I stare at the flame then dip a finger into the warm red wax pooling around it. Katie had called that morning and told me that she doesn't want me over at the house anymore. I went anyway after she left for work, and though I could hear Darren in the house, he didn't come when I knocked. I pried the locks open but found that the door had been bolted from inside.
A cold draft seeping through a crack in my window touches my nape. Katie's voice begins spinning in my head, becoming ever high-pitch and more hysterical by the moment. I place my palm over the flame until the heat becomes too hot and my hand jerks back. Katie's shrieks subside, disappearing into a fog of mumbles in the back of my mind.
A square patch of light appears on my wall, and I almost extinguished the candle in my haste to get to the window. Darren is home. A thick curtain is dragged over his window, but my heart sighs with relief when I saw the sliver of light that he has left to show. I breathe deep, trying to catch a hint of his scent.
Downstairs, a door slams, soon followed by firm footfalls on the staircase. A sudden chill grips me and I begin to tremble. The footsteps stop at my door. I quickly put down the candle and cover my ears. Even so I can still hear it: A soft knock, an equally soft scratching. Mom is doing the night shift tonight-I must go to Darren's. I must go because it is so cold, cold, cold without Mom in the house. The footsteps move away, but they will return. He always returns.
I tremble violently and the harder I try to move my limbs the stiffer they feel. I must get warm. The candle flickers as I pick it up again and climb back into bed. I pull the blanket over my head and cradle the candle on my crossed legs.
Soon it grows warm and I stop trembling as little baby flames lick my fingers. I can't move, I can't climb out the window, for the ever growing flames won't let me. Then it dawns on me; they love me, just like I love Darren. I decide to love them back.
"Oh my God, sis, look at that." Darren glanced briefly at his sister before turning his horrified gaze back to the billowing flames that the fire-fighters were trying to put out.
"That's her room, isn't it?" and after pausing long enough to hear a 'yeah' from Darren, Katie said, "She is crazy you know. Don't get mixed up with crazy people again, okay."
"She looks lonely. I was just being nice."
"Well, don't," and with that Katie wrapped her shawl tighter over her shoulders before walking back into the house. The heat of the flames had chilled her.
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