Tevin settled into a chair at the back of the classroom. As students entered, the chair beside him squeaked. He turned and locked gazes with a pair of deep blue eyes. His vision blurred and swirled, shifting the floor beneath his feet. An unknown but deep-seated knowledge of her ached in his bones.
“Hi!”
Scarred, twisted lips marred her otherwise beautiful smile. She raised the remnants of a seared eyebrow as he stared. He was rescued when a jarring voice interrupted their awkward moment and dragged his attention to the front of the class.
“Good morning. I’d like to start drama class with students enacting an important event from their summer. Who’d like to start?”
Tevin turned when a hand shot up beside him. Melted skin and pinpricks of blood covered her arms. His heart thudded as her voice rushed through his head though her lips didn’t move. The room whirred like a badly warped VHS tape and the walls blackened under the ravages of rampaging flames. His eyes widened and a yelp escaped his lips.
“Tevin? Everything alright?”
He slowly turned to meet his teacher’s concerned look. A quick glance to the side revealed an empty chair and an unchanged room.
“I-I’m fine.”
“OK, continue Missy.”
Missy? Tevin followed the teacher’s gaze and saw the girl in the front row.
What the hell was going on?
Missy turned to him, her dark hair aflame. The air filled with the stench of scorched flesh.
Her voice was robotic.
“Reset.”
#
The controller massaged his forehead while staring at the prisoner’s face frozen on the screen.
His partner hissed.
“Damn pyro’s never gonna return to society if he doesn’t atone for burning down that drama school. He might claim it was an accident but…”
“He keeps going back to that day.”
“Makes sense. It’s where they met.”
“And where she burnt to a crisp.”
“Maybe he genuinely doesn’t remember what happened.”
“It’s his body the fire warped, not his brain.”
The controller sighed.
“Let’s just run the programme again. Maybe this time he’ll ‘fess up and we can move on to the rehabilitation phase.”
#
They were alone now. The chairs were pushed to the side, allowing them the space to settle on the scuffed wooden floor. Tevin dropped the flaming match in his hand when it singed his fingertips. The brunette struck another and handed it to him.
Why do I know her?
“Careful Tevin,” she whispered as her lips bubbled and slid from her face, “you might hurt someone.”
—
Tevin’s in his own hell. Seems he deserves to be there awhile. Good story. Excellent title, too.