a little different, this one person chose to be my friend, chose to save me. I finally had a friend that treated me like everyone else, and that calmed the fire within me. We stayed like that, amongst the flames yet unharmed, powers protecting us, and I felt better.