Safe Hands
Maybe stalking into an alley in the dead of night wasn't the brightest of ideas, but after what she had just witnessed -- yeah, it was a moral fucking imperative.
Chloe had seen a lot in her time: pretty green rocks that created the monsters that haunted her dreams, shiny red rocks that turned the mild mannered boy down the road into someone about to have sex in a tacky coffee shop, rich young men with deep, dark obsessions and deeper pockets to indulge them with...
Liberty Island wasn't a distant memory and the stories coming out of the Rockies didn't sound so strange to her veteran ears, but that didn't matter; when she saw something strange, her sense of wonder never failed.
So what if someone's DNA strand was a little bent? Some things mattered more than the double-helix. Like the fact that above all, Chloe wanted to know, no matter the cost.
But the alley was dark and empty, not even a lousy cat scrounging in the trash that lined the narrow passage. The adrenaline in her system kept her heart racing though, she saw him turn in here...
She heard the unmistakable click of the Zippo before she saw the flame.
CLICK
FWOOSH
His arm was against her throat; his body was bracing her against the wall before she could do anything. Oxygen would be a bit of a problem pretty soon but she still heard the rhythmic flicking of the lighter to her right. The flame illuminated deep grey-blue eyes that starred intently into her own.
"You shouldn't have seen that."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the guy. She had a good look at him on the deserted street, just a few minutes before; he only looked a few years younger than her. He was barely out of that awkward stage, but he still wore clothes that belied his age. It was his checkered Vans that had drawn her attention first. The ball of fire in his hand was just a bonus. The Wall of Weird might be packed in boxes deep in her closet, but some things never change.
"Then someone shouldn't have been playing around with their powers for all the world to see," she challenged.
He released his hold just a little bit at that, but he was still the one in control and they both knew it.
"You shouldn't have followed me."
"It's still a free country."
"Not for people like me."
That was true. The hysteria had died down a little, but things were tense. For Chloe's part, she was more worried about the government and the random phobic than she was about the guy who could apparently manipulate fire (and was still playing with the Zippo) right in front of her.
"I'm sorry."
His face softened at that, like some switch had been flipped. "Don't dare breathe a word of this to anyone."
Or print it. Oh yeah, it'd win her all sorts of awards (if only she could convince her editor that she wasn't making it up), but Chloe had learned how to keep a secret.
"Don't worry. You're in safe hands," she answered softly.
His arm came away from her throat (he had stopped applying real pressure about the time she brought out the snark) and he took two steps back. His mouth quirked into a smile. He gave a little mock salute and then ran out of the alley.
Chloe straightened her jacket and exited onto the street. Well, she thought, at least she didn't seem to be falling for this guy. Maybe her luck was changing.