The Burning: Part II

I turned the radio's dial down to a mere 3, as I watched her walk up to her front door. It had been months since I had seen her. Months.

"Thanks, love you too!" she said to her new boyfriend. At least, I could only make out that it was a guy I hadn't ever seen before. And there she stood, looking at her door, keys in hand, confused.

I put my hand, covered in a black glove, on the door to my car. I stepped out, body covered in a large coat, my face with a scarf over it, and sunglasses and hat to top it all off. I closed the door and slowly walked towards her.

She got her cell phone out and began dialing. "Daniel, weirdest thing my front door's lock is melted shut. I can't even get a key in and the door is still locked."

I walked slowly, my head down. My boots made little noise as they clacked on the sidewalk.

"Alright, I'll try to break the door down. Yes, please come back I'm a little scared now."

She hung the phone up and started to beat on the door with her whole body.

"Need some help?" I asked.

"No, I-" she looked up and saw me. She didn't recognize me. She was scared, because my outfit didn't fit the weather. Not that I would notice. "I'm good. Thank you."

"Here, let me lend you a hand." I said, taking my glove off and walking up to the door.

"No, really, it's OK."

I put my bare hand on the door to watch it melt off. The metal was putty in my hands.

"You did that to my door?"

"I did, Claire. We should talk."

"Daryl?"

I motioned her inside, as I pushed the door open. She wasn't sure what to make of me, but was visibly less scared than before.

"Daryl, what are you doing here?"

"My experiment. I figured out how to splice genes."

"Why are you wearing such a ridiculous outfit?"

I looked at the ground. I felt like crying. Like a tear was stuck. I took the hat off first, then the sunglasses and scarf. I slowly took my jacket off.

"Oh my...what have you done?"

My body had become infused with diamonds. My hair had fallen off as a side effect, all of my hair. There was none anywhere on my body. Instead my body was encased, mostly, in a crystal like substance. My face was the worst, with my eyes looking like glass. My nose at one point since the transformation had gotten hit, and cracked. The body didn't regenerate and the crystal was not as strong as diamond.

"This is who I am now. My research. I did this because of you."

"Because of me? Why would you do something so stupid?"

"Why would you?"

She knew what I meant when I said it. She knew I meant leaving me, finding another guy. Finding Daniel.

"Listen, Daniel is nothing like you. He's a great guy but-"

"I don't want to hear it. You fucked up, and yeah...I thought this was change things but instead it just made it worse. I thought I could change the world, and now look at me. I'm an outcast."

"Can't you just change back?"

"That's not how it works, Claire. This is how people see me, and will always see me. Even if we try to go back, this is what we've done. You fucked up my life."

"I still love you."

"I don't care. I just don't fucking care."

I moved out a chair, forgetting I had the glove off, and felt my hand collapse through as the chair caught on fire. I quickly put it out, putting my glove back on and attempting to sit down in a different chair.

"When I started I told myself I would make things better for both of us. That no body would destroy me, not even you. I could build myself up to levels you couldn't touch. Superhuman strength, heat levels that created fire, electricity running through me. Diamond tough skin. None of it worked. No one cared about me and just left me. You know what I've done to them?"

"What have you done?"

"I killed them all. I held them by their throats with this bare hand of mine and felt as their blood splattered over my hand. I watched as I tried to make everything better, and instead all I did was kill all of those people that left us. That left me."

"You're a murderer, Daryl?"

"I killed them, Claire. I fucking killed all of them. Then I burnt them to nothing with my bare hands."

"Please, just realize I love you Daryl. Even now with you in whatever state you are, it's taking everything in me to not hug you right now."

"You can't. The crystal is somewhat sharp and sometimes can be hot."

She looked at me with a tearful eye. "You know I love you, right?"

"Of course I do. You know why I came here, right?"

"To tell me how I ruined your life? How you killed all those people and plan to kill me?"

"No. To say I loved you too. And to say goodbye one last time."

"Goodbye? Daryl, please don't go. We can talk. Like I said, Daniel means-"

"Nothing. Nothing can stop me."

"Please, just- wait. You need to at least be in a hospital. Something."

"They couldn't do anything to help me."

"What do you mean?"

"The crystal is slowly taking over my entire body. Once it encases it, I'm fairly certain the heat will reach such heights that my body cannot take it. Once that heat builds up my internal organs will burst. That is, if the crystal doesn't get to my blood or organs first."

"You're dying."

"That I am."

"But there's so much to do, so much to see with you."

"I'm going to be dead soon. Let's just focus on the good times. Like every time I was with you." My breathing felt somewhat heavy. I found it harder and harder to breathe.

"You're so sweet." She smiled. "I wish I hadn't chosen the path I had."

"We all make mistakes. Just like I did with this experiment. But hey, you're in a better place I'm sure. You have Daniel. I'm sure he's not a douchebag."

"Actually, he is kind of a douchebag."

"Dump him, you could do better. You could always do better than me, and you settled. You were the hot one."

"Now you're the hot one." She said, giggling.

"Heh, funny."

We sat for an hour, just talking until Daniel showed up and knocked on the door.

"Fuck off." I told him. Claire went and got rid of him. It was another hour before my breathing got heavier. I became sleepy.

"I'm going to lay down on the floor here, Claire."

"OK. Keep talking to me though." She had tears running down her face.

"I will. Always. I just need a nap right now."

"Well, I'll be here when you wake up."

I didn't know where I was going when I woke up. I had traveled hundreds of miles to see her- killing people for months on end and hiding from cops. Hiding from everyone. And now all I could think of, was her voice.

"Oh hey, I brought you something. You left this in my car. I want you to still have it." I handed her the diamond bracelet I had given to her the night we broke up. She read the engraved quote, her favorite from Farenheit 451 "It is a pleasure to burn."

"I liked that quote because it has so many connotations. You could use it to mean the books. You could use it as an ironic statement. You could use it as a parody of what they really want you to do. Or you could use it as a literal statement, taking pleasure in the act of burning. Or you could even say, the idea of burning things into our memories. A burning desire for love or lust. So many questions of what it is a pleasure to burn."

"I'd burn for you." I said out loud. "But after I wake up."

"After you wake up," she said putting the bracelet on and watching me fall into the deepest sleep she'd ever see someone go into. "After you wake up."