Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning (7 page)

It was the last day of school, before the summer holiday. Kasey-
Ray was going to her friend Claire's house straight from school. She'd told our parents that Claire was having a sleepover. She had just failed to mention that she and Claire had dates that night. She'd told me earlier in the week that Matt Whitburn, a year 5 student, had asked her out. I had known she liked him and I knew it wouldn't take long before he found out too.

School had gone quickly. We spent the whole day in our form
-room playing games. We had been told we could bring in games from home. I had decided to just bring in my Nintendo DS, as I knew the rest of the students wouldn't invite me to play any of their games.

There was a buzz in the air after sport
's day, the day before. Each winning form had been taken up to reception to have a group photograph next to it. I didn't really see why I should be in the picture; I didn’t compete in any of the events.

Either way
, I was so glad when it was time to go home,  I could relax and not worry about what other people were thinking, or whether Jessica had found out about my meet-ups with Sean or not.

I walked through the school gates and headed home. I was about half way, when I spotted them. Sat in the black
Fiat Punto, were Sean, Paul and James, with Kelly in the driver's seat. A few steps away I spotted Justin and Jessica, who seemed to be having a heated argument. Mainly one sided. Jessica's red hair seemed to blow fiercely around her, even though there was no wind.

I stopped and paused for a moment, unsure whether to continue walking or not. Jessica hadn
't bothered me for a while now, but that still didn't stop me from feeling on edge every time I saw her, especially when she was so angry.

I looked to the field on my right. I could easily climb the fence, walk across the field, through the trees at the far end
. It should bring me out two streets away from my home. I hadn't noticed that it had gone quiet and they were all watching me.

I looked over
at their faces, and for some reason they all looked nervous. Then my eyes fell on Jessica. She was furious.

"
I warned you!" She seethed. I could see her slowly moving towards me. Her teeth grinding together and her hands were clenching and unclenching in fists.

My heart started to beat faster, my palms became sweaty. It was hard to swallow, with the huge lump that had appeared in my throat.

“Jess!” I saw Justin place his hands on her arms. “It's not time.” I think I heard him say, as I saw movement from the car and the others started to get out.

Jessica had noticed too, making her start running towards me.

In that second I knew I had to jump the fence. I dropped my rucksack and hurtled over the fence, throwing myself into a sprint across the field. But it was too late, she was too fast.

I felt like my head was being pulled off. I screamed as she dragged me to the ground and started kicking and punching me. I was sure one of my ribs broke. The pain was excruciatingly unbearable. I couldn
't stop screaming.

Why was no one helping me? Why had no one got her off me? Why me? What had I done? Why? Why? Why?

I started to feel angry. The feeling of heat from my anger was building and building. To the point where it took over the pain. I couldn't control it. I'd never felt so angry before. That's when I heard Jessica scream.

“
She's burnt me!” Jessica yelped both in pain and confusion.

“
There's a towel and a couple of bottles of water in the back of the car.” I heard Kelly say. “Paul? James? You go get them. Justin?” She paused for a moment. I was still curled up in a ball. I had no idea what was going on.
Who burnt who?
All I knew was my anger was starting to fade and the pain was taking over. Tears streamed down my face. I still couldn't look up when Kelly continued. “Get her out of here!” she snapped.

I expected to feel hands on me, dragging me up, but I felt nothing. It sounded like I was alone. All I could hear were my muffled cries of pain.

“Erin?” I heard the concerned voice of Sean whisper in my ear.

I didn
't move or speak. I started to take deep breaths to try and overcome the pain.

“
Can you hear me Erin?” Kelly asked in a soothing voice.

Then I felt someone stroking my left cheek. I froze. Was my mind playing tricks on me? My breathing started to accelerate and the stroking stopped, but the hand didn
't move off my cheek.

“
Shhh, it's okay, we won't hurt you.” It was Sean again. It must have been his hands on my cheek. He went back to stroking my face as I heard footsteps approaching.

“
We phoned Kate, and she's going to meet us at the cottage.” I heard Paul and James chorus.

“Erin?” Kelly spoke this time. She didn't wait for a reply. “I'm just going to put some water on you and wrap you in a towel.” She told me gently, as I curled up tighter in a frightened ball.

I couldn
't feel water on me, just the sound of something hissing. I did start to feel cooler though, which was a plus, but the pain was still there and taking control of my body.

I didn
't even want to look down to examine myself. If I was in this much pain, I could only imagine how bad I looked.

Suddenly I felt someone put a towel around me and lift me up into their arms, in one quick movement.

Before I could open my eyes or try and get away, everything went black.

***

I wasn't sure what had happened next, or how I even got here, or even where I was. I could just hear voices around me whispering heatedly. I was sure I recognised my parents, but I couldn't be certain.

What I was aware of was that I was lying in someone
's arms. Their shirt was open and my head was pressed against their chest. I could hear the rhythmic beating of their heart. But what I really noticed was their hand stroking my left cheek.

It felt like I was dreaming. Not in a million years would I be lying here in a boy's arms. The only man
's arms I'd ever laid in were my dad's.

I slowly opened my eyes and peered through my lashes. I was in a room made purely of stone blocks. There was an unlit fire place next to me, with a shelf above it that held candles and picture frames. I couldn
't make out who were in the pictures, but there was something familiar about them. I was sure I'd seen them before.

My eyes continued to search the room. I
'd made the conscious decision not to move my head yet. Along one wall stood a giant bookcase, full of old books I'd never seen before.

I could still hear voices coming from somewhere behind me. Now I was more than positive that my parents were there, as I heard my mum
's furious voice saying something about Justin and how he should train his pets better.

Slowly, I tried to move my head up.

“Hi.” Sean whispered gently. I could feel his warm breath on top of my head. I managed to slowly pull my head up to meet his gaze.

His eyes were full of concern. I couldn
't believe my face was so close to his. His eyelashes were so long, and his eyes so deep and tranquil.

I could feel and smell his breath on me. I couldn
't quite tell what it smelt of, but it was delicious. His lips were evenly proportioned, covering his perfect teeth. It would take me less than a second to press my lips to his.

“
Sorry,” was all I could I could get out. Mainly for what I was just thinking, but also because he'd had to put up with me in his arms.

It hurt to talk, and I tried to adjust my body into a sitting position, then winced and gasped in pain.

“Erin?” Before I could blink, my parents were on the floor, at my feet, with faces full of concern.

“Hi
!” I croaked and without thinking I rested back against Sean's chest. I still didn't know why his shirt was open, but, right now, I didn't care. It felt warm, and safe.

His hand still remained on my face. Though now he had stopped stroking it. I felt his cheek rest on the top of my head, and I was sure his lips just brushed by hair, but I couldn
't be sure. Everything felt so surreal.

“How are you feeling?” My mum's voice worried asked, as her hands stroked my leg.

“
Sore.” My bottom lip trembled as I started to remember why I was in so much pain. Tears started to fill my eyes.

“
Shhh!” My dad soothed. “It's ok. You're safe now. She's not here and she won't get anywhere near you.”

Just hearing him mention her, without even saying her name, made me anxious and scared. Tears started to roll down my cheeks and Sean
's smooth fingers gently brushed them away and resumed stroking my left cheek again.

It was comforting. I had no idea why he was still here, why I was still in his arms? Why he hadn
't run off and left me? Why would someone as perfect as him want to be so close to someone like me?

Yes
, my parents had always told me that I was special and unique. That God had left his mark of love on my left cheek, because he thought I was special too.

No matter how many questions I had, I didn
't want to leave his warm, comforting embrace. It felt like his arms were made just for me.

“It
's ready.” Kelly spoke, interrupting my thoughts.

Why was she still here? And what was ready?

“Thanks.” My mum replied, then turned back to face me. “Erin?” She was now standing and had her arms out, reaching for me.

Before I could respond, Sean had stood up, with me in his arms.

“I'll carry her through, if that's okay?”  It wasn't really a question, and I saw my parent's exchange a glance.

Sean, seeing the panic in my eyes tilted his head forward to whisper in my ear.

“It’s okay. You're safe. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. I'll be right here when you get back.”

Back from where?

I think the alarm in my eyes had asked the question.

“
Don't worry.” He then kissed the top of my head. This startled me. He saw this and smiled. I could have stayed like this forever. This was probably what heaven felt like, apart from the pain in my ribs that hurt every time I took a breath. But something broke my thoughts, or rather a smell. It smelled like lots of flowers and fruit. I could only pick out the smell of Lavender and Oranges.

My mum was already two steps in front and she had already opened the door to where the wonderful smells were coming from. Then I realised we were in a bathroom. Not too big, it fitted a bath and sink on one wall and a toilet on another.

Sean gently placed me down on the floor. It hurt to stand, so I leaned into him for support. He didn't seem to mind, but my mum did.

“
You'll need to leave now!” She told him sternly, making me panic. I didn't want him to leave. He said he would stay with me.

Before
the rantings in my head got the better of me, Sean stroked the left side of my face with the back of his hand.

“
I'll be in the other room.” he smiled reassuringly.

Once he
'd left the room and shut the door behind him, my mum helped me take my clothes off. I gasped when I saw all the deep purple bruises. Some were raised and some had broken skin, with dry blood surrounding them. Some of which had dried to my clothes and I cried out in pain, as my mum pulled my fabric out of the already dried wounds. Where I'd been kicked and stamped in the ribs there seemed to be a foot-print. My body shook as I saw myself naked. How could anyone do this to a person?

My clothes were ruined. My mum had told me that she was going to have to throw them in the bin.

She eased me slowly into the bath. I couldn't remember the last time she had seen me naked, let alone put me in the bath. She placed a bath pillow carefully behind my head, whilst I watched her face. She looked like she wanted to cry, but she was putting on a brave face for me.

“
Where are we?” My voice was no louder than a whisper, “And why are we here?” I had so many questions I wanted to ask. But I didn't want to ask her the main questions, which were all about Sean. Why wasn't he repulsed by me?

My parents hated it when I spoke negatively about myself. So I knew this type of question would just upset her more.

“We are at your grandparent’s cottage.” She stood up straight and went to light some incense sticks that were on the window-sill. “But there's no need to worry yourself with trivial questions right now.” She turned back to me and smiled. But all I could do was think about Jessica, and I tried to sit up in a panic and ended up crying out. “Hey, hey!” she soothed. “You're fine. We will answer any questions in due time.” She leaned over to kiss my forehead. “I’ll be back shortly. Just lie back and try to relax.” Before I could reply she was gone.