• CH.1
    I was walking through the park, staring at the curving cement path ahead of me going into the darkness. I checked my watch for the current time. It said 1:38. I was coming back from a study session with my friend Jacob. This is the second to last week of school and we are having finals tomorrow. Lucky for us we had today off from school. It’s Memorial Day. The park is a shortcut to my apartment. There was no one out at this time of night… or so I thought. It was too dark to see it and yet too silent to miss it… her. I hear a faint groan off to the far left. At this moment all I could see was the lightning bug’s light flickering on and off.
    “Funny… I’ve never seen fireflies around here before.”
    This sight reminded me of my secret, the secret that separated me from the human classification. I shrugged the thought away and walked slowly towards the bugs. I was thinking of catching one to take home, but then one of their lights shone on something I didn’t expect to see. My eyes widened at the sight but as soon as it was seen it was in darkness before a second could be timed. Even if the lightning bugs weren’t shining in that spot I could tell something that it, no, she was still there. I had seen a face. I stared at the spot for a while until it was lit again. There was no mistaking it. I walk towards her. As soon as I was a two feet from her I heard her voice.
    “Stop.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “Don’t come any closer, human.”
    That line made me smile. Good thing it was dark or she would have seen it. This was good to hear. It meant that she had something to do with nonhumans and that my disguise was well made. Including the level of energy my body was using, which was at human amount.
    “What are you doing?”
    I could hear her picking herself up from the grass. Another light flickered near her arm and I could see the trail of blood flowing on it. I flinched at the sight. I couldn’t see her face so I couldn’t tell what kind of mood she was in. I guess I just have to take a guess from the voice.
    “What happened to you?” I asked taking another step.
    “Stop. Stop right there!” Her voice was at a higher level. Yet didn’t quite reach a yell.
    Just then the lightning bugs revealed more to me, and boy did it make me curious. She was cut almost on every visible part of her body. Her clothes were cut up as if some one got a knife and went berserk. All was evenly decorated in blood. That’s not a good way to put this view. I repeated my last question.
    “None of your concern!”
    “Really now?”
    “Yes!”
    “Does that mean you won’t answer any of my questions?”
    “That’s right.”
    “You just did.”
    She was silent. I felt irritation from her.
    “Can I help you at all? You look like you just had a wrestling match with Wolverine. And lost.”
    She was silent. Her mood changed and this time I couldn’t guess it.
    “Leave.”
    “… That’s not really what I meant.”
    “Leave me alone.”
    I sighed. I looked at my watch. 1:44. She did say something that made her seem like she had something to do with a nonhuman. Her energy level… her aura… her chi. No doubt about it, she was pure human. I’m going to use this to my advantage and try my luck. I turn around and start walking towards the walkway.
    “ Well if you say that’ll help then later-“
    “More like goodbye.”
    “Ya ya. Well, good bye.”
    I walk slowly, making sure that she can hear my steps. I feel her getting less tense with every step I take.
    “If you’re trying to find the Truth in the sky you won’t find it on a cloud.”
    All the tension that she lost suddenly came back.
    “What? Hey wait! How do you know about that?”
    “Sorry, I’m kinda busy. I’m doing this random girl a favor by leaving her alone.”
    “Hey wait a minute. How do you know that? How do you know I’m searching the Truth?”
    I could hear her coming up behind me. I look back and see her limping her way towards me. With all that I just found out this very second I could tell she was just in a fight. Luck was the answer to her question. But I didn’t answer it. I was standing under a lamp at this moment and she could see my smirk. I could tell she saw it because as she came closer to the light I could see her eyebrows switch into an angry position. Her lips were in an unchanged serious position. I turn my head around and continue walking on the curving cement path ahead of me.
    “Answer me!”
    I was silent.
    “Hey! Listen to me!”
    She was still following me. This is what I wanted. If she wasn’t going to take my help I’m just going to lead her to it. She was repeating the same things over and over. “Answer me.” And “Listen!” I was looking at the dark sky, the pale moon. I was ignoring her and kept walking forward. I could tell she was still limping. Her foot was scratching against the floor. The thought that she was searching The Truth was kind of sad to me. The reason is not important right now.
    “Come on. Tell me…” Her voice was going faint.
    I kept walking until I heard a thud. I turn my head around to see her fallen, face flat, on the floor. A trail of blood was running behind her. Blood loss? How could I be so stupid and forget? She is human after all. She wasn’t dead. I could still feel the energy of life coming from her body. I walk up to her and take her in my arms. My apartment was just up ahead on the next right turn. I walked until I reached it.
    On the door to my apartment, which was number 17, there was a nametag. It read Passarow Residence. I slipped it off to find a key taped to the back. My key. I quickly opened the door and put the key back to its hiding place. Carrying her in my arms again I bump the door shut with my butt. I didn’t lock it seeing there was no need. Entering I was in the living room. I take a right and head for my room. It was a small two-bedroom apartment. Two rooms a kitchen tied with the living room and a bathroom from each bedroom. I take her into my room and lay her on the bed. The other room didn’t have a bed. It was used to study and hold my school papers. I turn on the light. She had chestnut colored hair and a fair body shape. The skin she wore was smooth and tanned. She had an undershirt so I didn’t hesitate to take the top one off. I examined her cuts. They weren’t as deep as I had pictured them to be. This would be a snap. Human injuries were easy to heal, especially ones that don’t cut off a body part. I go back and turn off the light.
    I snap my finger. Doing this created sparks in front of my eyes. They floated slowly down in front of me until they landed in the palm of my hand, which I had planted there waiting for the sparks to land. The sparks did not die out instead they slowly grew bigger. I clenched my hand into a fist. My fist glowed as if you had put a flashlight in it. It was getting brighter. With a level of light my fist caught into flames. I quickly point my index finger up. The fire was now smaller like the flame of a candle, or the fire from the cigarette lighter. It was hovering over my index finger now.
    “That was close.” I whispered to myself.
    I haven’t done this in a long time. I concentrated on the kind of energy I sent to the fire. I walked up to the bed she was resting on. I let the little flame drop to my finger. It was now covering the first joint from the top and up. I traced every cut she had with it counting on every touch.
    “One… two… three… four… five… six… seven…” I whispered to myself.
    The fire had caught on the cuts but didn’t burn her. The fire showed the shape of the cuts, for it only stayed on the open part of her skin (the cuts). The fire was slowly decreasing in size and if you looked closely at the fires core you would notice that the injuries were also getting smaller. It was like the injuries were its fuel. The more that was eaten the less would remain to keep it going.
    “Twenty five… twenty six… twenty seven. That’s all of them.”
    I stood next to the bed staring at my little flames as they ate the injuries. As soon as they were all gone I lifted my hand over her concentrating for the right kind of energy. Again my hand glowed. This time bright red like the metal being taken out of the furnace by a blacksmith. I slowly slid my hand across the areas covered in blood. I could hear the sizzling as the blood quickly evaporated. I made sure that the only thing being burnt was the blood. Fire and heat were to be under my command. Lastly I laid a hand on her chest feeling for her heart beat. When I found it I noticed it was weak and faint. I shot it with pure regeneration energy (the energy I used to form my flames) and the room lit for half a second as if someone was taking a picture of lightning just flashed next to the window. Now I stood with my eyes closed. I listened. In this silent room I could easily hear her breathing. She was now sleeping. I walk to the living room. The room was still dark so I had to reach my hands in front of me to find the couch. I’m going to sleep there tonight for my patient was resting on the only bed. I laid my head on one arm of the couch and my feet were crossed resting on the other. I crossed my arms on my chest. And looked out the window. I checked the time on my watch not that I really wanted to know the time but just out of habit. 2:01. I turn my head and stared out through the window. I saw of the moon, which was hiding half of its shy face behind some dark clouds. The clouds moved so slowly that I only noticed they moved when the moon was completely hidden. Then the thought suddenly came to me.
    “Oh… I forgot to catch a firefly…”