ABLAZE

by Emelie.

There was a new girl in Colt's class. It was obvious that she was different from the other kids.
She hid her face behind her long, dark hair and looked very shy. Some people would have thought that she couldn't speak, but she could. In fact, she had the most amazing singing voice but she never spoke about that openly. It was not until she met the guys that she actually started talking more and more. It was when Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum was walking home from school. Yes, walking not going on their bikes!
The walked past an old house which had been empty for ages until the newcomers had arrived. The house looked pretty much broken down...but there was voices coming from inside...especially someone singing. It was that new girl, of course!
"What is that!?" wondered Tum Tum.
"Well duh, it's someone singing!" said Colt.
"It sounds nice, I wonder who it is" said Rocky. Colt turned towards him.
"It's that new girl in my class...Sophia, I think that's what her name is".
"Maybe we should go there" suggested Rocky.
"Why? I mean there's not a good point" sighed Colt.
"My ears hurt from all this stuff, let's go home!" cried Tum Tum.
"C'mon guys, she's new though...she needs some friends, right?". Colt frowned and followed after his big brother, so did Tum Tum. They knocked on the wooden door which was kinda damp...and maybe a bit mouldy, they really needed to fix this house! The singing stopped and the door opened. They saw the pale face of the girl.
"Hi, you're Sophia, right?" said Rocky. The girl just nodded quietly.
"Hey were you the one singing?" asked Colt. Sophia looked embarrassed and looked down.
There was a long silence...she nodded, again.
"Doesn't she ever speak or something?" thought Tum Tum to himself. Suddenly she looked up and stared at him...her eyes were black as the darkest night and it looked like she could read his thoughts.
"Um...do you mind if we come in?" said Rocky "we'd just like to be your friends, that's all".
"Rocky!!!" cried Colt "we can't just do that...".
"Shut up, Colt" said Rocky. He looked up at Sophia " you don't mind, do you?"
She actually spoke this time.
"No, please come in" she said in her quiet voice. They entered the big house.
"It's veeeery, veeeery cold in here!" whispered Tum Tum. Sophia could hear him, she lit a candle and led them to the living room.
"Where are your parents?" wondered Rocky. Sophia gestured to the outer door which probably meant "they're out".
"Don't you have any lamps here?" asked Colt as he sat down on one of the broken chairs.
The living room was very dark, just like the other rooms.
"No. Expensive" Sophia said. The boys looked at each other, couldn't they even afford electricity!?
"I would just like to ask something..." started Rocky "...was that you singing?". Sophia's face froze in fear. She gave him one of those dark eyed looks, but didn't speak.
"Uh...I guess I'll take that as a yes then".
"Wasn't there other people here before but you???" Tum Tum wanted to know.
"Radio" whispered Sophia. Why did she hardly ever put words in a sentence? Tum Tum looked confused.
"She means she had the radio on and there was no other people here, twit!" said Colt to Tum Tum. Sophia smiled secretly, she liked it when her loved one defended ..and this was the first time. She looked at Colt, when he turned to her she looked away. He would never want her, she knew that. She had liked Colt since the first time she walked into class....there was something special about him.
"I think we'll have to go soon. Dad said he'd take us to the mall..." said Rocky. She started crying....CRYING!!!
"Why is she crying?" teased Tum Tum "that's just stupid". Yeah, why was she crying? didn't she want them to leave? what was wrong? Rocky who was always the one that sorted out stuff didn't even know how to handle crying girls.
"What's wrong?" was all he said. She continued sobbing in floods of tears.
"This is embarrassing" thought Colt "what the hell are we gonna do!?".
"Tell us" demanded Rocky, but saying it in a soft voice. Finally, she explained to them, this was the first time they heard her speaking for real. Her dad had been drinking too much one night...he was angry with the wage his boss paid him so he went to his house and murdered him with a knife. This had happened a couple of years ago.
Sophia's dad's boss was some man named Mr Furlong.
"I know his kid" said Colt "David Furlong. His dad got murdered 3 years ago...".
Sophia knew who this kid was at an instant. The blonde guy that always gave her an evil look as she sat down in class. He just knew it was his dad's boss' daughter. He wanted revenge.
"Don't worry, we'll help you" said Rocky.
"David's my pal, you know" protested Colt "I won't do nothing against him!".
"We never said that, Colt" replied Rocky, trying to calm him down.
Tum Tum had been quiet during the whole explanation...but they also got to know that Sophia's dad was now serving life sentence in prison and she lived alone with her mom.
"I'm scared" she said "scared that David'll come and get me some day".

The next day the boys went to school as usual. David Furlong sat down next to Colt in Science class. He had seen Colt and his brothers meeting up with Sophia.
"Hey, were you talking to that girl yesterday?" he asked, staring into Colt's eyes.
"What girl?"
"C'mon, you know who I'm talking about!!!! that new girl"
"Naaaah, I wasn't talking to her"
"You sure?"
"Yeah!"
"You totally sure!?" David looked real angry.
"Yeah, I told you!" Colt was unsure if he should tell the truth or not.
"Good, Douglas" said David "cause I've got a plan I'll tell you about at break"
"Whatever". That ended the conversation, but they did meet up later.
"What do you want!?" said Colt.
"Look" whispered David so that no one else could hear them. "I'm thinking of burning up that old tip where murderer's girl and mommy lives"
"What, are you crazy!!? they live there!" cried Colt.
"Ssssch, shut up" said David "I wanna get revenge on her...her daddy killed mine so I'll just have to get my own back somehow. Do you wanna come Friday afternoon? Me and the gang have got all the stuff needed : petrol and lighters"
"I dunno..." said Colt. He didn't want to betray Sophia but then again he didn't wanna ruin his and David's friendship.
"What do you say? we need another helper!" said David.
"But what about THEM? are they gonna die?" wondered Colt.
"Of course not...they just won't have no home to go to when they come back haha" laughed David. "Yeah, yes or no"
"Ok, I'll come..." said Colt. They left. Colt went to find Sophia, she was sitting on her own.
"I'd like to ask something" asked Colt. He had surprised her. She blushed.
"Oh, hi Jeffrey...what do you want?" she looked down.
"Are you going away on Friday?"
"Yes, me and my mom are going to my auntie. Why are you asking?"
"I just wanted to make sure..."
"Oh"
"Well gotta go now. See ya around!" Colt left. Sophia smiled.
"Maybe he likes me...maybe he don't. There's something suspicious, though" she thought. She took up a flower and started picking off the petals.
"He loves me...he loves me not, he loves me..." it went on for some time. The last petal indicated "he loves me not". Sophia sighed.
"Oh well, Jeffrey might not like me but I just have to find someone else...". A tear rolled down her cheek.

It was Friday night. It was time to go meet David and his gang to carry out the horrible deed...it had to be done anyway. Colt didn't like the thought of burning down a friend's house but...no, he didn't even wanna think about it.
It was 10 p.m and Colt had sneaked out of his house. He met up with David and the rest.
"Carry the petrol" ordered David. Colt did as he was told. There was a small window alight in Sophia's house, but no one could see it. They started spreading the petrol around the house. They even smashed a window and went inside to fill the house with the stuff. Soon they whole house was drenched in petrol.
"Get the lighters out" said David. His gang did as they were told.
Everyone set the house on fire. Colt stood beside David, who was laughing.
"Haha...I've always wanted to do this since that night" he said. He was talking about the time his dad got murdered. The house was in flames...there seemed as no one would be able to save the it.
"Ruuuuun!" screamed David. Everyone ran for their life. Colt felt a lump in his throat, was this really the right thing to do? He took a last look at the house...and saw a dark figure by the window. It was Sophia!!! she didn't seemed worried at all. He stopped and turned.
"Jump, Sophia!" Colt shouted "Just jump, otherwise you'll have no chance!!!".
She didn't listen, but backed away into the room. Colt gave up, there was nothing he could do.

Next day, there was big headlines about the fire, in the newspaper. Colt felt guilty. Sophia was dead.
"Hey Colt, there's a note for you!" said Rocky, he hadn't even heard about the house being burnt down. Colt opened the letter, it was dated the day before the incident had happened and this is what it said...

"TO JEFFREY,

I'M NOT GOING AWAY WITH MOM TOMORROW. I'M KEEPING AN EYE OVER THE HOUSE. I KNOW WHAT DAVID'S GONNA DO AND I'M PREPARED TO GO DOWN WITH THE HOUSE. PLEASE DON'T TAKE ME WRONG, I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND REMEMBER...IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT.

YOURS ALWAYS,
SOPHIA."

~The End~