Many years went by, with very little change to the story. The sun was high up, the streets were busy, and an electric school bell rang out. Kids began swarming out of the elementary school yard, being picked up, walking home, biking, scootering, anything at all to get them out of school after a long day. For a certain pair of siblings, this wasn’t the case.
The older sister of the two stood balancing on top of one of the metal planter boxes in the schoolyard. Her younger brother sat below her, doing his homework. Not a word between them until the area was clear, and most if all of the other children, their classmates and friends, had gone home. Then, the younger sibling finally spoke.
“...We need to go home.”
“I know. I don’t care.”
“Mom and Dad are gonna be mad at us if we’re late again.”
“So? Who cares?”
“I don’t wanna get grounded..”
“I don’t care. I don’t wanna go home today.”
“...But I do. I’m hungry.”
“You can go home on your own.”
“I don’t know the way home. You walk me home.”
“I don’t wanna, today. I wanna go somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“I dunno. Somewhere else.”
She hopped down from the planter box and spun around on one of the nearby poles keeping the canopy over them upright. Her brother began packing his homework away.
“I dunno where to go either.”
“Then go home. You wanna, so do it.”
“But I don’t know how to get home.”
“Yeah ya do. You do it every day.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Then I dunno.”
“Can you help, please?”
“Nnnnnno. I feel like walking the other way. We never go that way.”
“That’s not how you get home.”
“I don’t care.”
Eventually, she just began skipping off, with her brother following close behind. As they left the school, instead of turning left like they always did to get home, Blazz turned and went right. She continued skipping along, without a care in the world for her brother following her.
“This way goes down the river. Let’s go that way.”
“We don’t live by a river.”
“I told you, we aren’t going home.”
“I thought we were.”
“No, I don’t wanna. Come on.”
She hopped off the paved path and began to wander down a thin flow of water- barely enough to even be considered a creek. She hopped up from rock to rock, while her brother followed behind.
“Are you sure this is how to get home?”
“For the last time, we’re not going home.”
“We should be going home.”
“Well, we aren’t. Isn’t this better?”
“What’s better?”
“Mom and Dad aren’t here, yelling at us all the time.”
“Yeah, but no food.”
“Go find it. You can eat a bug, if you want.”
“Eewwwww, no. I don’t wanna eat a bug.”
“Then you’ll starve.”
This clearly worried her brother, who stopped. She glanced back at him.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“...I don’t wanna starve.”
“Then go eat a bug or something.”
“I don’t wanna eat a bug either. I just wanna go home..”
“I told you, we’re not-”
A sniff from her brother. He was beginning to cry. She immediately turned around and hopped back to him.
“I’m sorry, okay? You aren’t gonna starve.”
“I still wanna go home…”
“But I don’t.”
“I can’t go home without you..”
“...”
She turned her head back at the “river” they were walking along, took a deep breath, and looked her brother in the eye.
“Fine, we’re going home. Come on.”
And so she led him off, and he followed close behind- holding fast his sister’s hand.
That night ended on them locked in their rooms, grounded for being home so late.
Another year went by. They finally came home from school again. Late, yet again. This time, by an hour. Her mother was busy screaming at them, about the mess they made, their ungrateful attitude, their arrogance. Zoen Jr. just kept his head down, trembling and sniffing. Blazz, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms- which only prompted a rather hard slap across the face from her mother. This is when her father stepped in.
“-Get your head on straight before giving your mother that kind of disgusting attitude! And the both of you, hand over your report cards! I called your teachers earlier, and she said she was sending you home with report cards. Let’s see ‘em.”
The younger sibling quickly began scrambling for it, while Blazz didn’t do anything. She was grabbed by the shirt collar by her father.
“I said, GET YOUR CARD.”
With an exasperated sigh, she began to open her backpack. Her brother handed his over to their mother, who quickly began inspecting it.
“A B in writing? Why?” She snapped at him, and he recoiled.
“...I-I lost my homework.”
“How could you lose your homework? This is the start of the new semester, ALL you had to do was ONE stupid homework paper, and you LOST IT?”
“I-I don’t know w-where it went.”
“That’s not an excuse. I’m calling your teacher, and you’re going to get another copy of that homework, and you’re gonna do it ON TOP of your current homework. And I’ll be expecting you to ask for extra credit to make up for the late assignment! Got it?”
“..Y-yes, mom..”
“And as for YOU, young lady. You’d better have done well in your math class, this time around. You’re one homework assignment in, so if this is anything lower than a B, you’re grounded. Get it?”
Blazz merely responded with a grunt. Her father jostled her in response.
“SPEAK WITH YOUR WORDS.”
“Whatever.”
“NO ‘WHATEVER’. Your mother asked you if you understood, DO YOU?”
“Mm.”
She was smacked across the face again.
“WORDS.”
“...Yes.”
“Good. Now give that here.”
He snatched the report card up from her hand and glanced over at it for a moment. He very quickly grew visibly angrier, before handing it to her mother- who only needed a short glance to find herself just as pissed.
“AN F?! HAVE YOU DONE /ANYTHING/?”
“No.”
Such a response was met with a balled fist from her mother, slamming directly into her left eye. She stumbled backwards and fell, holding her face.
“You shut the hell up and go to your room. You’re in some seriously deep trouble, young lady.”
“No.”
“...Excuse me?”
“...”
Her father stepped in again and yanked her up from the ground.
“Your mother asked you a QUESTION.”
She still said nothing, just held her face and kept her eyes shut. Her mother stepped up and ripped her hand away from her face.
“Look me in the eyes and say that one more time.”
Blazz didn’t respond. Her mother gripped her tightly under the chin, yanking her face towards her. Before she could even get a chance to command her again, Blazz opened her mouth and spat right into her eye.
Her mother let out a horrified shriek, while her father immediately went to grab her again. Released by her mother, Blazz dropped down and dodged him, then bolted for the stairs and scrambled up. She was barely able to make it to her room in time, shutting and locking the door from the inside. She ran for her bed and jumped onto it, covering her ears and blocking out the deafening wrathful screams from her parents. A loud thunk, against the door. Once more, much louder, accompanied by cracking sounds. Finally, a third, and the door smashed open, slammed down by both parents.
--
Later into the night, Zoen Jr. was walking meekly out of the kitchen with a glass of water. Rather than head up to his room, however, he came to a stop at the hallway closet. He glanced around for a second, then set the cup down in front of the door and knocked.
“..I have some water. Do you need a straw?”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
He stuck a plastic straw in the water glass, then began to wiggle it through the crack in the door. Once it was through, water began to slowly suck out of the glass through it. It was difficult, but it worked. By the time the glass was empty, he was already in the process of pulling it out. His sister’s voice sounded out behind the door.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Are you hungry?”
“Uhm… one second.”
There were sounds of muffled movement behind the door, as well as some murmuring.
“Are you hungry? ...No, not really. ...I didn’t think so. … What about you? ...Oh, I’m fine. … That’s alright. … What about you? ... Okay.”
“...Who are you talking to in there?”
“Friends, that’s all. Could you get us a snack?”
“...Okay.”
Not long later, he was trying to wiggle a granola bar underneath the door. The crackling of the wrapper, however, alerted his mother to his presence at the closet, and she soon came storming down.
“ZOEN TRADIUS JR. What did I TELL you about messing around with your sister while she’s grounded?!”
The younger sibling immediately recoiled, and began trying to hide himself.
“You go right back to bed RIGHT NOW, mister, before you get grounded in there WITH her!”
He scrambled off, and she came stomping over to the door. She grabbed the half-stuck granola bar and yanked it away from the door.
“You heard what we told you. You stay right in there until you apologize. No food, no water, no nothing. This is what you get for acting the way you did, and until you can apologize for it, this is what your life’s gonna be.”
“Whatever.”
“You just keep on digging your grave deeper, you know that? You’re a disgrace. And with that kind of behavior, you’re never going to be anything. You’re just gonna end up being locked away again, just like this. Get it?”
“Don’t really care. Do you care? ... No.”
“The hell are you talking to?”
“Nobody.”
Her mother swiftly kicked the closet door.
“Quit talking to your imaginary friends. Goddess, you’re a freak.”
Her mother stormed off, leaving her alone in the closet once again. However, within the closet, the little Blazz wasn’t bothered. Bottles of water had been piled up beside her. Boxes and bags of snacks were hidden in shoeboxes and folded blankets. She just tugged out a bag of chips from behind a pile of bedsheets, popped it open, and munched away on it.
“I can sit here as long as I want, right? … Yeah. We’re fine. Also, I found something. Look.”
Talking seemingly to herself, she picked up a little wax candle. Nearby was a box of matches she used for light, also something she stashed in the closet ahead of time. She had been thrown in here many, many times before. This wasn’t the first, nor the last time.
“What is it? … It’s... a candle. Well, it can do this. … I watched dad do this before.”
She struck a match and lit up the small closet for a moment, then put the fire to the wick of the candle. And just like that, the candle lit up. She blinked, apparently not expecting it to burn so well.
“...Woah. It’s burning... But it… looks so much prettier. It’s.. Does.. this mean other things can.. I... What else can be on fire? I don’t...”
She eventually trailed off, just staring at the little candle in her hands. The many voices in her head seemed to quiet down, as well, everything mesmerized with the ethereal flame. The candlelight reflected back in her bruised, bloodshot eyes. Reflected through her very soul. And she embraced everything about it. The light, the warmth, the hunger.
The wrath.
The older sister of the two stood balancing on top of one of the metal planter boxes in the schoolyard. Her younger brother sat below her, doing his homework. Not a word between them until the area was clear, and most if all of the other children, their classmates and friends, had gone home. Then, the younger sibling finally spoke.
“...We need to go home.”
“I know. I don’t care.”
“Mom and Dad are gonna be mad at us if we’re late again.”
“So? Who cares?”
“I don’t wanna get grounded..”
“I don’t care. I don’t wanna go home today.”
“...But I do. I’m hungry.”
“You can go home on your own.”
“I don’t know the way home. You walk me home.”
“I don’t wanna, today. I wanna go somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“I dunno. Somewhere else.”
She hopped down from the planter box and spun around on one of the nearby poles keeping the canopy over them upright. Her brother began packing his homework away.
“I dunno where to go either.”
“Then go home. You wanna, so do it.”
“But I don’t know how to get home.”
“Yeah ya do. You do it every day.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Then I dunno.”
“Can you help, please?”
“Nnnnnno. I feel like walking the other way. We never go that way.”
“That’s not how you get home.”
“I don’t care.”
Eventually, she just began skipping off, with her brother following close behind. As they left the school, instead of turning left like they always did to get home, Blazz turned and went right. She continued skipping along, without a care in the world for her brother following her.
“This way goes down the river. Let’s go that way.”
“We don’t live by a river.”
“I told you, we aren’t going home.”
“I thought we were.”
“No, I don’t wanna. Come on.”
She hopped off the paved path and began to wander down a thin flow of water- barely enough to even be considered a creek. She hopped up from rock to rock, while her brother followed behind.
“Are you sure this is how to get home?”
“For the last time, we’re not going home.”
“We should be going home.”
“Well, we aren’t. Isn’t this better?”
“What’s better?”
“Mom and Dad aren’t here, yelling at us all the time.”
“Yeah, but no food.”
“Go find it. You can eat a bug, if you want.”
“Eewwwww, no. I don’t wanna eat a bug.”
“Then you’ll starve.”
This clearly worried her brother, who stopped. She glanced back at him.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“...I don’t wanna starve.”
“Then go eat a bug or something.”
“I don’t wanna eat a bug either. I just wanna go home..”
“I told you, we’re not-”
A sniff from her brother. He was beginning to cry. She immediately turned around and hopped back to him.
“I’m sorry, okay? You aren’t gonna starve.”
“I still wanna go home…”
“But I don’t.”
“I can’t go home without you..”
“...”
She turned her head back at the “river” they were walking along, took a deep breath, and looked her brother in the eye.
“Fine, we’re going home. Come on.”
And so she led him off, and he followed close behind- holding fast his sister’s hand.
That night ended on them locked in their rooms, grounded for being home so late.
Another year went by. They finally came home from school again. Late, yet again. This time, by an hour. Her mother was busy screaming at them, about the mess they made, their ungrateful attitude, their arrogance. Zoen Jr. just kept his head down, trembling and sniffing. Blazz, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms- which only prompted a rather hard slap across the face from her mother. This is when her father stepped in.
“-Get your head on straight before giving your mother that kind of disgusting attitude! And the both of you, hand over your report cards! I called your teachers earlier, and she said she was sending you home with report cards. Let’s see ‘em.”
The younger sibling quickly began scrambling for it, while Blazz didn’t do anything. She was grabbed by the shirt collar by her father.
“I said, GET YOUR CARD.”
With an exasperated sigh, she began to open her backpack. Her brother handed his over to their mother, who quickly began inspecting it.
“A B in writing? Why?” She snapped at him, and he recoiled.
“...I-I lost my homework.”
“How could you lose your homework? This is the start of the new semester, ALL you had to do was ONE stupid homework paper, and you LOST IT?”
“I-I don’t know w-where it went.”
“That’s not an excuse. I’m calling your teacher, and you’re going to get another copy of that homework, and you’re gonna do it ON TOP of your current homework. And I’ll be expecting you to ask for extra credit to make up for the late assignment! Got it?”
“..Y-yes, mom..”
“And as for YOU, young lady. You’d better have done well in your math class, this time around. You’re one homework assignment in, so if this is anything lower than a B, you’re grounded. Get it?”
Blazz merely responded with a grunt. Her father jostled her in response.
“SPEAK WITH YOUR WORDS.”
“Whatever.”
“NO ‘WHATEVER’. Your mother asked you if you understood, DO YOU?”
“Mm.”
She was smacked across the face again.
“WORDS.”
“...Yes.”
“Good. Now give that here.”
He snatched the report card up from her hand and glanced over at it for a moment. He very quickly grew visibly angrier, before handing it to her mother- who only needed a short glance to find herself just as pissed.
“AN F?! HAVE YOU DONE /ANYTHING/?”
“No.”
Such a response was met with a balled fist from her mother, slamming directly into her left eye. She stumbled backwards and fell, holding her face.
“You shut the hell up and go to your room. You’re in some seriously deep trouble, young lady.”
“No.”
“...Excuse me?”
“...”
Her father stepped in again and yanked her up from the ground.
“Your mother asked you a QUESTION.”
She still said nothing, just held her face and kept her eyes shut. Her mother stepped up and ripped her hand away from her face.
“Look me in the eyes and say that one more time.”
Blazz didn’t respond. Her mother gripped her tightly under the chin, yanking her face towards her. Before she could even get a chance to command her again, Blazz opened her mouth and spat right into her eye.
Her mother let out a horrified shriek, while her father immediately went to grab her again. Released by her mother, Blazz dropped down and dodged him, then bolted for the stairs and scrambled up. She was barely able to make it to her room in time, shutting and locking the door from the inside. She ran for her bed and jumped onto it, covering her ears and blocking out the deafening wrathful screams from her parents. A loud thunk, against the door. Once more, much louder, accompanied by cracking sounds. Finally, a third, and the door smashed open, slammed down by both parents.
--
Later into the night, Zoen Jr. was walking meekly out of the kitchen with a glass of water. Rather than head up to his room, however, he came to a stop at the hallway closet. He glanced around for a second, then set the cup down in front of the door and knocked.
“..I have some water. Do you need a straw?”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
He stuck a plastic straw in the water glass, then began to wiggle it through the crack in the door. Once it was through, water began to slowly suck out of the glass through it. It was difficult, but it worked. By the time the glass was empty, he was already in the process of pulling it out. His sister’s voice sounded out behind the door.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Are you hungry?”
“Uhm… one second.”
There were sounds of muffled movement behind the door, as well as some murmuring.
“Are you hungry? ...No, not really. ...I didn’t think so. … What about you? ...Oh, I’m fine. … That’s alright. … What about you? ... Okay.”
“...Who are you talking to in there?”
“Friends, that’s all. Could you get us a snack?”
“...Okay.”
Not long later, he was trying to wiggle a granola bar underneath the door. The crackling of the wrapper, however, alerted his mother to his presence at the closet, and she soon came storming down.
“ZOEN TRADIUS JR. What did I TELL you about messing around with your sister while she’s grounded?!”
The younger sibling immediately recoiled, and began trying to hide himself.
“You go right back to bed RIGHT NOW, mister, before you get grounded in there WITH her!”
He scrambled off, and she came stomping over to the door. She grabbed the half-stuck granola bar and yanked it away from the door.
“You heard what we told you. You stay right in there until you apologize. No food, no water, no nothing. This is what you get for acting the way you did, and until you can apologize for it, this is what your life’s gonna be.”
“Whatever.”
“You just keep on digging your grave deeper, you know that? You’re a disgrace. And with that kind of behavior, you’re never going to be anything. You’re just gonna end up being locked away again, just like this. Get it?”
“Don’t really care. Do you care? ... No.”
“The hell are you talking to?”
“Nobody.”
Her mother swiftly kicked the closet door.
“Quit talking to your imaginary friends. Goddess, you’re a freak.”
Her mother stormed off, leaving her alone in the closet once again. However, within the closet, the little Blazz wasn’t bothered. Bottles of water had been piled up beside her. Boxes and bags of snacks were hidden in shoeboxes and folded blankets. She just tugged out a bag of chips from behind a pile of bedsheets, popped it open, and munched away on it.
“I can sit here as long as I want, right? … Yeah. We’re fine. Also, I found something. Look.”
Talking seemingly to herself, she picked up a little wax candle. Nearby was a box of matches she used for light, also something she stashed in the closet ahead of time. She had been thrown in here many, many times before. This wasn’t the first, nor the last time.
“What is it? … It’s... a candle. Well, it can do this. … I watched dad do this before.”
She struck a match and lit up the small closet for a moment, then put the fire to the wick of the candle. And just like that, the candle lit up. She blinked, apparently not expecting it to burn so well.
“...Woah. It’s burning... But it… looks so much prettier. It’s.. Does.. this mean other things can.. I... What else can be on fire? I don’t...”
She eventually trailed off, just staring at the little candle in her hands. The many voices in her head seemed to quiet down, as well, everything mesmerized with the ethereal flame. The candlelight reflected back in her bruised, bloodshot eyes. Reflected through her very soul. And she embraced everything about it. The light, the warmth, the hunger.
The wrath.
