Swallowed in Flame

Chapter 2

A/n It's raining here and it makes me so excited. Hope you guys are doing great. Love you all.

When get home and we park in the lab. I get out quickly and slam the door shut. I storm over to the counter and sit at one of the stools. I put my head in my hands. Why am I so angry? Literally nothing happened. Emotions are so stupid. Dad comes over and sits next to me. I am literally going to explode in a giant ball of rage and fire one day.

"Hey are you okay?" dad asks me after a while. "What do you think?" I snap at him. Before sighing and sinking into myself. I groan and put my head on the counter. "I want to get run over by a car," I groan out. I hear dad gasp slightly. "Not literal," I confirm. I hear him sigh. 

Silence falls over us. After a while dad speaks up, "What's been going on with you lately? Your emotions seem to be non existence or blowing up in everyone's faces." "Well I don't want to explode into a ball of fire and rage so I keep my emotions down but then that just blows up in my face after awhile and I just explode with all my suppressed emotions," I breath out. That felt good to get off of my chest. "What do you mean you suppress your emotions so you don't explode in a ball of fire?" dad asks. Oh shoot. I just gave away my secret. Great job Hailey. "Um.... I'm going to get changed," I stand up off the stool and basically sprint for the door. "Hey! Hailey get your butt back here now!" I hear dad yell at me but I'm already halfway up the stairs.

I can get this stupid dress off finally. It was tight and itchy. I peel off my dress once I get into my room. I walk into the my bathroom and look in the mirror. I reach my arm up and turn to the side. The black scorch mark was getting worse by the second. It was now about half the size of my torso. What is even going on with my body? I'm not in pain but I might be dying, who really knows which? I grab the water bottle I keep in the bathroom so that I can take showers. I drink half of the water bottle. A coolness comes over my whole body and I start to shiver. I turn the water on and put it really hot. I get completely undressed and hop into the shower.

After the shower I put on some sweatpants and dad's loose t-shirt that I stole from his closet the other day. I put my hair into a nice messy bun and put on some running shoes. I pull a jacket on to cover my scars. I walk out the front door without telling anyone where I was going. I don't think dad would even care. Running made me feel free. It was something that I could do by myself. I jog down the driveway and out the gate. I hear Jarvis start saying something to me but I just ignore it and run faster. I jog around the town about twice before heading back. Thankfully I had managed to avoid people all the while. Mission accomplished. I worked out and didn't get caught by paparazzi. Paparazzi can suck my ass. 

I'm trying to take a nap on the couch quietly while my dad is doing something in the lab. I don't question what he does. I don't even listen to what he does most of the time. I just like having the company. I would invite Josh over but dad had strictly said no so here we are. I had this ever pounding headache that made it feel like my head was going to explode. 

I was just about to fall asleep when I hear Pepper rush in to the lab. I groan slightly and pull the blanket I had over my face. This headache was killing me. Then the worse thing happens dad and Pepper start arguing about nothing. The sound was so loud and it made me want to hurl myself off of a bridge. All this yelling was making my headache worse. 

I turn over onto my stomach and put the blanket to my ears. I hear them start walking towards me. I hear Pepper yelling no at my father. I want to tell them to stop yelling and maybe shut up but my head hurts too bad to do anything. I would have taken pain meds but drugs don't work on me. Whether they are prescription or alcohol. I was always hungry which is not great. Dad thinks the "fire" made my metabolism faster and better. Bullshit. I always had fire. Whatever Obadiah gave me just made it worse. Maybe it was poison.

My dad and Pepper keep arguing and yelling louder. I groan again, louder this time so that they might notice my pain and be quieter. Of course they don't though because they're to invested into the argument. Dad just made Pepper CEO. Yay! Thankfully they started talking quieter. I hear them clink glasses and even that makes me wince. They keep talking. I think dad forgot that I was even on the couch. He didn't know I had a headache but nonetheless he basically forgot my existence like he used to when I was younger. It's fine while I have a headache though.

I fell a tap on my my arm. "You okay kid?" dad asks. I wince. He said that way too loud. I nod my head 'no' slightly. I get a little nauseous from even that small movement. "What's wrong?" he asks in a softer tone. Probably noticing the pain I got from the sound of his voice. Instead of talking I just lift my hand and point to my head and make and explosion movement with my hand. "Headache?" he asks. I give him a thumbs up. "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want me to leave you alone?" dad asks. I give him another thumbs up. I hear him get up walk somewhere else. I fall asleep after a while. I was exhausted but the pounding in my head made it almost impossible to sleep along with the memories. 

I'm laying on my back on one of the benches in the work out room. Dad and Happy are boxing in the boxing ring. Dad won't let me learn how to fight. I think that's stupid because I need to learn self defense with all of dads crazy schemes. 

Pepper walks in, "The notary's here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?" "I'm on happy time," dad responds. I sit up to watch dad and Happy box. Dad hits Happy in the nose with his elbow. "Sorry," he pants. "What the hell was that?" Happy exclaims. "It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for... three weeks," dad explains. "It's called dirty boxing. There's nothing new about it," Happy argues.

I hear another set of heels click in. I look over to the entryway and see a girl with dark red hair walk in. She's wearing a shirt the is way too tight and she has the top buttons undone. She was actually really cute. I feel my eyes wander to where the shouldn't and I quickly look back at my dad. I then look back at her and watch her. She walks over to Pepper and shows her a folder. They have a conversation. I realize I'm staring at her again and turn my head back to the ring to see dad kick Happy into one of the poles. Dad looks over at the red headed lady and points to her asking, "What's your name, lady?" She hesitates slightly before saying, "Rushman. Natalie Rushman." "Front and center. Come into the church," dad says. "No. You're seriously not gonna ask," Pepper starts before dad says, "If it pleases the court, which it does." "It's no problem," Natalie assures. 

Natalie walks over and dad lifts one of the ropes up and Natalie steps in. They stare at each other for awhile. Dad takes a long sip of his drink before saying, "What?" "Can you give her a lesson?" dad asks Happy while stepping out. Instead of watching my father I watch as Happy teaches Natalie some boxing stuff. "How do I spell you name, Natalie?" I hear dad shout out. "R-U-S-H-M-A-N" Natalie responds. Natalie looks back at dad and Happy spills something about boxing and goes to lightly punch her in the face. Natalie reacts quickly and grabs his gloved hand and flips him to the ground. Her legs are around his neck. I see him tap out quickly. "Oh my god! Happy!" Pepper exclaims. "Can you do that to my father?" I ask her. "Or could you at least teach me how to do that? Like I would love you forever if you taught me how to fight," I ask her excitedly. She looks over at me and smiles, "Sure. Maybe another time though." Yes! 

Natalie then steps out of the ring and puts her shoes on. "Just... I need you impression," she says. I don't quite get what dad says in response. Probably something I don't want or need to hear though. They talk for a minute longer before Pepper dismisses her. She walks off. "I want one," dad says. "No," Pepper says very sternly.

I stand up and walk towards the exit to head to my room. I wanted to check on the scorch mark that was starting to make up most of my side now. I walk into my bathroom once I get there. I lift up my shirt. It looked really weird. It wasn't oozing or burning away skin. It was just like... I don't know. It was like the burn marks on sides of buildings. I put my hand to it. It didn't feel hot nor cold. I walk over to my bed and lay down. I was just going to take a quick nap. I had been doing that lately but everyone takes naps so I'm probably fine. 

A/n I almost didn't get this chapter in today but I persisted and finished it. My mom got mad at me for still being awake at 10:07 (that's the time here) but in reality I stay up until 2:00 am every night/morning. Welp. Hope you guys are doing great. Love you all.

See ya.

*Edited*