Chapter 3

 next morning after I’ve eaten breakfast, I call my mother; her name is Sam. I’m not looking forward to this phone call and I have a sinking feeling in my stomach.

She answered on the third ring “Hello.”

“Hi mom” I said.

“How are you doing honey?” she asked.

At least she sounds like she is in a good mood today.

I had to tell her about the fire and the shed that had now had to be replaced. I knew she would be disappointed that I had made no progress since being out here.

“I had an accident yesterday” I gulped.

My mother and I had a difficult relationship. She has always favoured my brother Tyler. He is annoyingly good at everything he does.

“Oh dear, what kind of accident?” She sighed, “please tell me it’s not another one involving fire.”

She was probably sick of hearing about my accidents at this point. I fear it may never get better for her.

“I lit the shed on fire” I told her my voice shaking. I should have called my dad he was more understanding.

“Clara, what is going on with you” she said clearly frustrated, “you have been up there for months with no progress. At this point it might be best to bind your powers for good.”

“I know mom” I said fighting back tears “I swear I am trying.”

“It doesn’t seem like it” she muttered.

“I’m sorry” I whispered.

She didn’t understand and how could she. My brother got his perfection from her.

“I know you are” she said, “I just want you to come home.”

I didn’t believe that part. She was probably sick of coming up with excuses for my accidents and was glad I wasn’t around anymore.

“I will keep practicing” I told her.

“We will send someone down to fix the shed,  I’ll let you know when” she said ignoring my comment.

“Okay, sorry again” I said.

“It’s fine. I have an appointment to get to” she told me “Good luck and I’ll see you next week. Bye.”

“Bye” I said after she had already hung up the phone.

Now that we are off the phone I finally let out my tears. My mother wasn’t always very understanding. I am the first person in my family who cannot control their powers. I want to make her proud but the only thing she seems to care about is me learning to control my powers.

I wish I could, and I know it’s important.

I look outside and see the burnt shed, a reminder of my failures. I am not even sure where to start. I guess there’s no point crying about it anymore. I head outside to continue cleaning up the mess I made from the day before.

It’s a good thing I have been banished to the middle of nowhere. This could have been our house again.

We own this large property near a small provincial park in Ontario called Pancake Bay. It’s on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior. The property is mostly trees.

I feel like I have been cursed. My family says our powers are a blessing, but I have never seen it that way.

But then again, they can control their powers and I’m the one out here all alone.

Why couldn’t I have gotten a power like my brother who controls the wind or my cousin who can control vegetation?

My power is so destructive, and until I can control it, I will have to stay here. The only problem is, it is only getting worse, and fire can consume anything when you have no control over it.

My family is from a small town near Ottawa called Pembroke. My mom, dad, brother, and I live in a beautiful house next to a farm.

I’ve been downgraded to a small wood Bunkie that has the basic essentials. This is where we come to learn how to control our powers or in my case when you can’t control your powers.

My family did try to help me, especially my brother, but after setting house on fire over and over again it begins to raise suspicion with the police. I mean how many times can someone “accidentally” light their house on fire before people start asking questions.

The cops were beginning to accuse my mother of setting the fires on purpose.

My mom finally suggested I come out here for a while, I think she just wanted to get rid of me and I can’t say I blame her. I do not want to hurt anyone, so I agreed. But that was six months ago.

I haven’t made any progress while I have been out here. At this point I might be out here forever.

At first, I found it lonely, and I hated it. But after six months of being here I’ve grown used to being alone now and I might be starting to prefer it.

I don’t really have any friends and have always been a bit of a loner.

I open the door to the shed, and it falls off the hinges and onto the ground, lifting up smoke when it hits the ground. Well, this is a good start.

I have to try to stay stress free, so I don’t light things on fire. I spend most of my days walking up and down the beach looking for rocks. Lake Superior has ocean blue water and perfect sand. Before moving here, I taught art.

I start going through the charcoaled stuff in the shed to see if there is anything that can be salvaged. It is not looking good everything is either melted or smoke damaged. None of my paintings are salvageable, which makes my heart sink a little, all my hard work is gone.

I take the stuff out, and what is left of my art and load it in the trailer hooked up to my black Ford F150. I will have to make a run the the dump and get all new equipment to replace the stuff lost in the fire.

It takes me the better half of the day to clean all the melted items from the shed.

It’s mid afternoon when I finally decide to head inside to rest.

I sit on the couch next to Archie. He meows at me, and I scratch his ears. Archie is an old cat, almost as old as me. He is nineteen and I am twenty-three.

He purrs and closes his eyes. I grab my book sitting on the table and read a book I’ve read a hundred times.