Young Writers Society

The first few hours of Megan’s life after she awoke were blurred and unfocused, all bustling nurses and people trying to tell her what was going on. It was full of words such as “run away”,“2nd or 3rd degree”, “damaging tissue”, and “contacting parents”.

They had done something to her hands, but she could barely remember what. She had woken up with her hands warming in a pool of water. They only looked a little better. Meg had an IV in her right arm, and all she could think was, Thank goodness I’m left handed. She was given some pills, which had eased the pain, and someone came by with food. Although hungry, she complained it was bland and barely touched it. She didn’t see Chris.

In one late hour of the day, the world suddenly slapped Meg in the face and forced her to rouse herself. Now alert, she observed everything around her as the events unfolded. Megan’s hands were taken from the water and stayed out. They looked a little bit better; the black on her fingertips was receding, and her blisters were deflating. The nurse who had taken her hands out wrapped them in some sort of warm towel and informed her that she had a visitor.

As the nurse excused herself, Megan sat up against the puffy pillows of the hospital bed and focused her clear blue eyes on the door. Whispering around the corner came the image of love: a woman, swirled into a long warm coat and long, greying hair. Her mother had come. Behind her was her father, hands shoved deep into his coat pockets, lines of worry etched into his face.

Megan cried out softly, and her mother flew to her bedside. Wrapping her daughter in a cautious hug, she cried into her shoulder. Meg wept as well. Her father came over and stood beside them, and for a long time, silence dominated. When her mother finally pulled away, the first spoken words were those of apology.

“I’m sorry.” They didn’t come from Meg, but her mother. She held her head in her leather gloved hand, the tears drying on her face. “I should’ve known. You weren’t happy with the move, you didn’t make friends, and you struggled with school. I ignored you at the time when you needed our love the most.”

Megan began to open her mouth when her father spoke. “Meg, I know you wanted to get into that musical very badly. I didn’t know that you took it so seriously as to skip school, and later run away.”

“Mom… Dad… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to take it so far! I was just so angry, not even at anything specific, and I couldn’t control it…” she replied, looking away and putting her wrapped hands together on her lap.

“It’s alright, sweetie. Everything’s going to be okay now.”

Megan suddenly looked up at her mother’s face. “But what if it’s not? Chris… he doesn’t have anywhere to go, just a bad home and back to school.”

Emma looked at her husband and then back at her daughter. “Who’s Chris?” Megan shook her head.

“He was with me when I skipped school! We ran away together, and he was the one who got us the hotel room and called the ambulance…” she said slowly.

“You got a hotel room?” Megan’s dad said sharply. Meg simply blinked in response.

“Oh dear,” Emma fretted. She shook a bit, but then her smile graced her face again. “Megan, we aren’t supposed to be here for too long. You need to rest. Is there anything we can get you?”

“A book?” Megan asked hopefully. Her mother smiled, and in that moment Meg truly knew that everything was going to be alright. Her father reached into the bag at his side- it was her backpack- and pulled out a book.

“Harry Potter!” she exclaimed. It was the third book, her favorite, which she had been rereading that year. Face glowing, she snuggled back into the surprising warmth of the hospital bed. Her dad pulled a chair close up to the edge of the bed and her mother left the room.

Megan fell asleep to the softly spoken words of her favorite book, momentarily able to be content with her life.

* * * * *

Megan became Pyrok again that night, and she summoned Ieva this time around. It was time to turn the tables.

“So soon? So soon you’ve reconsidered?” Ieva’s face was a smirk. Just as Py had suspected, the glowing red button was in the leader’s hands. She smiled.

“Well, actually…” Pyrok leaned in towards Ieva, making sure she still had her treasured sword with her. “I thought that button was supposed to be locked up in a case for three human lives. More specifically, my three human lives. Have you forgotten how to count? Or are you simply that stupid?”

Ieva’s face dropped and she glared at Pyrok in rage. Py simply nodded her head.

“I see…” In one swift movement, she hefted her sword and, flames bright and hot around her, sliced Ieva through the middle. The illusion fell into pieces and left Pyrok with a kind of satisfaction that Ieva wouldn’t be bothering her for a long while.