Chapter 1 ~ The Man In White

The smell of gasoline filled the night air, wafting in waves from the omnipresent mansion in front of her. Her prison: her hell. She raised her hand fingers poised in wait. They would figure it out soon, and then they would come after her. She had to do it now. She pressed her thumb to middle finger, cherished the feeling of flesh upon flesh. A cry of fury rose from the mansion, the echoing of the damned grandfather clock rang as it struck twelve. She snapped. A ball of flames engulfed the house in a beautiful display of justice. The flames licked the sky as they purged the earth of the house of sin.~


The low rumbling of tires turning off the highway and onto the abandoned dirt road met Scarlett’s ears. She left her eyes closed as she took in her surroundings, noting the subtleties that proved she wasn’t in That Place. The wind cooling her sweat drenched face, her heart racing in her chest, all the things she hadn’t been aware of as she slept. The tires drove on, crunching the gravel beneath them as they came steadily closer. She took a deep breath, noting the lack of smoke pervading the air and opened her eyes to the cold stars in heavens above. Some things are better left forgotten.

The tires squealed as they turned into the empty drive leading to her self-claimed home. Quickly she was on red alert. What kind of person feels the need to come to MY abandoned church in the middle of the freaking night? She crept across the roof of the building, the aged wood creaking ominously beneath her as she peered over the edge. The road was hidden in shadow as she searched for the offending vehicle. Wait---there it is! The white headlights cut through the darkness, a knife illuminating the front of the church. Now she could see the car. It was black and fancy looking. She searched through her head for a match in her severely limited dictionary of cars and found, amazingly, a match! It was a Lamborghini and now she knew for certain that she hated whoever was in said car. Honestly, stupid rich bastards think they can do anything. MY CHURCH IS MY CHURCH DAMMIT!!

She glared as the car came to a stop, challenging it secretly. The door swung upwards revealing a brilliantly white pant leg slowly descending down…ever so slowly. Next a slender hand holding down a white hat appeared… She checked her watch certain that it had just taken at least five minutes for those two body parts to appear. What’s with the slow motion?

“JUST GET OUT ALREADY; I WANT TO GO TO BED!!” An annoyed voice came suddenly from the car as the man in white was shoved violently out the door. The guy lay there pathetically on the ground his butt raised in the air as his face was buried in the dirt. A faint groan was heard as he picked himself up and flung out the tail of his white coat to let it catch in the wind, flaring behind him. He strode to the front of the door and stood as if waiting for it to magically open and let him enter. She lowered herself closer to the roof; hoping to blend in with the night. The man stood a moment more, and then as if he had known all along, raised his head. She took in a deep breath, he was… smiling. The man lowered his head and removed his hat. “Hello Amelia.”

Chapter 2 ~ To Burn or Not to Burn

The man looked up, sweeping his blonde hair from his face, elegant and precise, as he once again revealed his face to the night sky. It was too dark for her to see him, or him her, but still she scowled as she spoke. “I’m sorry; I don’t know any one by that name.” Sarcasm leaked unrestrained into her voice, “maybe you should try again somewhere else.”

The man laughed at her, seemingly unbothered by her show of spite. “Ah, my apologies.” The man spoke like a count or something, someone from a fairy tale, someone that would have been beaten mercilessly at her school had they dared to open their mouths. “I had forgotten that you preferred the name Scarlett, correct?” His smile was still there, genial as ever as her breath stopped in her throat. How the hell did he know that? She thought incredulously. “Who are you?” She called down testily, “And just what the hell do you want!”

The man looked up at her, his charming smile wide. Like an alligator might look before it ate the tiny bird for a snack; as if he knew something terribly secret. Well didn’t he? She had barely seen this man for more than ten minutes and he already seemed to know way too much about her.

Her mind balked at the absurdness of it all. “Oh! How rude of me!” The stranger exclaimed. “I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Headmaster Freight.” He sank graciously into a splendorous bow, tilting his head up as he rose once more. “And I have a proposal for you.”

Scarlett’s hazel eyes opened wide, her brain hesitant to process the large amount of crazy it was being fed. Finally she managed to force some words out of her shocked mouth. “What the hell kind of name is Headmaster Freight?” She choked out. Well that wasn’t what she had expected…

He looked delighted that she had asked, laughing openly at her reaction. As though he thought her perfectly reasonable question was amusing! “Well, it is my name of course.” he answered still chuckling. “Or at least what you will be referring to me as. He tilted his head up at her once again, smiling good natured as always. Scarlett’s irritation flared the idiot’s presumptuous words. “You say that like you expect me to be referring to you often.” Her arms crossed over her chest. Her displeasure almost tangible at the idea; the ever present glare becoming more pointed as his smile widened in pleasure.

“Ah so you caught on to that did you? Splendid! Your very sharp aren’t you, my dear?” Her glare was her only answer. The stranger, or rather, Headmaster Freight seemed to deflate a little as he realized she wouldn’t answer him. She watched as he grumbled to himself, like a spoiled child would, as he brushed the remaining dirt from his white suit. Muttering something about how this had to be Aubrey’s partner and why was it that they both seemed to think that glaring was the only way to handle situations.

Then clearing his throat very self-importantly he looked her way once again. His smile more mild seemingly blocked by the seriousness of what he was about to say. “Well you are correct Scarlett. I do expect to be seeing more of you. In fact I actually came here to share a proposal with you. But if you wouldn’t mind I would much rather have this conversation in a more…comfortable arrangement. Face to face, if you don't mind." His smile was charming once more.

‘Comfortable?’ This man wanted comfort when he had barged into her home, woke her up in the middle of the freaking night, and he wanted comfort!? “Like hell we can sit down in a more ‘comfortable' arrangement.” She spat the words like poison, scorn lacing her them with gasoline and setting them ablaze. "You’re the one who came here! Uninvited! At the most ridiculous hour of the night. And you want to be comfortable?” She scoffed, “Don’t make me laugh.” The furious scorn never leaving her words.

Headmaster Freight didn’t seem to be put off, only a little abashed, if that. His smile faltering as dark eyes took on a look similar to a kicked puppy’s.

“Well, I wanted you to be comfortable too…”

“I am perfectly comfortable up here, thanks! And I would be even more so if you would just leave!”

Rolling her eyes with a huff, she turned away from him. She had missed the rather peculiar grin that had stolen across the dismissed man’s face. Only for her eyes to widen and freeze as there, behind her, lounging as if the rooftop of a rotting old church was the height of luxury, sat the man.

His smile loaded with self-satisfaction, dark eyes sparkling with something like mischievousness. Spinning his hat as he set it down on the rooftop cross, he asked.

“What’s wrong Scarlett? You look like you’ve just seen the devil.”

Scarlett did the only sane thing left. She screamed.

Chapter 3 ~ Heads or Tails

The man, Freight, stood there unmoving. His ever present smile only seeming to grow when she stopped screaming and stared at him. Chest heaving from panic as her adrenaline spiked blood made her eyes search the man for danger. Framed against the moonlight the colors were leached from the world, making the crazed man’s presence seem unreal.

She saw that his hair hung loose, curled at the edges where the white colored strands met his shoulders. Bleaching his skin and drawing her eyes immediately to his own dark ones. Scarlett could not have guessed what his eye color actually was, the monochrome moonlight making any attempt way too uncertain. But she could tell that the contrast was hypnotic, everything about him seemed determined to be admired. From his dramatic choice of suits to the rough aristocracy portrayed in his features. Prompting the question, Was this man a freaking male model?!

She tried her best to calm down as she crossed her arms and stared once more, stubbornly, at the man named 'Headmaster Freight.' “What, you think you’re higher than God?” She asked, referring to the fact that his white fedora was sitting on top of the cross as if it was a coat rack. Watching as his face glowed with the joy of her acknowledgment.

“God, me? Never.” He smirked sinisterly, as he leaned in closer. “Now devil on the other hand...”

Scarlett took a step back as the man laughed, seemingly pleased by her reaction, and grit her teeth before forcing herself two steps closer to him. He does not scare me! She glowered at him, daring him to make another move like that again. He stared back as if he was hunting a tiger, as if she was his prey.

“Will you leave already? Dammit!” she growled.

“You want me to leave already? So soon? I thought we were having fun.” He was taunting her. As if he thought that messing with her mind and ruining her sleep was ‘fun.’ He whipped his hat from the top of the cross and placed it contentedly on top of his head, before he lent back, as if to prove that he was not leaving any time soon.

She shot another deathly glare in his direction. The anger growing as he brushed her off like she was some ignorant child needing to be taught a lesson. Then an idea formed slowly into her mind. She was going to make this man leave, if she had to burn him piece by piece. He was going to leave.

The man, Freight, raised his head and smiled at her, eyes growing confused as Scarlett’s own lips turned to reflect that grin right back at him. But this was no ordinary grin; it was evil and mischievous, meant to send grown men into paranoid twitches. She watched as his smile formed gradually into a frown as he realized. In the next few seconds, slowly but surely, a small flame appeared on the man’s fedora and began to widen reaching for a lock of his incandescent hair. The next few moments Scarlett would never forget. She swore that the image would forever remain etched in the very forefront of her mind.

The man shrieked voice pitching way too high to be considered manly, possibly even breaking the sound barrier. He immediately yanked the hat off and threw it over the roof, letting the charcoaled hat plummet to the ground. His hands flew to his head, as if counting each strand of hair, making sure none had been cut off in the process of the small flame that Scarlett had created.

Watching the man caressing his hair back and forth brought a snicker and a fit of giggles from Scarlett, as she realized her plan could not have been any more perfect. Freight’s head snapped towards the sound of her laughter, seething as he placed his arms down and stood up. He towered over her with a scowl, handsome face twisted in rage as he stalked forwards. “You- you…” He seemed at a loss for words, trying to find a word that was best suited for Scarlett, finally he shouted out. “You DEMON! Do You Know What You Could Have Done TO ME!?”

He was breathing heavily as he threw his hands wildly in the air, acting more and more like spoiled teenage princess. Scarlett narrowed her eyes at him, losing her mirth, and taking this one moment to her advantage, as she replied coldly, “Yes, and I’ll gladly do it again if you do not leave… and this time I won’t hold back.”
She watched the man who wasn’t even slightly fazed by her dagger striking glare. Instead he turned his back to her and pulled out a comb; as ever so gently he pulled it through his shining hair. Muttering something along the lines of, “Well, there is….no doubt that you....Aubrey’s partner. ...Always ...have to go for the hair... how inconsiderate!” Scarlett's face went head first into her palm as she realized the fact that this man was never going to leave, no matter what she did.

Freight seemed to notice her brooding aura because at that moment he spun around and had the same ridiculous grin he had on when he first met her.... “If you are so irritated by me, shall I make you another proposition, one you cannot refuse?”

Scarlett rolled her eyes at this man’s arrogance, and leaned against the church bell tower with her arms crossed. “Oh yeah? And what can you offer me that will make me jump at your request?” The question made Freight’s eyes light up and created a small flash of superiority in his stance, he knew he had gotten her attention.

“Simple! I will leave here on one condition…” He trailed off, as if waiting for Scarlett to fill in the blanks; silence prevailed around them as Scarlett thought of every possible condition he could have her do. First, do something incredibly humiliating, or another horrible thought, him lying through his teeth and never leaving her alone forcing her to find another place to live. None of these conditions seemed appealing to her, as she thought about each one and threw the worst ones out; which was practically every single one of them.

“What?” she hissed. Minutes passed before he answered her, as if he was leaving her with a dramatic pause. He reached into his pocket and immediately Scarlett’s muscles tensed, ready to jump at whatever object he pulled out. Except, what Freight had drew out of his pocket was something she had least expected, a pamphlet.

Freight saw her eyes grow wide with surprise and he chuckled at her expense. Smoothly trying to hand the brochure to her. She did not reach for it, nor did she move. Quietly she stared at the offending piece of paper before shifting her eyes up to meet the man once more. “Explain.”

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 08.03.2011

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