[A bad decision.]

Everything felt heavy the moment her consciousness embraced reality. Zahra forced open her leaden eyelids to greet the still darkness of the small room she called her abode. Sitting up from her sleeping mat, she cracked a small slit of the plain curtains to peer out. Dawn had yet to grace the lands, but she knew the sun would peek out of the horizon soon enough, and thus she got up to carry out her daily chores.

In the midst of her scrubbing at the table, a shrill cry sliced through the peaceful silence of the house. With a small huff, Zahra dropped her cloth and headed over to the telephone while briefly wiping her hands on her pants, before picking up.

"Hello?"

"Zahra-chan! Is that you?" a familiar tone that was way too buoyant (in Zahra's opinion) at this time burst through the receiver. "Joji-sensei," came her brief, uninflected greeting despite the man's warmness from the other side.

The man barely regarded her dull tone. "Will you be coming to school today?" She threw a glance at the clock. It was 6AM. Sunlight began to filter through the small gap of her curtains into the room. "...Maybe not. Sorry, sensei."

"But Zahra-chan! My lesson is on today!"

"I know. Good luck."

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't hang up! I've got something interesting today if you come to school." His attempt, however desperate, caught her attention before she hung up. "...What is it about?"

"Remember the material you asked me to create? I'm having some progress, but I need you to come and test it. Also, I've made a small part you can wear as a test run first."

After a short moment of silence, she finally relented with a sigh. "Okay, I'll go."

"AMAZING! See you-"

She hung up before he could finish. Then, she turned back to resume with her chores, quickly finishing up to get ready for the abrupt change of plans. Before she left, she snatched a piece of paper to scribble down a quick note.

'Mom, I have left for school. I'll be back with dinner. Rest well.'

By the time she crossed the school gates, the bell pealed across the courtyard. She only hastened her pace ever so slightly, barely making it to class before homeroom began. She had just settled down into her place when she heard a snicker beside her.

"Look who decided to show up."

"I bet Miss-I'm-Too-Cool thought we missed her and her ugly scar or something."

Subconsciously, her hand reached up to tug her scarf higher, but she already knew it was useless to hide the burned patch that creeped up to her cheek. She could only shift her hair to conceal the maroon, wrinkled skin.

The annoying voices immediately shut up when the teacher stepped into the classroom. As the teacher droned on to mark the attendance (his look of stupor didn't go unnoticed when she replied his role call), there was a small needle-like sensation at her calf. She glanced down to spot a small folded paper. She picked it up.

Don't bother them. Glad to see you're here.

When she looked up, she caught the small wink a bespectacled boy in front flashed her, before he whirled back to face the front again. She couldn't help the small eyeroll. Nevertheless, a small smirk tugged at her lips.

Time seemed to drag on, her getting more and more lethargic each minute that she might fall asleep at this point. At last, the bell rang again, signalling 3rd period- chemistry. Her classmates were all fairly quick to leave the classroom. She wasn't surprised- Joji-sensei knew how to captivate his crowd with his upbeat humour and actually intriguing classes.

As her classmates filtered out of the room, leaving only her and a few others to collect their necessities for the subject, a hand slammed onto her table. Unblinkingly, she continued on with her own business.

"Oy, scar-face. Where have you been? Did you get kicked out of your job because your boss caught you playing with fire? Or did he simply get sick of seeing you ugly face between his legs?" the boy (she didn't bother remembering his name) sneered, and he and his friend howled in laughter.

Zahra merely gathered her belongings and stood up to leave.

"Hey, shithead, I'm talking to you!"

A grip snatched at her scarf, along with her raven locks to yank her back. It unravelled, revealing the angry red skin that traversed down to her collarbone. The fury she suppress broke through, and she snapped. With a low growl, she wheeled around and latched a hand onto his wrist-

A body barged in between their hands to stop things before they escalated. "Hey, guys, just leave her alone!" Sugaya had his arms up as he tried to calm the two. The other scoffed. "Ah great, and the pet comes in. Let's just go. We're going to be late for class."

With one last (pathetic) glare, the boy shook her grip off and stalk off after his friend. Zahra bent down to recollect her items and rewrapped her scarf.

"That could've gone worse," was Sugaya's remark as he pushed up his glasses. Zahra could only let out a scoff. "Of course. I would've socked that asshole in his balls." The bespectacled teen gave his friend a concern look. "As bad as their insults are-"

"Their insults are equivalent to the IQ of a five year-old," she cut him off and began to walk away. "Let's go."

Sugaya could only run his fingers through his chocolate tresses in exasperation. "Yeah, okay, fine."

*

"...and remember what I said about hydrogen bonds..."

Zahra exhaled and slumped her chin onto her propped palm. The science fanatic was blabbering away, yet nothing seemed to go through her head. All she could think of was the items he had promised her.

Just when she thought the ennui was going to drag her to her demise, a loud explosion rocked the lab.

Immediately, chatters rose from the students, bewildered as it had seemed as if something had detonated from the other room. The air smelt of smoke, and it wasn't long for Joji-sensei to check out what had happened.

The bell blared overhead, and it wasn't the usual school one- it was loud and continuous, sending a ripple of alarm throughout all the students. Joji-sensei immediately began ushering them. "Please get into a single file and leave the lab now!" Everyone quickly complied, no questions asked. They all knew that alarm could only mean fire.

The hallway was a chaos of noise despite everyone in queue. The wave of panic had spread just as quickly, infecting everyone on the same floor as the lab where the fire had burst to life. As everyone rushed towards the field, Zahra noticed a few people lingering at the side.

A girl student had fallen to her knees, her face streaked with tears as she thrashed against the other two who held her back.

"Miyoko!! She's still in there! Save her! Please! Anyone!" the heart wrenching wails of the girl actually froze Zahra in her tracks for a brief moment. Her mind swirled back to the incident six years ago, where her own child cries resonated with the girl's.

"DAD! NO! YOU- USELESS-!!"

She gritted her teeth, willing the ghost of the past to retreat for now.

"MIYOKO!"

Her scar throbbed.

"The fire truck will arrive in five minutes, but Miyoko-san won't be able to last that long!"

Her fists clenched. Her legs grew heavier at each step.

"Should we try to save her?"

"No, it's too dangerous."

I can. But I can't.

"MIYOKO! PLEASE!!"

With a frustrated cry, she spun on her heels and sprinted back.

"Hey- Zahra-chan?! DON'T-!"

She ignored the yells of Joji-sensei, knowing full well that he knew she had the ability to save Miyoko, but it would instead put her in danger.

Her image, not her life. She was sick of it. She wasn't going to stand by when she knew she could save a life, not anymore.

With adrenaline coursing through every fibre of her being, she leaped into the blazing inferno of the lab.

The smoke that entered her lungs asphyxiated her trachea and stung her eyes, bringing hot tears forward. She harshly wiped them away and held her scarf over her nose as her gaze swept past the smouldering furniture all about. She ventured deeper past the licking flames, until she spotted a mop of hair under a fallen table, the fire already devouring the wooden furniture like a starved beast. She had no time to do this slow and steadily. And so, she summoned the untouched strength in her and pushed with her hands.

The crimson fire parted, creating a path for her, and she dashed towards the crushed student.

The girl- Miyoko had already given in to unconsciousness, but Zahra could ascertain she was still alive. She heaved the last of the table off the figure and crouched to scoop her up in her arms.

Her legs were already trembling when she could finally heft Miyoko up. Her power was taking more of a toll than she thought. Her lungs burned from the smoke, and she could feel the girl already slipping from her hold. Sweat drenched her uniform; her legs were rooted in place. If she forced her legs to move, her control on the fire would slip, and they would all be engulfed in a sea of flame.

She could only let out a laugh. Albeit her powers, she'll still end up getting a life killed, and maybe even herself. What a joke. She was still useless despite her unique ability, in the end.

She closed her eyes, wracking her brain for an idea to save the both of them, when a loud noise caught her attention.

A stream of white foam sprayed from outside. There were disjointed yells, and she could see a few silhouettes clad in big suits rushing in once the front was cleared. They looked briefly baffled by the seemingly man-made path in the raging fire, but once they spotted Zahra they disregarded the bizarre phenomenon and rushed to rescue them.

All Zahra could think, when she re-emerged unscathed to face the crowd who had obviously witnessed her little stunt, was it had been a bad decision to even climb out of bed today.

♧[27/5/2020]♧

Tfw the idea you have is too good for you to let go, yet it's already way past the deadline and really late so you have to rush and in the end it came out not as good as you wanted it to be.

And if this seemed to make no sense to read, i don't blame you, i mean it's pretty late-*coughcough*

Also, i feel like my ideas and style are kinda repeating, so if it's annoying feel free to drop a criticism or two, or if it's all right feedbacks are also appreciated.

:)