Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning

by Lavinia Urban

It was the last day of school, before the summer holiday. Kasey-Ray was going to Claire's house straight from school. She'd told our parents that Claire was having a sleepover. She had just failed to mention that she and Claire had dates that night. She'd told me earlier in the week that Matt Whitburn, a year five student, had asked her out. I had known she liked him and I knew it wouldn't take long before he found out too.

  School had gone quickly. We spent the whole day in our form room playing games. We had been told we could bring in games from home. I had decided to just bring in my Nintendo DS, as I knew the rest of the students wouldn't invite me to play any of their games.

  There was a buzz in the air after sports day, the day before. Each winning form had been taken up to reception to have a group photograph next to it. I didn't really see why I should be in the picture; I didn’t compete in any of the events.

  Either way, I was so glad when it was time to go home, I could relax and not worry about what other people were thinking, or whether Jessica had found out about my meet-ups with Sean or not.

  I walked through the school gates and headed home. I was about half way, when I spotted them. Sat in the black Fiat Punto, were Sean, Paul and James, with Kelly in the driver's seat. A few steps away I spotted Justin and Jessica, who seemed to be having a heated argument. Mainly one sided. Jessica's red hair seemed to blow fiercely around her, even though there was no wind.

  I stopped and paused for a moment, unsure whether to continue walking or not. Jessica hadn't bothered me for a while now, but that still didn't stop me from feeling on edge every time I saw her, especially when she was so angry.

  I looked to the field on my right. I could easily climb the fence, walk across the field, through the trees at the far end. It should bring me out two streets away from my home. I hadn't noticed that it had gone quiet and they were all watching me.

  I looked over at their faces, and for some reason they all looked nervous. Then my eyes fell on Jessica. She was furious.

  "I warned you!" She seethed. I could see her slowly moving towards me. Her teeth grinding together and her hands were clenching and unclenching in fists.

  My heart started to beat faster, my palms became sweaty. It was hard to swallow, with the huge lump that had appeared in my throat.

  “Jess!” I saw Justin place his hands on her arms. “It's not time.” I think I heard him say, as I saw movement from the car and the others started to get out.

  Jessica had noticed too, making her start running towards me.

  In that second I knew I had to jump the fence. I dropped my rucksack and hurtled over the fence, throwing myself into a sprint across the field. But it was too late. She was too fast.

  I felt like my head was being pulled off. I screamed as she dragged me to the ground and started kicking and punching me. I was sure one of my ribs broke. The pain was excruciatingly unbearable. I couldn't stop screaming.

  Why was no one helping me? Why had no one got her off me? Why me? What had I done? Why? Why? Why?

  I started to feel angry. The feeling of heat from my anger was building and building to the point where it took over the pain. I couldn't control it. I'd never felt so angry before. That's when I heard Jessica scream.

  “She's burnt me!” Jessica yelped both in pain and confusion.

  “There's a towel and a couple of bottles of water in the back of the car.” I heard Kelly say. “Paul? James? You go get them. Justin?” She paused for a moment. I was still curled up in a ball. I had no idea what was going on. Who burnt who? All I knew was my anger was starting to fade and the pain was taking over. Tears streamed down my face. I still couldn't look up when Kelly continued. “Get her out of here!” she snapped.

  I expected to feel hands on me, dragging me up, but I felt nothing. It sounded like I was alone. All I could hear were my muffled cries of pain.

  “Erin?” I heard the concerned voice of Sean whisper in my ear.

  I didn't move or speak. I started to take deep breaths to try and overcome the pain.

  “Can you hear me Erin?” Kelly asked in a soothing voice.

  Then I felt someone stroking my left cheek. I froze. Was my mind playing tricks on me? My breathing started to accelerate and the stroking stopped, but the hand didn't move off my cheek.

  “Shhh, it's okay, we won't hurt you.” It was Sean again. It must have been his hands on my cheek. He went back to stroking my face as I heard footsteps approaching.

  “We phoned Kate, and she's going to meet us at the cottage.” I heard Paul and James chorus.

  “Erin?” Kelly spoke this time. She didn't wait for a reply. “I'm just going to put some water on you and wrap you in a towel.” She told me gently, as I curled up tighter in a frightened ball.

  I couldn't feel water on me, just the sound of something hissing. I did start to feel cooler though, which was a plus, but the pain was still there and taking control of my body.

  I didn't even want to look down to examine myself. If I was in this much pain, I could only imagine how bad I looked.

  Suddenly I felt someone put a towel around me and lift me up into their arms, in one quick movement.

  Before I could open my eyes or try and get away, everything went black.