User:Xepscern/Brianna

Brianna watched her hand, as it went up in flames. Holding her hand up high in her room, taking care not to singe anything, Brianna watched the small fire engulf her appendage. She could still feel the heat, heat that which initially caused her immense amounts of pain, but her skin was never burned from the fire she self-manifested. She taught herself how to endure the heat, to hold on to the flame longer, to created larger, more intense fires. She focused on maintaining the flame for as long as she could, before she felt herself losing control.

breathe in, breathe out

She focused her breathing, evenly segmenting each breathe. She could feel the flame flicker, waver, but she still felt control in herself.

breathe in, breathe out

She concentrated on the sensation of the intense heat. Heat that which would leave fifth degree scars on any other human. Heat that use to make her scream trying to maintain. She remembered the first time using the power, the intense pain it caused her, the small fire she caused at her eighth birthday. Her parents chalked it up to her playing with matches, and grounded her.

in, out 

But she knew better. She knew she was dangerous if she didn't properly train herself. She knew what her ability could do. She knew that showing her parents would only cause them to worry or send her to the doctor. She knew telling anyone could set off a chain of reactions where she would become a guinea pig to science. She knew she was an oddity.

And that's why she had to keep it a secret.

She suddenly felt the flame start to flicker more rapidly. Quickly, she dropped the flame, and let it disappear. She looked over at her clock, blinking 5:00 at her in digital, red numbers.

''An hour. My new record.''

Quickly, she rolled her sleeve back down, and went back to her barely started homework. Not normally stress about her homework on a Friday night, she wanted to make sure she would have nothing inhibiting her this weekend. She wanted to make sure nothing would get in her way by this Sunday.

Sunday. The 27th of October. Her eighteenth birthday.

-

A tiny car traveled down the highway, taking advantage of the quiet Sunday night. The car was almost two decades old, with blemishes near the right headlight, and torn up, foam seats. To most people, it would easily be classified as outdated; to a high schooler, it was the only method to leave the house.

Brianna sat in the passenger seat, her boyfriend Scott driving. After already having dinner and a movie, they were still an hour early on curfew. And driving around aimlessly seemed like a more fun way to pass the time than go home early.

Scott soon pulled up to a gas station, joking that they had just arrived to the glamorous part of the date. After cracking a few more jokes, he left Brianna in the car to go fetch some junk food.

As he started chatting with the cashier, Brianna noticed a hooded man running toward the store. She quickly got out of the car when she saw the hooded man pull a gun at the cashier. Before she had time to react, the man had already shot both men, and was filling his hoodie pocket with the register money.

Brianna stood stunned, seeing her boyfriend passed out on the floor. She stood stayed like this for three seconds.

Then, she ran to the robber.

Brianna tackled the man as he rushed out of the store, punching him a half dozen times. Without even thinking it, fire had been conjured up around her fists, leaving burn gashes all over his face. Stopping herself after the sixth punch, she realized what she had done. Fleeing the scene, she called the police, running away from the scene.

-

Sitting by him in the hospital bed, Brianna cried, thinking both about what she almost lost, and about how she lost control of her ability. Scott was awake, telling her it was okay, and that he was going to recover. Scott turned the hospital TV on, hoping to help Brianna relax, but was immediately met with a news report on the accident.

''...caught on tape, you can see the man run in, and pull a gun on both the cashier and the civilian. After shooting both, and running away with the money, the man ran out. But that's where the story gets interesting, as his body was found unconscious outside the store, with burn marks all over his clothes and face. Police suspect a good Samaritan, using fire in some way, had stopped the man, but with no video evidence...''

Scott just shook his head, questioning who would use fire to stop a criminal. Asking Brianna, she had only repeated the same lie she told police: when she saw the gun, she ran away, not seeing who had saved the day.

A million things were whirling around in Brianna's mind, the focus she had achieved a few days gone. Brianna just sat there, tensed, not knowing what would happen in the future.