Flame Thrower by By: Leah Crowe (early readers TXT) 📖

Then, I remembered something. Mark took the bus today at school. How was he going to drive me home without a car? How did he know HOW to drive by himself? He should’ve only had his permit! Before I could ask him any of this, he pulled a little needle out of a compartment on his phone and pricked my finger! Ow, I thought! What was that for?! Then everything got kind of blurry and before I sank into the arms of Morpheus, I thought, Ohmygosh is Mark actually kidnapping me or something?!


~Chapter 2~
When I awoke, I was at my house, lying in my bed. WTH? How’d I get here? I thought. I looked down at my finger, which was now slightly throbbing. Oh right, I had gotten kidnapped and sent to my house; right. I rolled my eyes and got up out of bed. I wondered where Mark had gone and why he had put me to sleep. Usually when I need a lift home, I hop into a car and they drive me home. It never involved sleeping until now. I looked up into the mirror and almost shrieked at my appearance! I needed a shower before the neighbors saw me like this or worse; my brother with a cellphone!!! I dashed down the hall and jumped into the bathroom before anyone saw me. Locking the door, I began to undress and turned on the water. I stepped under the warm rain shower and sighed. This was feeling like heaven. After a while, I hopped out, feeling a whole heck of a lot better and decided to get online. I didn’t really go to school so if we had homework I didn’t know what it was and didn’t feel like investigating. I checked my email first. Tons of emails from my old friends from middle school flooded my inbox. All of them pretty much said the same thing; so how was your first day? Well, to be honest, it sucked and I can only remember half of it and I’m pretty sure a lot of it I made up because I got whacked in the head by some dude with tanning issues! I had met Mark though, I thought smiling, then remembering what he had done last, the smile faded. Man, he sure was weird! I really wished I had his number so I could call him and figure out what the heck the sleeping stuff was for! Then I remembered that he said he lived near me! Where exactly? I thought, trying really hard to remember. Oh yeah! The end of the road! Since one end of my street ended with a park, I could assume he lived on the other side and one house was now empty because the owners had moved whereas the other had just been sold! Perfect! I know where he lives! Man, I am such a stalker! Not really caring whether he thought I was one or not, I logged out of my email and bounded down the stairs to the front door with a spring in my step. Maybe it was my new sense of purpose, I thought.
“I’ll be back in an hour or so!” I screamed to my mom, who, I hope was listening and slammed the front door behind me. It was a short walk down the road and in less than a minute, I was standing out in front of his house. I walked up the manicured driveway seeing that the grass was all cut and the lawn was orderly and clean-looking. I got up to the front door and knocked. Mark answered the door with a look of surprise on his face. Well buddy, I thought, if you’re going to knock a body out, you better be ready for the questions that are sure to come afterwards!
“Trisha, what are you doing here?” Mark asked.
“Oh nothing much I was just wondering why the HECK you knocked me out and then suddenly I am lying on my bed!” I said, not caring that my voice was a little bit loud.
“Ok look, calm down. You probably just fainted. You had a big day and the heat was too much I guess.” He said calmly. I looked at him thinking, what a bunch of bullcrap!
“Do I look like the type of girl who faints in the heat? If anything, I would faint from cold weather! I hate cold weather whereas I could probably touch a fire and think, ah nice and warm! Perfect!” I said, staring at him.
“You sure could.” He muttered, probably not wanting me to hear that but I have some dang good ears.
“What the heck is THAT supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Nothing, forget I said it.” Mark replied, “Wanna come in?” He said looking calm.
“Uh sure,” I said, “If it’s ok with your folks.”
“Actually, I kind of live alone.” Mark said sheepishly, as if he had stolen a lollipop from the store and was now admitting it to his mom. I blinked.
“And you are how old?” I asked.
“I’m 15, duh. Just like you and just about every other freshman in the world.” He said.
“And you live alone? Don’t you know that’s illegal?” I shouted at him, “How you do get around since you can’t drive. How do you earn money?”
“Do you really want to know that?” he said seductively and I realized that he had somehow gotten behind me and was whispering in my ear. His fingers trailed down my neck and I shuttered. I had just met the guy but sometimes I felt like I had known him my whole life and he was “the one”. I laughed, thinking of the stupidity of what I had just thought about! Mark looked at me funny and I realized he had stopped a long time ago. Opps.
“Actually,” I said, responding to his question, “I really don’t, thank you very much! I much rather think of you as innocent little Marcus whose last name I don’t know.” I said, realizing that I truly didn’t know his last name, but felt I should after all that had maybe happened today.
“Marcus Crosswight.” He said, laughing, “And you? I don’t know your last name either.” “It’s Harrington. I’m Trisha Harrington.” I said. “Ok then, now that that’s done…” Mark said and he pulled me into his home and shut the door.


I looked around his house and pretty much all I saw were boxes…everywhere.
“So when did you move in?” I asked Mark, who was following me around his house like a puppy. He could give me a tour...
“I got here about two weeks ago.” He replied.
“Ok so where did you live before here; a place where it was legal to live alone at 15?” I asked him sarcastically.
“It’s a place you’ve probably never heard about. There was a lot of…fighting there and so I left. I was sick of all the drama. Actually, they sent me here.” He said.
“Oh, why did they send you?” I asked him, curious now.
“Um…I’ll tell you later. I mean it is the first day I’ve met you!” he said kind of nervously. Odd?
“Ok well you have any food around here? I’m starving!” I said, dropping our previous subject.
“Want some popcorn?” he asked.
“Only if a movie comes with it!” I said laughing.
“Deal. What do you want to watch? I’ve got it all! I basically collect movies!” Marcus said, grinning.
“Let’s watch something young and totally corny!” I replied, “I love making fun of kid flicks! You got ‘Despicable Me’? I love the minions!”
“Yeah!” he said, “I love the minions! I want a couple of my own!”
“Don’t we all?” I said and I starting walking back to the kitchen. Ten minutes later, we were sitting down in front of the newly plugged in TV, laughing our butts off! I had texted my mom, saying I’d be back a little later than expected. I felt something hit my face and pealed my eyes off the screen to see Mark trying to hide a grin.
“Did you just throw popcorn at me?” I said in my bad girl voice.
“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t.” He said, still trying to suppress a grin.
“Oh it’s on!” I laughed and the popcorn war began. In five minutes, we were surrounded by popcorn, lying on the floor, in so much pain from laughing!
“Stop! Stop! I give up!” Mark said, moaning. I lay there, clutching my belly. Silence laughter was racking my body to the point that I had tears streaming down my face! I slowly began to calm down and said,
“See, I told you I’d win.” I turned over and smiled. I felt a shiver course through my body when I realized he had been staring at me! I probably looked horrible with popcorn stuck in my hair and my makeup smudged down my face! I would’ve looked like a popcorn loving emo! He laughed, as if he could read my thoughts and turned on his back. God in heaven, it was late but he was so fine! Haha, look at me; falling for a guy in one day! That was probably a record! Hmm, maybe I should call Guinness… I turned over and moaned. I was so tired and my body ached from being pricked, bashed, and popcorn-mutilated all in one day! I turned and said,
“Mark, thanks for everything. If you want, I can help you clean up this mess and then I think I should leave. I’m pretty tired after all this.” I said, motioning to the popcorn sprawled about the room.
“No I’ve got it. This will be a good way to test out the new vacuum cleaner.” Mark said, smiling.
“Ok then! I’ll see you tomorrow for my REAL first day of school!” I said, letting myself out. I walked back to my house, my feet dragging. I had underestimated just how tired I really was! I reached my house just barely and as I reached to open the door, black spots entered my field of vision and I collapsed.


~Chapter 3~
(From Marcus’s POV)
I started on the mess Trisha and I had created, reached into the closet for my new vacuum. Everything is going as planned except for one thing; I never expected Trisha to be so…beautiful. I thought, wistfully. I didn’t want to drag her into the war, but it was looking like I had no choice. I had just gotten a message. Ice was winning big time and fire was running out of time and men. Also, the ice generations were looking for Trisha, too. I sighed. I couldn’t wait for this whole mess to be over. I sighed once more as I looked about the room. I had to find out how to use this thing. I looked on the vacuum for some kind of on button. Finding what I was looking for, I straightened up and checked on Trisha using a fire mind sweeping spell. I gasped! She had collapsed on the ground! Oh crap! What now?! She was fine five minutes ago! I relayed all that had happened, trying to think of any sort of breach that may have happened. I checked on her once more. There was someone approaching. It was Euclise!
“Oh crap! Oh crap, I have to hurry!” I yelled and I raced out the door, with the vacuum still on and buzzing about my home!


I reached Trisha just in time! Euclise hadn’t touched her yet!
“You’re getting slower, Marcus. What took you