5/30/2017

Dream On. Chapter 86: Burning

Previously...

Burning

Albert could feel how his clothes started to get soaked from sweat, he was tempted to do like Marla and take them off. However, he knew that if the fire did ever grow out of control he was safer with them on. And that was a possibility that he needed to contemplate. He stepped out of the fire a bit, to get less heat because he was starting to feel light-headed. Marla saw it.

-The little rabbit is afraid to get roasted. Too bad, I always liked grilled rabbit.- she got closer to the flames as if she couldn’t feel the heat, Albert saw that it was mockery, as she soon started sweating, all her skin glistening under the fire.

A heavy column of smoke started rising to the ceiling. For once, Albert was glad that the temple was so high and all made in stone. He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened in a tighter space with wooden ceiling. He quenched the fire a bit just enough so he could see Marla clearly without his eyes watering. He saw that her hair was matted to her skin because of the heat she had endured by getting closer to the fire.

-You know why I am here, don’t you, Marla?

-So I can slaughter you?- she said, still her old self.

-No, to finish you.

Albert then tried to do one of the things she was known to do better, render the other person’s body useless. He focused on impeding any kind of movement in her body and succeeded. Marla stayed where she was immobile, stiff as a stick. Nevertheless, Albert allowed her to be able to talk.

-You and all of them outside think that you are better than me. That you don’t let the power possess you, but you are living a lie. Having power and not taking profit of it is throwing your life away. Though, I have to admit that you have learned a lesson or two. Have you been practicing? Of course, not. You would never hurt a fly, would you? If you kill me you won’t be better than me, you will be exactly like me, killing other people to get what you want.

He wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying, he knew that she was trying to make him lose focus because it was much harder for him than it had been for her. He could hear her talking and talking, until he decided that it was time to put it to end. He tightened his grip on her throat, making her unable to speak, and having her panting to breathe. He felt how he was growing more tired, and how she was opposing to his control. Albert could feel the fury on Marla, boiling in her veins. Then he felt that he was losing it.

The next thing he knew he was lying on the floor with something heavy on his chest. He recovered all his senses and realized it was Myriam, who was severely burned. And dead. The flames were higher now, and had actually spread to every piece of wood there was in the building. He saw Dalia running towards a stone staircase in her intent to escape the fire.

-Your little woman has saved you, you know?- he could hear Marla’s scorning voice.- I had regained control and I threw you a fireball, I thought it would be nice for you to die both burned and because of an impact, you know? Because of your grandmother and your sister. But that stupid little girl got in the middle. I still don’t know what did you see in her… Well, I should thank her, now I will have even more time to make you suffer, which is one of my favorite hobbies.

Albert was on his knees next to Myriam’s body, unable to believe that yet another innocent person in his life was dead. He cried over her corpse, he cried until he ran out of tears, and the fury settled in. He took her body in his arms and hid it in a hole in the wall that he guessed was intended to hold a tomb, it seemed right for her to rest there, at least for the moment. He faced Marla once again from across the fire.

-You’ve taken everything I loved from me. Is it what you wanted? Do you think I will become a broken person like you? A person who only thinks about his own benefits? Do you think you’ve made me a selfish person? You’ve killed my grandmother, you’ve killed Mayra, and now, you’ve killed Myriam. But you have not made me worse, you haven’t won, I am not you and I will never be. And now you have nothing else to take away from me, there is nothing for you to blackmail me with. You’ve made me free, and this means that I can now end with you because I have nothing to lose.


He increased the fire intensity, avoiding Marla’s resistance as if she had had the strength of a toddler. He increased it even more, the flames already halfway the ceiling. And then he set the air on fire, making all the windows explode.

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