Prologue: Sierra\'s Past
Heat was chasing me from behind. I couldn't stop, not now. Not after everything he's put me through. I couldn't. I wouldn't. This was it. His dream, all reduced to ashes.
The fire inside me pent up as he stroked the last thread of my patience. Gone. Everything is so clear to me now. He had made my life a miserable hell apart from how messed up it already was.
His name oozed millions yet he had to take what was mine. He's pushed me far off the edge of the glacier and I'm enacting what I should have done years ago. Hurt him where it mattered the most.
The smoke was growing faster than I initially thought and I was going to actual hell if I don't find a way out soon.
Padding through the echoing grimy stairwell of the building, I grip the railing as I descend fearing I might topple over.
Finally, I make it down the final steps resisting the urge to jump with enthusiasm, minding the fact that smoke will soon asphyxiate my airways. I'm still not safe.
Padding through the unfinished tiles, I race toward the entrance door, unscathed. Yet.
I nudge the door open but curse under my breath to find it locked. I shove my foot hard against it but it still wouldn't budge.
My time was ticking. I was not prepared to die.
I tried kicking it again and again. It was too late to try the door from the back, the one I used earlier, with smoke billowing out from the fire I had started on the next floor up.
With determination in mind, I fling my whole body at the last second before the smoke engulfed the stairway. Fortunately, I managed to break the door and stumble face first on the ground.
Pushing myself up, I run as fast as I could to put a good distance between me and the fiery inferno before it could burn a hole through my lungs.
Stopping at a safe distance, I settled my palms flat on my knees, breathing heavily. I was out.
Laughter bubbles up inside my stomach.
I made it out.
Letting relief waft through me, I let the hysteria escape my lips until it was interrupted by another coughing fit.
The fire was still growing and I had to stop admiring my revenge before the fire department could catch me red-handed.
But at this point, I didn't care. I didn't care what it would mean for my father if they found out it was me. I did not care if my new school found out about my raging arson.
And I didn't care that I might have hurt my best friend after tonight because he hurt me first.
I didn't care about all of it except for the burning rage inside my heart that screamed to be let out. And I finally let it. God, did I finally let go.
This was the one thing he won't be able to take away from me. My victory.
As I started to run back to my house, I saw a small figure standing a few feet away from the fire that had started to eat away what's left of the building. His eyes showed anger and contempt. But it wasn't angled on the burning debris.
Julian Pavlov looked like he wanted to kill me.
