Read Gifts Page 17

“Tedd!” I scream, letting out all my force, feeling the adrenalin go through me, I don't think about anything else but him. He turns around and looks at me. My voice is raspy, loud, and hoarse. Just how I want it to sound.

  I stop. Just stop. I don't move any longer. He has destroyed me. Just by the look on his face. I know when he smiles the same toothy smile when he first told me when he told me his name that...

  ...that he has the adrenalin.

  “Roman! Nice to see you too,” he says, grim.

  “How did you-”

  “Oh yeah! It turns out your not the only one with the special 'adrenalin',” he says with a smirk on his face. “..and it's all thanks to my special assistant, Dr. McKensie.”

  Connie. She must have performed experiments on me. She said it was basic but she was doing the same thing that Tedd would have done. I can't be mad at her, though. I can't. She was tied up. Why did she lie?

  “You used her,” I say, not really feeling anger anymore.

  “You bet I did.”

  I hate it. He seems so confident that he will always win, but he will not win. Not this time. Not a chance.

  I charge at him, lighting my hands with embers. He just stands there, with his stupid toothy smile. I launch my fist into his stomach, but he grabs it and uses the adrenalin to burn it hard.

  It is hard to fight fire with fire. It is harder to fight a large fire with such a small one.

  I slam my knee into his gut, which makes me able to struggle away. While he is still recovering, I grab his neck and tackle him to the ground. I burn his neck hard, but he throws me away(twenty or thirty thousand units? Has the adrenalin given him this massive strength?) I don't see how he can possibly survive. A skin like substance forms back on the wound, it is red and fiery, blue and red purple veins replaced with red. The adrenalin heals his neck. He stands up perfectly.

  I cannot fight fire with fire. So I will fight it with anger. Verbally.

  “You ruined me!” I say, as my voice starts to get raspy. Scary.

  “You ruined me! Look what you have done? Why would you ever do this? All just for your selfish needs? You sicken me!”

  He turns around. He doesn't look like it, but I can tell that he is wounded.

  “You think this is my fault. You gave this to me!” he screams. “You gave this all to me!”

  He is right. I did give this to him. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have followed Henry, I shouldn't have interacted with anyone that I did. I shouldn't have.

 

  I focus on my hands, and think of all he has done ever to me.

  He used me, he wants to kill me, he lied to me, he wasted the use of my compass, he killed my guardian.

  Flames shoot out of my hands.

  He killed my guardian.

  “Just remember, Roman. You're not the only one,” he screams, in a diminishing voice. He repeats it, your not the only one, over and over again. His scream sounds louder, as flames that had come out of my hands, cover his entire body. I jump back onto the ground, crying. I know that I can't win. But I will at least try.

  Out of anger, sadness, and friendship, the same scream comes out of me. The same flames cover the rest of my body, just like they had done to Tedd. I use the adrenalin to fly towards him. He doesn't even notice me.

  YOU KILLED MY GUARDIAN!

  “You! You killed me! You turned a poor boy into this!”

  I smash onto him, tackling him to the ground. I kick and punch him until I see the soul escape out of him. The first drop of blood that I see across his face, I feel a sense of happiness. The first puddle of blood, spilling onto the ground, I feel sadness. The first sign of death that I see deep within his body, I feel memories. Memories that only I know.

  I look to his chest, as the locket is still there. I grab the compass, breaking the key chain. I hold out my flaming hand, and place the compass within. The compass is curled, burned, and is rid of anything that it ever meant, to me, and to Tedd.

  I stand up from the red ground. The flames leave my body slowly. I watch the ashes of him lay on the ground.

  I did it.

  I killed Tedd.

  XVII