Rouge

by Isabella Modra

  What made her day even better was when she checked her phone and found thirty missed calls from Joshua and one message from Eli.

  ‘Hey, it’s Eli. Sorry I didn’t call last night. Where r u? R u sick? I hope ur okay. Anyway, call me later, I want to ask you something.’

  Hunter found herself grinning and re-read the message a few more times. She didn’t feel guilty at all for not calling Joshua, but she so desperately wanted to call Eli that she started dialing.

  “Wait.” Hunter disconnected the call and threw the phone down on the bed. It felt wrong to be calling him after what she’d done. “Concentrate,” she said to the phone. “Fight the fire, then think about Eli.”

  How simple things had been when the two of them met, and now suddenly her life was a mess. How could she possibly recover from this and expect to go back to her normal life at school?

  You gotta start somewhere, she thought with a sigh.

  Hunter finished her coffee and lunch and got to work again.

  sixteen

  "You’ve reached Hunter, leave a message.”

  Joshua snapped his phone shut and felt the urge to throw it across the room. He’d lost count of how many times he’d left Hunter messages. Where the hell was she? It had been three days, and she hadn’t even bothered to call.

  Joshua considered going to the police - several times, in fact - but they might ask questions about why Hunter ran away, and maybe even call social services. He couldn’t have the law involved. It would get too messy, especially since he wasn’t at all blood-related to Hunter. Not only that, but it might attract the attention of the Agents. He just had to wait for her to gather herself up.

  After eating breakfast, Joshua dressed in his usual work clothes and collected his paperwork off the kitchen table. He was just tying his shoelaces when the apartment door hissed open.

  He looked up, and there she stood. She carried her overnight bag, wore the same clothes she left in the other night with an added jumper and couldn’t have looked more exhausted. He almost didn’t recognize her.

  A million words passed between them. Joshua wanted to shout at her, to make her swear never to run off and not call again, but he knew better. Hunter’s eyes filled with tears and she dropped her bag on the floor beside the keys and coats rack.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call,” she said. Her voice was hoarse, but stronger now, and guarded. He couldn’t imagine how these last few days had been for her, to deal with this alone. She was like him in more ways than he expected - he would have done exactly the same thing.

  Joshua didn’t move. “It’s fine. You needed space, I understand.”

  “I know you’ve been worried about me though.”

  “Yes I have. But it was a lot to take in, and you handled it far better than I expected. No one was hurt.”

  Hunter burst into tears. She buried her face in her hands and leant against the door, sinking to the floor. Pure instinct moved Joshua to squat in front of her and pull her against him. A striking sense of déjà vu hit him in the chest as he thought of Liz, coming to him on the night of the fire.

  “Joshua,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry Hunter, it’s me who needs to apologize. I should never have kept it from you. I should have told you the truth when you were ready.”

  She twisted her head up and looked into his pale eyes, filled with guilt and anxiousness. Her words came out in a voice that sounded unlike her own.

  “I killed someone.”

  “What?”

  “It was an accident,” she said hurriedly as he released her and sat beside her against the door. “I was walking through the backstreets, trying to get to the mini-mart, when I was attacked by two homeless men. They... they tried to rape me.”

  Joshua’s fists clenched so tightly together that the knuckles were whiter than snow, but he said nothing. The air in the room was suddenly cold.

  “I lost control… I was so scared, and then suddenly this surge of electricity burst from my skin and the two men were thrown against the wall of the alley. One ran away, but the other... he was...” She bit back a sob and took a deep breath. “I left him in the alley and ran to a hotel. I stayed there until it felt safe to come out, until I learnt to control my powers.”

  It happened. Joshua’s heart felt as though it was being squeezed agonizingly slow. You let it happen to her, you fucking idiot! She lost control and it cost someone their life! How could you betray Liz like that? The voice in his head was ripping him apart. He tried to breathe but found his throat had been blocked.

  “Joshua?”

  “I’m sorry Hunter,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”

  Hunter sniffed. “Well I’m here now, and I’m listening.”

  “Can you… show me?”

  “What?”

  “Show me the fire.”

  Hunter lifted her left hand, held it before him and concentrated hard. A tiny ball of flames appeared, licking at her fingers, so simple and calm that it almost didn’t scare him. Again, Joshua couldn’t be rid of the memories; Liz with her hand over the flame of the Bunsen burner that day at the shack. How he wished she could be there to see how incredible her daughter was.

  Hunter closed her fingers and the flame was diminished. Joshua looked up into her eyes and could see the pain these past few days had caused her. He only wished he could have been there for her. She shouldn’t have gone through what she did alone.

  “I promised your mother I would take care of you Hunter,” he said. “I want you to have as normal a life as possible, regardless of what special abilities you hold. You’re a bright, strong girl, and you deserve every bit of happiness. I’m so proud of you.”

  Then Joshua did something he’d almost never done, not since she was a small child at least. He leaned towards her, put his hand behind her head and gently laid a kiss on her forehead. His lips tingled and a rush of something strange and warm passed through him.

  Hunter wiped a tear from her cheek. “I killed someone, Joshua. Don’t you know what that means? Everything is different now.”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. You couldn’t help it, Hunter.” The tone of his voice was more confident and fatherly than he’d ever heard it before. “I want you to promise me that you won’t run off like that again, at least until you know you can control yourself.”

  “I can,” she said, and her eyes blazed with sureness. “I wouldn’t have come back if I couldn’t.”

  Joshua gave her a small smile and nodded. “I believe you.”

  – PART 3 –

  TO BE A HERO

  seventeen

  Hunter showered, put on fresh clothes and went into the bathroom to dry her hair. The reflection in the mirror seemed ten times older. I don’t look like myself anymore.

  She forced herself to smile at her reflection. She no longer felt fear when she thought about the fire. Despite the fact that it still burned inside her, Hunter had grasped it firmly now. She was sure she could control it.

  The fire rippled through her in protest, as if challenging her to prove that theory. She grasped the flame beneath her skin, pushed it to the very top of her head and watched steam rise from it. She had taught herself to produce different types of flames while holed up in the hotel room. She dried herself completely by setting her body on fire. She learnt to set things alight with her mind by concentrating on the fuel and oxygen particles around her. She had even practiced more entertaining things, such as making shapes with the fire in her hands. She could now successfully throw spherical balls at anything she aimed at.

  But still, in the midst of her amazement and awe at her powers, she felt like a different person. No longer did things like going to college or passing her final year matter to her. Her entire future was gone. Everything had changed.

  Why is that important? she asked herself. Focus on what’s changing now before you
worry about your future. Focus on the things that are still normal in your life.

  The only normal thing she had going for her - if it even still existed - was Eli. She hadn’t heard from him since he had messaged her on Tuesday in the hotel. Was he worried or angry? Should she call him now or wait until after school?

  Speaking of school, what had Joshua told them? What about work tonight? Should she go?

  Hunter couldn’t face any more questions, so she focused on fixing herself some lunch. Joshua had left for work, insisting that she rest at home and that he’d return in the afternoon. He was anxious to know more about her powers, being the scientist he was. But Hunter just wanted a normal night, to pretend for the first time in days that she wasn’t a freak of nature with a fire inside of her.

  As if in answer to her prayers, Hunter’s phone rang. Her heart somersaulted.

  “Hello?”

  “Hunter? It’s Eli. Are you okay?”

  Relief doused the fire within her, and suddenly she was Hunter again.

  “Hi, Eli. Yeah... sorry I haven’t called or anything. I um... I’ve had really bad laryngitis for the past couple of days. I feel better today, but I’ve had a fever all week.”

  “Oh shit,” he said. “That sucks.”

  “Yeah. Are you in class?”

  “Nah. Free period. Thank God it’s Friday,” he laughed. “I’ve been looking forward to the weekend ever since school started.”

  “Did you say you had something to ask me?”

  Eli was quiet on the other end for a moment, and fear ran through Hunter. Had she upset him already?

  “I did, um...” His voice broke and he cleared his throat. “Would you er... I mean if you’re feeling better… would you like to go out with me tonight?”

  Only one thing stopped Hunter from saying yes immediately: Was she ready? She wanted more than anything to go on a date with Eli, to escape the past few days and feel normal for a change.

  But she couldn’t. She wasn’t normal. And she cared too much about Eli to put him in harm’s way, even if it killed her to say no to him.

  “Oh Eli, I’d love to but… I just don’t think I’m well enough yet,” she lied, hopefully to make him feel better. Another lie. And this is just the beginning of the mountain of lies I’ll be telling him for the rest of my life.

  “It’s fine, I understand. I hope you feel better.”

  It only occurred to Hunter then as she said goodbye to Eli and slumped back to her bedroom that it wouldn’t be right for her to be with Eli. She couldn’t have a relationship with someone who didn’t know the battle that raged inside her. These things always end bad in the movies, she told herself. I’m not going to spend my life lying to those I love like I’m freaking Superman or something.

  But it was too late. She already had feelings for Eli. It wasn’t fair that she had to live her life alone just to keep people safe. What had she done to deserve that?

  She thought of the alley and suddenly she was crying. Tears of rage spilled from her eyes and she snatched a pillow from her bed and threw it across the room, setting it on fire as it soared through the air. The fire caught onto her curtain and it lit up like gasoline. Hunter panicked and forced herself to concentrate. Diminishing the fire was much harder than generating it, but she managed. Her curtains were not maroon anymore, but a charcoal black.

  Learn to control it, she thought, and it was the only thought that gave her hope. It would take more time than she realized, but she had Joshua. The few days in the hotel room were good for her to explore her powers, to get a grip on the knowledge that she was a mutant and so was her mother, and to forget the homeless man whose life she’d ended. Now it was time to train.

  True to his word, Joshua came home early that night just after Hunter called in sick for work.

  “I’m glad you’re not going tonight,” said Joshua while they cooked dinner in the kitchen together on the new stove. “It’s not wise.”

  “I want to though. I need some semblance of a normalcy in my life.”

  “You will Hunter, you just have to be careful for now. Your powers are new to you. You’ll get there eventually.”

  She threw onions into the pan and a teaspoon of garlic, watching as it sizzled violently. “I still don’t understand where this rock came from.”

  “That is a mystery I’ve been pondering over for a very long time.”

  “Do you have a name for it?”

  Joshua wiped his hands on a towel and frowned. “What, the stone? No. I never thought to name it.”

  “Well, you discovered it. What would you name it?”

  Joshua’s mouth broke into a smile, reminiscent of the glory days. “Leo would be better at this than I. He’d call it… I don’t know, Magnito or something.”

  “Magnito?” she snorted. “That’s original. Well okay… what are some of the volcanic rock types?”

  “There’s hundreds. They’re either igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic.”

  “You said it’s igneous, right?”

  Joshua pulled out a salad bowl and nodded. “Correct. But it appears almost artificial, like it’s a fake igneous stone.”

  Hunter stopped cutting and tipped her head to the side. “So we should call it… Figneous?”

  Joshua scowled. “That just sounds stupid.”

  “Hey I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas.” She popped a piece of cucumber in her mouth.

  “What about Joshu-ite?” His eyes glowed with pride and Hunter almost choked on her cucumber. “What? It has a ring to it, you must admit.”

  Hunter’s eyes were watering as she laughed at the child-like smile on his face. “Get real – Joshua. It has to actually mean something.”

  He grumbled under his breath that David Attenborough had a dinosaur named after him as he washed the lettuce in the sink.

  “Seriously though,” said Hunter, “it looks like some sort of basalt stone from the outside right?”

  “Yes,” he said, “and inside it’s a living liquid with the tendency to possess people and erupt near extreme heat.”

  “So basically it’s a black evil rock?”

  “Yes. Basically.”

  “What about ‘Ravenadium’?”

  He made a sour face. “Ravenadium? It’s not a chemical.”

  “Yeah, but it sounds badass,” Hunter grinned. “And it goes with the raven-black exterior. I think it’s catchy.”

  “Fine,” he sighed. “Good. Now that that completely unimportant matter has been settled, can you continue asking questions before Christmas comes?”

  Smiling to herself, Hunter slid the slices of chicken off the board into the pan. “Okay. What stopped you from giving yourself my abilities?”

  Joshua’s hand holding his water glass froze on its way to his mouth. A glint of something she couldn’t put her finger on flashed briefly across his face, but then it was gone and he was smiling.

  “It’s impossible to re-create what you have Hunter. The Ravenadium your father and I found is so rare, only the two of us knew where to find it. As for Feucotetanus, that drug no longer exists.”

  “How?”

  “I destroyed every known manufacturer who produced it,” he said simply. “Those Swedish bastards never saw it coming.”

  “You did what?”

  “I did what I had to do to protect your secret. It was a dangerous substance that those idiots were messing about with. They should be thanking me.”

  Hunter raised an eyebrow at him. “So there’s... there’s no one else out there like me?”

  Joshua laughed. “Hunter, your powers were genetically implanted in you through the act of coitus, after your mother was mistakenly infected with an extinct drug and one of the rarest volcanic substances I’ve ever come across. I highly doubt, Hunter, that there is anyone like you in this world.”

  She stirred the chicken in the sauce and watched it bubble. “Really? Joshua up until last week, I didn’t even think people with super powers exist, and now I’m
freaking pyrokinetic.”

  To prove her point, she picked up the pan, summoned the flame and lit the underside in a burst of fire, as if her own hand were a stove top.

  A frown creased Joshua’s forehead. “You shouldn’t be doing that so casually,” he snapped. “You’re not ready yet.”

  “When will I be ready then?”

  “When I say so.”

  Hunter snorted as she transferred the stew into two bowls filled with rice - one cold, the other steaming - and they sat down to eat. “Are you going to teach me? Because no offense, how are you supposed to know any more than I do about my powers?”

  Joshua didn’t meet her gaze. “You’d be surprised.”

  Something in his tone made her put her fork down and peer at him across the bench. “What does that mean?”

  “I have more knowledge of your powers than anyone else. After all, only I know about Ravenadium.” He still spoke the name as if it were a nasty poisonous spider. “And Hunter, you can’t have another soul on this earth know what you are. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I’m aware of that,” she muttered and stabbed at a piece of chicken, her throat becoming thick.

  Joshua’s face led her to believe he doubted it. “You’ll get through this Hunter,” he said. His icy blue eyes were full of promise. “Should we start tomorrow?”

  Her heart thumped nervously. “Fine. Tomorrow it is. But tomorrow night I’ve got work, okay?”

  “If we train all day, I’ll let you work. But I’m not too sure about school yet.”

  “What?” A piece of chicken nearly flopped out of her mouth. “Since when do you get to decide whether I go to school?”

  “Since you killed someone.”

  Hunter set his plate alight and Joshua jumped back, toppling off his seat. “That. Wasn’t. Funny.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, collecting himself and brushing flecks of sauce from his collar. “I guess it’s… too soon.”

  She stabbed at a hard piece of carrot and muttered, “Way too soon.”