Burn

Sarah stormed out of the building, it didn’t matter that was Jake was screaming her name. That was the last straw. That was the last time he was gonna hurt her. She found herself driving into the woods, far away from him. Jake was always afraid of the woods. He wouldn’t dare come here, she thought as she sat down on the smooth grey rock in the middle of the clearing, between the two willow trees. She hugged herself and began to cry, how could she have been so stupid? All Jake had ever done was hurt her, lied to her and cheated on her. What the hell was she thinking? She buried her face in her hands and screamed because it hurt so much. It was supposed to have been their day out, Jake had promised. “That jerk! How can I be so stupid?” she said, looking toward the sky and started sobbing uncontrollably. Jake Mallory. Talk about a devil with the face of an angel, tall, lithe and fair with hair dark as raven’s wings. Yeah, that was Jake. Witty, smart, gorgeous... Every girl wanted him and every guy wanted to be him. Jake had told her that he was gonna take her out to Julian’s. It was the restaurant where Jake had taken her to on their first date. Sarah hugged herself as she remembered that date; even though Jake was one of the most popular guys at school, it had taken Jake a month to muster up enough courage to ask her out. Seemed like yesterday; she had worn a pink summer dress and a fawn coloured jacket that day, and Jake had worn a white T-shirt, ripped jeans and a leather jacket. He had driven her home, walked her up to the doorway and kissed her. Sarah fingered her lips as she remembered her first kiss; she had been so scared but once Jake cupped her face into his hands, and gently pressed his lips onto hers, Sarah realized nothing had ever felt more natural to her than the tangy orangey taste of Jake’s mouth, his arms around her waist and her hands in his hair. The way her body seemed to fit into his so perfectly, and as they stood entangled on her porch, the world seemed to disappear around them, nothing seemed to matter anymore. In those fast fleeting moments she felt that they were one, she was him and he was her and the world no longer existed. When she finally let go, he had stood on the porch, his fingers entwined in hers, their foreheads touching till he looked her in the eyes and whispered, “Conceivably, I am quite unconditionally and irrevocably in love with you.” before gently kissing her on the forehead and finally leaving... But that was three years ago, when she had been sixteen years old then, and he had been seventeen. A lot had happened since then; high school had gotten to Jake, he had dated her, cheated on her, they'd broken up and the cycle continued. And then six months ago, her parents had died in a car crash. Since legally she was an adult, Social Services couldn’t transfer her to a foster home, and as for financial concerns, both of Sarah’s parents had been extremely successful lawyers and had left her quite a lot of money, and Sarah was working as an apprentice to Miss Waters, the local seamstress, to learn the basics of fashion designing and hoping to one day launch her own clothing line. But none of that mattered now, not her dreams, nothing... feeling depressed and broken she fumbled through her purse and finally found it. She wiped her tears and ran her thumb along the sharp edge of her razor. Maybe I should just do it, she thought as a thin stream of blood ran down her finger, then finally I’ll be free from this torture... She raised the razor to her left hand, and rubbed its flat side against her wrist, feeling the coldness of the blade against her skin. It had been quite some time since she had last cut herself... She raised the razor above her wrist but before she could do anything drastic, her phone buzzed. She picked up her phone and saw that Jake had texted her. “Baby, I am so sorry.” His text read. Sarah raised her eyebrow and replied "For what? Oh, yeah... For ditching me to spend time with that bimbo in your bedroom..." She sent the text and threw her phone away... The razor lay on the rock beside her, and as Sarah picked it up to end her life and ivy vine broke and suddenly fell at her feet. Sarah jumped up, dropping the razor. She looked up at the trees and frowned. Ivy was the sacred plant of Dionysus, Greek God of wine... Greek literature was her father's passion... She remembered him reading stories of Greek gods and goddesses when she was younger. Dionysus was son to Zeus and Semele, but Zeus' jealous wife, Hera, had tricked the pregnant Semele into forcing Zeus to reveal his true form and the sight was too brilliant for the mortal princess who was reduced to ashes almost instantly... but Zeus was able to save his unborn son by hiding him inside his thigh. Dionysus had survived, discovered wine and had taken his revenge on anyone who had disregarded him. He turned the pirates who wanted to sell him to slavery into dolphins and had the king who wouldn't accept his divinity torn to pieces by the king's own mother at one of his revels. All these things ran through her head as she picked up the ivy vine, the rich green of the leaves seemed quite ethereal, somehow. She gently placed the vine back where she picked it up from and found her phone. She knew what she had to do...                                    **
Jake paced around his bedroom, now in a state of panic. She wasn't picking up his calls nor had she replied to his last text. Jake cursed under his breath as he called her once again. How could he have been so reckless? He sat down on his bed and threw all the pillows towards the wall, and then ran his fingers through his hair. He lowered his head and saw Vanessa's bra lying at his feet. Red silk lined with black lace, it smelled of her perfume. She had come to him last night, begging him to take her. He should have just said no. But one simply doesn't say no to Vanessa Gold. Oh Vanessa, the thought of her angered and aroused him at the same time. Hair like spun gold, pale skin, deep green eyes and red pouty lips. He thought of the time they spent together in high school, when he had cheated on Sarah with her. It wasn't that Jake didn't love Sarah, he loved her more than she could even imagine but Vanessa was the one he wanted in his bed. That body... Her round hips, that tiny waist and the curves of her upper body drove every guy wild. And she wanted him... He couldn't just say no to her. When Sarah had walked in on them that morning, he just didn't know what to say... Her pale face remained expressionless apart from the tears running down her cheeks. Jake jumped out of bed hastily pulling on his denims and ran to her. She turned to leave but Jake had grabbed her hand, and then... She turned around and slapped him, his grip on her arm loosened for a second and she wernched free and ran out of there. He watched her drive off as he screamed her name. When he came back to his room, Vanessa was dressed. "It's always going to be her, isn't it?" she said with a sad smile. "Get out" he said hoarsely. Vanessa looked amused for a little while and then walked out. A sudden buzz of his phone interrupted his thoughts. It was a text from Sarah. Jake looked at the clock, it was almost 8 o'clock. "Open the door." her text read. Jake rushed to the door and on opening it, he found Sarah standing in the flowy black silk dress he had given her for her eighteenth birthday, with kohl lined eyes and red lipstick. Her raven black hair fell in curls around her pale shoulders. She looked so beautiful, Jake almost forgot how to breathe... "Can I come in?" she said. "Uh, duh... I mean, yes, please." it felt like Jake's tongue and brain suddenly refused to cooperate with him. Sarah smiled and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. She looked at Jake with those stormy grey eyes... "I realise why you did what you did. It's because we never... I never... You know..." Sarah shrugged. Jake opened his mouth to protest, but Sarah silenced him with a wave of her hand. "I'm ready." she said. "For... For what?" Jake stammered. Sarah smiled and looked towards his bedroom meaningfully. "Oh." Jake said. He was nervous but he hoped that she wouldn't see it. Sarah moved towards him, soon enough her lips inches from his. "But first you got to take me dancing." she grinned. "Yeah yeah... Of course." Jake said a little breathlessly. Half an hour later they were in the hottest and loudest club in town. And the way she moved, Jake had never even known that she could... They danced till they were out of breath and had to sit down. When the waitress brought them their drinks, Sarah put her arms around his neck. "This club is too loud... How about we go somewhere, quieter?" she whispered in his ear. Jake nodded and emptied his glass in one swallow. After that they walked out of the club and towards his car. "Can I drive?" She asked. "Sure baby, anything you want." Jake grinned. Sarah drove but didn't stop when they reached his house, instead she drove past... "Where are we going? " Jake mumbled suddenly feeling dizzy. "Shh, you didn't think I'd lie on those filthy sheets, now did you?" Sarah said, smiling. Eerily, her smile was more feral than friendly... And that was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out. When he regained consciousness, Jake saw trees. He was in the woods. A feeling of terror gripped him, and when he tried to run, he realised he couldn't move...                                     **
"Oh, so you're awake... Finally..." Sarah said, looking at Jake's barely covered body. She'd taken off all his clothes apart from his boxers. Jake was pretty heavy and tying him to the willow trees hadn't been as easy as she'd hoped. But still, it was worth the look of terror on his face. Such a beautiful face twisted with so much terror. She had tied one arm to each tree and she tied his feet together and it looked as though he was a doll being supported by the two trees. She took another swig from the bottle of vodka that she had been carrying in her car and put it down as she watched Jake struggle. "Sarah... What are you doing?" Jake slurred, the drug hadn't quite worn off as yet. "Let me tell you a story, king named Pentheus was the ruler of the city of Thebes in Greece, and one day a handsome young man named Dionysus came to his kingdom and claimed that he was the son of Zeus. Pentheus laughed at him and disrespected him, this angered the young god and he cursed the entire land to be inflicted woth drought until the king accepted his divinity. Dionysus was known throughout the land, not only because of his invention of wine but also for his wild revels in the woods. The people of Thebes secretly attended the revels, and one night the king was informed that his mother Agave, was also taking part in that night's revelry. Morbidly curious, Pentheus went into the woods and climbed up a tree to hide and watch what would unfold. The revels began with frenzied dancing, drinking and singing; Pentheus remained frozen with horror as he watched his intoxicated mother bare herself and dance around the fire burning in the middle of the clearing. He looked and and suddenly noticed Dionysus. The young god was looking at him, and in that moment Pentheus realised that he had known all along. Dionysus raised his cup toward him, drank deeply and threw the cup into the fire. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and cleared his throat. A sudden silence fell all over. "We seem to have a trespasser in our midst." he said walking towards the tree that Pentheus was hiding in, "Why don't we show him what we do trespassers?" he shook the tree and Pentheus fell into the clearing. "Lion!" screamed the frenzied Agave. "Mother..." whimpered the king. "The lion roars! Let us show him what we do creatures that threaten us!" she shouted and grabbed Pentheus by the neck. Shouts of approval came from all around and then..." Sarah fell silent. "Then?" asked Jake, his heart pounding in his chest. The cold air covered his bare skin with goosebumps. "Agave tore Pentheus to pieces with her bare hands. Her own son..." Sarah stood quietly for a while and then reached for a large can near his feet. She unscrewed the top of the can and started pouring the liquid all over him. It smelled like... gasoline. "What the hell are you do think you're doing?" screamed Jake. Sarah laughed. "Agave was a maenad, I'm not. I don't have the upper body strength to rip you to pieces." "Sarah, you're not in control of your senses. Let me go. You don't want to hurt me." Jake said, forcing himself to be calm. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Sarah said, with that feral smile lingering on her lips. "You're crazy. HELP! HELP ME! SAVE ME!" Jake started to scream. Sarah began to laugh hysterically. Jake looked at her, puzzled but still shouting for help. "Scream all you want, I spiked the town water supply with some pretty strong... pharmaceuticals. Thank God the guard still has a thing for me... Everyone is going to be sleeping like a rock tonight... So I'm pretty much the only person who's going to hear you scream, so carry on." Sarah said. Jake fell silent and began to cry. "Please, Sarah, spare me, I'm so sorry... I have always loved you..." Jake begged, as she clicked on the lighter "I love you too, just not enough forgive you." she said and threw the lighter into the gasoline pooled at Jake's feet.  Jake screamed as the flames engulfed his body and Sarah picked up the half full bottle of vodka lying near her feet and took a swig before throwing the bottle into the inferno and the flames roared louder as the bottle broke and spilled its contents. Jake's screams along with the roaring flames were music to her. She slipped out of her clothes, and stood bare in the moonlight for a while and then began to dance around the flames that had all but reduced Jake to ashes. She danced for long, even after Jake's screams and the flames had died down. Suddenly she noticed the ivy vine that had fallen on her that afternoon. She smiled as she picked it up, tied it into a wreath and placed it on her head. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her speak. Sarah whirled around and saw a man wearing a leopard skin around his waist, standing with an ivy topped staff in his hand. The man was beautiful, in an angelic sort of way, his dark curly hair was an exquisite mess, his lips, a soft shade of pink, his skin was white as snow and his face had an indescribably ageless beauty to it. Sarah took a step back. "This is not possible." She whispered. As the man walked towards her, Sarah stood frozen. She looked into his hypnotic green eyes as he pulled her close and kissed her. His mouth tasted of vodka, or was it her? Electric surged through her body and not even Jake had made her feel the things she felt then. When he finally let go, Sarah noticed that everything seemed sharper and more beautiful to her eyes. There was music coming from everything around her, the trees, the dying embers, even the air seemed to play its own tune; the cold didn't seem to bother her anymore. The man held out his hand to her, and Sarah took it without a moment's hesitation. He smiled at her and soon enough, they walked into the trees and disappeared without a trace, forever...