The bell rings signlaing the end of the class and making people file into the hallway. Amelia is one of those many people, her colorful outfit and long gold hair weaving between people along with her, once or twice she hits people with her hair. Swiftly she apologised and went back onto her determined path to the Pools.
As she enters the places with the metal doors, no stoppers, hit the walls ringing inside the Pool area. Making her clover her ears for a second.
The place is decorated just like a gymnasium or a field. Bleachers on the side for people to sit and watch either for students or parents, participants or spectators.
The pool in particular is decorated to reflect the light from the sunroof up top. Making it a mix of colors like, blue and white, a square design for about, forty good meters and about 20 meters, all being cut up with eight weird looking rope that stretched to one far end to the other far end. So it's easier for the swimmers to stay in their own lane.
She doesn't see anyone in the Pool area, but she doesn't trust it fully.
She begins walking around the Pool area, going to any and all spots that look even slightly like a hiding spot that teenage kids would hide to do something teenage kids would do.
Amelia continues this for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Not wanting to give away Salem, secret identity.
She doesn't find anyone inside the Pool area, she takes a break and sits down on the beginning of the bleacher seats, not wanting to make the journey to the top or even the middle of these metal bleachers, because of the weird ups and downs.
After sitting down she reaches down into her pockets and pulls out her cellphone. She taps five times then unlocks the phone, she goes to her photos app and taps on the video that has Salem, or The Burning man at the time for the thumbnail.
Once she taps she appears on screen.
(Over the phone) Amelia: "Mom I'm sor..."
Amelia touches the time stamp and swipes forward, to the point of tie she sees Salem or The Burning Man.
(Over the phone) Salem: "I'm going to burn something down!"
Amelia: 'How does the fire happen?'
She questions herself in her mind, wondering how Salem was able to do this from birth.
BANG!
The door that she came from on the other side of the Pool area slams open.
Salem walks in, surprised that the door did that, freaking not only him out but Amelia as well. He puts his hands over his head until the ringing dies off.
Amelia just stares at him.
Salem moves his hands from his ears and looks around the area to find no one but Amelia in the place, he put his head down and walks over to Amelia.
Salem slips once then continues on his walk, straitening himself.
Salem walks in front of her, holding the clothes in his hand and looking down to the floor. He keeps his eyes on the ground.
Salem clears his throat.
Salem: "Are you ready?"
He's holding what seems to be clothes in his hand.
Amelia smiles at Salem and get up holding the phone up into the sky.
Amelia: "Yeah! So can you just go superheat soon?"
Salem: "Superheat..? Oh, Superheat. Umm okay let me try."
Salem puts his clothes down onto the bench right next to Amelia and steps back from her.
Salem takes closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. His hand finds its way onto his chest and he breathing follows his heartbeats, on his fifth breath he exhaled deeply and smoke came.
One more deep inhale, he took a deep exhale and the fire came out in a flash, covering his body and burning the clothes off from his skin.
Amelia lets a yelp and then an excited scream. She practically jumped off the bench backwards then rushed forward. stop when she felt the intense heat radiating off Salem.
Salem: "Amelia. Can we please hurry this up."
Amelia looks at Salem, now on fire, but any features completely obscured by fire making him just look like pure fire, with a bright inside.
Amelia: "Wow... You don't even look human like this."
She looks him up and down, then for some reason she reaches out her finger and tries to touch him, her finger gets singed, quickly she retreated her finger.
Salem: "Im sorry. Are you okay?"
His voice concerned as the fire became erratic as she slowly tried to touch his burning skin.
Amelia: "Yeah. It's a slight burn ill be fine."
Amelia pulls her phone up high, put a piece sign and her tongue out and smile.
Amelia: "Say cheese!"
Amelia takes the snapshot.
Salem surprised by the flash, the fire becomes unstable. Brightening and dimming, growing dropping. Salem then grows extremely hot.
Amelia backs away, taking steps back as she begins to feel the heat.
Amelia: "Salem it's getting hot."
Salem tries to drop the heat but it's not working.
Salem: 'Wonder what do I do?!'
Wonder: 'Breathe Salem...'
Salem tries to take a deep breathe.
Amelia: "Salem it's hot!"
Salem now grows more nervous.
Salem: "I'm sorry, I'm trying."
Salems breath is wavering and his heartbeat isn't steady as he tries to cool his body.
Amelia: "Are you sure you're trying?"
Salem grows even more nervous.
Salem: "Yes."
Salem grows hotter instead of growing cooler.
Salem: "I cant cool down..."
His voice breaks, he looks around. At the giant pool in the middle of the place. He runs, slips, then jumps into the pool. His body completely cooled, his fire now gone. Now he's stuck naked in the pool as Amelia looked once then away.
Clearly embarrassed by the sight.
Amelia: "Get some clothes on!"
Salem goes over to the ladder leading out of the pool.
Salem: "You have my clothes..."
Salems walks to the bench each footstep making Amelia look the opposing direction to him.
Salem: "Please don't look."
Amelia: "I'm trying... You know what i'm just going to leave."
Salem nods, then figures that she cant look as he grabs his clothes.
Salem: "I think that'd be better."
Amelia goes to the other exit, the one that on the other side of the pool area that is used more as an emergency exit that's just a long hallway to another part of the school.
Salem begins putting in his clothes, as it wraps uncomfortably around his body parts, because the water is still on his skin.
Wonder: 'You could have cooled the water.'
Wonder give Salem some advice.
Salem: "I'd risk burning my clothes again."
Wonder: 'That is true.'
Salem slowly pulls his shirt over his body now and exits out the way he came, forgetting the weirdly loose door hinges. As the door slams loudly against the wall.
Salem jumps slightly.
Salem: "Damn It!"
Back home
Salem enters through the back door, now with his own key that he has kept in his bag for a while.
He goes through the house and to his room, his body now dry but feeling sticky. He drops his bag beside his mattress and goes to the bathroom.
His body feeling exhausted.
He strips then gets into the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the water flow off of him.
Salem: "That was so embarrassing I wash I didn't burn my clothes every time I became the Burning Man."
Wonder: 'You can do that.'
Wonder surprises Salem, like he forgot he had a giant bird inside his mind for a second.
Salem: "I can?"
Wonder: 'Yes. But I think that'd require you to practice.'
Salem looks down as the water flow to the hole in the ground to not overflow the shower, then up at the many small holes where the water is falling on him from.
Salem voice sound shaky...
Salem: "I'll try it..."
But he is determined.
Wonder: 'How are you going to try that out? You going to bring clothes into the shower?'
Salem: "Yes."
Wonder: 'Wow.'
Salem turns off the water, opens the curtains and grab his clothes from the floor that he was going to use as a rug to catch the water that fell off his body then throw it into the dirty clothes basket.
Salem: "Wait the fire might burn the curtain."
Salem then gets on the ledge that's blocking the water from getting to far out of the shower and slowly he unlinks the top of the metal that keeps the shower curtain up and puts it over the toilet after close the lid.
Salem then gets back into the shower the water still turned off.
Salem: "Okay Wonder... How would I NOT burn my clothes off?"
Wonder makes a 'hmm' sound inside of Salems head.
Wonder: 'The best way to say it is, just think of your clothes as a part of your body. The flames will reach them but wont burn them. Thats the same way i ws able to burn The Blur when it was my opponent.'
Salem: "So I just Imagine it not burning... Yes?"
Wonder: 'Yes you already tried a singular fire lighting a box on fire, this should take a good amount of time, but regardless, not making you have to struggle to much.'
Salem: "Okay lets try it now."
Salem puts his hand on his heart and begins to try for his transformation.
Inhale, then exhale.
His body immediately turned into flames.
Wonder: 'Now don't burn your clothes.'
Salem takes another breathe, and constantly takes slow deliberate breathe, to not aggravate himself and burn his clothes.
His flames are constantly waving around himself but he doesn't feel the clothes get burnt, actually he feels his skin grow dry, and the clothes on himself become dry as well.
Salem: "Im doing it Wonder."
Salem smiles under his facade of flames.
Wonder: 'Amazing... Salem you have been my fastest descendant by far.'
Salem: "What does that mean?"
Wonder: 'It means you have been the fastest to understand the use of my power by far.'
Salem: "I'm your strongest descendant...?"
Wonder: 'No, not strongest but still strong.'
KNOCK, KNOCK!
The knock scares Salem right out of his clothes, burning it.
(under his breathe) Salem: "Damnit."
(Other side of door) Marissa: "Salem you playing with fire in there!"
Salem: "No..! When did you get home?"
(Other side of the door) Marissa: "Just now and I smelt fire so I was wondering what was happening in there."
Salem does his best to sound confused.
Salem: "I don't smell anything."
As he says that Salem, turns on the shower and begins to rush around the bathroom, grabbing the curtain and putting it back up. Using the shower to mask the sound of the curtain.
Salem: "Work might be stressing you out."
Salem has a horrible poker face, but since he's behind the door his mom can't see him so he just hopes she believes him.
(Other side of the door) Marissa: "That could be true. Just hurry Salem I plan to shower too."
Salem hears Marissa walk away presumably her room.
Salem continues rushing around the bathroom, hoping his mother doesn't just barge in.
Salem turns off the shower head now, finally finishing with putting the curtain up. He grabs a towel and wraps it around his waist, covering his body.
He exits into his room and puts on some unassuming clothes. He then exits, going into one livingroom.
Salem: "Mom you can shower n..."
He stops as he sees his mom in the living room laying on the bed with her uniform still up and her phone open to a video app she was watching on, no on the floor.
Salem goes to his room and grabs a blanket and heads over to cover her.
As he covers her with a blanket she wakes slightly.
Marissa: "Thank you son."
Then she falls into sleep again.
Salem: "You're welcome."
Salem then walks into his room and falls asleep.