Daughter of fire

Trust

No one could say anything. We were all looking at the ground, trying to process everything that had just been told to us by Miri. I hated the Brothers and the Sisters all my life, thinking they were as guilty of all our pains as the Mother and Father, to find out now that they were as helpless as we are. I have a knot in my neck. Not only are we tortured, not only we had our lives kidnapped from us, but no one sees this as wrong because, for them, we are not human, we do not deserve rights. Because we are different from them. Have they ever tried to understand us, to think of our feelings, that we even have them?

 "You gave too much information at once," Gabi said. 

"Do you think we have the time to take it step by step, Gabi? We have only one opportunity and that is tomorrow. If we don't get this done now, we might as well give up directly."

"Tomorrow?!" We manage to scream all at once.

"OH, right, you don't know. Ups… "

When I'm about to start another fire, this time with Miri in the center, the tension in the room is dispersed by Liana, who suddenly starts laughing uncontrollably. I roll my eyes hard enough to see my brain. This is what we needed, for Liana to get mad too; Like I'm not already on the point of going off the deep end anyway…

"I'm so sorry, but I can't stop." Says Liana looking at my exasperated face. "You and Daniel thought exactly the same thing at the same time: He should raise Miri in the air and turn her around and you could fry it like a huge skewer."

My patience is over. The world had gone mad. Why should I be the normal one? With the day I had, with the day that will probably follow, it's surprising that I haven't already lost it. And yet, with all that pressure on my shoulders, I. Can. Not. Stop. Laughing. Daniel and Liana are in the same situation, supporting each other as they try to calm down and get back to a more appropriate attitude for the situation we are into. Gabi and Miri are watching us warily as if the trust they gave us was the greatest mistake of their lives, and for some reason, I am even more amused by the looks on their faces.

"Are you done yet?" Miri asks, definitely not amused.

"Yes, yes, sorry, I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it." I say between giggles.

"Well, I'm glad that the image of my slow and painful death can make you laugh with tears, but we're running out of time." 

"All right, all right. You can explain now."

"Thank you! As I said, the only solid opportunity we have is tomorrow. Gabi, you know more, I'll leave the rest to you from here."

"The truth is that we can not do this alone, there are too many safety cameras, and we have no chance of getting through them without raising an alarm. I have recently learned that one of the A-type subjects, those kept isolated, has abilities related to electric current. If we can free him, he could create a system failure and give us the opportunity to get out of here before the backup generators connect. If we meet other Brothers on the way, you little fire girl do your thing and heat them up a little. In any case, the A-type subject is very well guarded, so we would normally have no chance, but tomorrow the boy will be transferred to another facility. I'm scheduled to be part of the team that guards him and I can get rid of the other Brothers. If everything goes well I can free him and make him burn down the electric circuit, then while everyone is confused, I'll take you and bring you to the meeting point. From there we'll make our way to the garage and get the hell out of here."

He then pulls up a map of the building from one of the drawers of the desk and points out the escape route and the back-up plan. We try our best to memorize every word. 

He makes us say it out loud three times before being satisfied.

Just as we finish, the watch on Miri's right wrist starts to beep loudly.

"I must take you back to your rooms now before someone starts to suspect something... and I have to stay and clean this disaster. Thank you very much for that, by the way."

Gabi ignores her dramatic complaint and turns to us with a serious look on his face:

"Do you trust us?"

I look at Daniel and then at Liana, but they, too, seem as confused as me. Everything feels like the beginning of a dream when you don't yet know if it's a nightmare or not. But if we don't take this chance now, then what guarantee do we have that we will get another one in the future? And what do we have to lose after all? We have nothing, only hope.

"Let's do this!"

When we get out the door, I turn around to look at the disaster I caused once more. Then I see it - her smile. 

It's not a victorious or relieved smile, neither a hopeful one. No, it's the smile of a snake who has caught its prey. And that image sends shivers down my spine while a voice in my head screams: She hides something.

But something in me makes me decide to be a coward and ignore it.