A Burning Passion



“Well maybe if you put as much effort into getting a job as you do socializing with your friends, we wouldn’t be struggling to keep this damn house!” Jacob was clenching his knuckles to the point where they were white. He could see Erin crying in the corner, but he didn’t pity her. She was the reason he and his daughter had started a whole new life in a whole new town. When Erin and Jacob got engaged, he wanted for Cindy to have a mother-like figure to help her in the stereotypical depressing teenage years, and he hoped by now he would be financially stable with Erin’s help, but that was far from how things were going

Erin ran out of the house bawling her eyes out. She headed towards the garden, and despite the horrible circumstances, the garden was still absolutely beautiful. She sat there, weeping before the broken mirror.

The garden brought back memories that her flowing through Erin’s mind. It had been where her and Jacob would share laughs, plant flowers, go on romantic cheesy picnics, and recreate what had been there before. She cherished it, but on days like these, she wanted to burn it to the ground.

Cindy ran out to Erin, who was now collapsed on the earthy ground of the garden, with tears rolling down her face. Cindy embraced her soon-to-be step mother.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Cindy whispered. “We just need to let him cool. down. You’ll be alright.”

They sat there for a good ten minutes of silence, apart from the gasps of air from Erin. Eventually, the girls walked back into the house without even saying a word to Jacob.

~

Cindy rubbed her eyes. She struggled to open them as the dreadful morning sun shone in through the gaps in her window the curtains failed to cover. Although, she wasn’t concerned the least about the sun; All Cindy could think about was all the fun she would be having tonight.

Trevor had already arranged to get her fake i.d. and both her dad and Erin would be out of the house, so she wouldn’t have to sneak out. Although, if they were home, they wouldn’t notice she was gone anyways. She could slam the door on her way out and it would still seem like a whisper compared to the roar of their bickering.

Cindy wasn’t great with hiding guilt. She couldn’t even glance at her father without being terrified he would somehow know there was something up, just by the expression on her face, so she stayed in her room all day. She kept the door locked and only found herself outside her room when she needed to eat or go to the bathroom.

Eventually the time came where she was going to “sneak out” for a night of memories and fun times with her best friends. She scurried out of the house and into her car at 8:00 P.M. and drove to the bar where Trevor and Alison would be waiting. It was Alison’s birthday and she had a particularly special celebration in mind.

Cindy palms started to become clammy. She held the phony i.d. up to the security guy at the front of the line. She was 16, she looked 16 and someone was bound to notice. Maybe he would know her i.d. was fake, but Trevor and Alison had already gotten in with theirs.
After a long stare, the security guard nodded his head. She was in, and she was about to have the best time of her life.

Her night consisted of shots, on top of shots, on top of shots, over aged men hitting onher, dance moves (that would most likely be laughed at by her friends the morning after), and the three of those best friends just having a blast.

This was the first time Cindy had gotten drunk in a while. She used to drink all of the time after her mother died out of pure depression. Eventually, when she realized she had an alcohol addiction, she vowed to never drink again, but rules were meant to be broken, right?

Suddenly, Cindy saw something so shocking, she had to look twice to make sure it was real. It was her dad. She ducked underneath a table nearby and started trembling. If he saw his 16 year old daughter at a bar like this, she would be doing chores the rest of her life. Then, she started to think. He said he was going to be working late tonight. What the hell was he doing here? Why would he have to lie?

She kept her eyes on the untruthful, despicable man she had to call her father. Eventually, she realized why he had to lie to Erin. He had his hand around some skanks waist, who wasn’t his fiance. It was some skinny blonde girl who looked completely unaware that an engaged man had his arms around her.

Her first reaction was to bolt over to her father and give him an earful, but she couldn’t do that. Not here, not now. She had to be patient and wait for the two to leave, but for now, she would keep a close eye on them. Once the blonde and her Father started to approach the exit, she followed close behind. Jacob took a cab car home and left the girl standing there. While eavesdropping Cindy had managed to catch the girls name: Clarissa. Once she was sure her father had already turned the corner, Cindy bursted out into the street and grasped Clarissa’s twig-like arm. She slapped her across the face with all of the anger compacted in her right arm.

“You’re such a slut. What the hell were you doing letting my father touch you like that?!? He’s a married man. Erin and him are happy together.” She was infuriated.

Clarissa looked back at her in shock of everything that just happened. Had she really made that huge of a mistake? She had been seeing Jacob for months and not once thought he might have been in a relationship. She was about to reply to the girl that struck her moments ago, but she was no where in sight.

Clarissa had no idea how to handle this situation. She did a little research on Erin and eventually figured out what she looked like. She was beautiful and looked successful. Why in the world would Jacob cheat on her? Soon enough, Clarissa was being eaten alive by her own horrific thoughts and guilt.

~

Sunday morning, Erin woke up. She felt like she needed a day out, a day to herself, so she slipped on her clothes and squeezed out the front door. She made sure not to make too much of a racket because every one in the house was sleeping besides her. By 7:00 A.M., she started the engine to her car and headed to the park just to have a relaxing day out of the house.

Erin sat there on the rusty bench of the park and observed the morning runners. She had seen this beautiful, young, blonde, innocent looking girl, running by in the cutest track suit. Although, there was something odd about this girl; She was holding an envelope. Besides that, it was a normal Sunday morning.


When Erin was getting ready to leave, she noticed that same envelope on the bench next to her. It had her name written on the cover. She opened it. What was inside would completely change her life. Erin started to cry her eyes out, but no one at the park would want to witness her misery, so she went to her car and rode a very depressing ride home.

~

The garden was so beautiful, much like the secret garden, but not so secret. It announced itself with vibrant flowers and vines twisting and turning into that cracks of what seemed to a hundred year old wall.

An entrance led to the inside, where memories of Erin’s most joyful and sorrowful moments of life. There were gorgeous flowered with bundles of bees, butterflies, earth worms and animals. Everything fell into the scene with colors blended into colors.

You could smell the earth, the fresh aroma of strawberries, flowers and dirt. In the distance you could hear the faint sound of a waterfall and the tweets of birds flowing into it like a song of nature.

Everything seemed to be so happy and colorful, despite Erin.

She looked at herself in the mirror with disgust. Her hair was a mess, mascara was running down her cheek bones and what used to be a beautiful white dress, was now covered in dirt. No wonder Jacob cheated on her. She was the most horrific human being to walk this earth.

With thoughts of disgust and despair ran through her mind, she pulled out a lighter. Eventually the envelope in her hand caught fire. Dropping both the envelope and the lighter, she struck the mirror several times, shouting “I don’t deserve to live. No one wants me! I’m useless, pathetic!”

Blood came pouring down from her hand and she collapsed on the floor, where she had been weeping the other night. At some point, Erin crawled into the fetal position and cried every tear she had left.

What used to be a flawless garden behind her, caught fire. Everything burned to the ground, and her body was amongst the ashes.