Authors: Kristen Simmons

Burned Away (3 page)

BOOK: Burned Away

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“They'd say I'd blow up when I couldn't figure something out. Then, when I started working at Small Parts, I figured out how to really blow things up.”

Because the factory made parts for bombs. She'd learned that the last time she'd come to Metaltown. Division II built the intricate pieces for explosivesâthe “small parts” that gave the place the nickname.

“And figured out you liked it.”

He chuckled. She'd made him laugh.

“Some things just don't work the way you want them to. You've just got to blow them up and start over,” he said.

The way he said it was so matter-of-fact, she believed it was true. Something about him and the cold air and the rooftops made her feel brave. Made her want to start over.

She stopped and took out her notebook. “Could I ask you a few more questions?”

He tilted his head, and then motioned over to the ledge. There, they sat, and he pulled another match from his pocket and lit it with the snap of his fingers.

“Show-off,” she said.

He held it closer so that she could see the page, and in the soft yellow glow she found herself looking up at his face, and the smudges of soot on the back of his jaw, and the pink skin where his eyebrow abruptly ended.

And his cockeyed smile.

Clearing her throat, she asked him about the press and the charter. They talked about the Brotherhood, and McNulty's crew in Bakerstown, and laughed about the first times he'd experimented with explosives. They talked about Hampton and the way he was treating the workers.

If the Tri-city City knew what he'd done to the workers in his factories, there would be an uproar. Half the stuff couldn't even have been legal.

It was much later when he walked her to the beltway.

“So,” he said. “You going to write the story or what?”

She held the notebook against her chest, feeling like the secrets it held could crack a hole in the world. “I don't know.”

He nodded. “Well, if you do, tell me. And if you want more, you can talk to some friends of mine. We come here a lot. To the beltway. If you want to find me.
Us
, I mean.”

The prospect of more interviews made her eyes widen. The idea of seeing him again made her feel light and warm.

She wasn't sure how to thank him for what he'd done tonightânot just for helping her with the Brotherhood, but for the interview. She watched him standing there, weight shifting from foot to foot, and realized how much she didn't want to go.

He stands before me, a boy who finds answers in ashes, with no idea how important he is.

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. His skin was cold, and smooth, and her lips were cold, too. She lingered as his cheek lifted with a smile, their warm puffs of breath making a cloud to hide within. Then she backed away and headed home.

*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *

Aunt Charlotte was still snoring when Caris snuck in. Quietly, carefully, she set down her satchel and changed into her nightclothes. She eased into her cot in the corner of the room, but couldn't sleep. Her mind was filled with the daily grind of the machines, and the sour scent of nitro that came on the breeze, and the smoke from the factories that clung to the roofs of the buildings, never lifting. She thought of the Brotherhood telling her not to write the story, and the power of the words Matchstick had given her. Of the snap of his fingers that brought the light, and his half-missing eyebrow

And she thought of her mom, as she always did, right before she drifted off.

It's just until the fighting ends
, she'd said when she got the assignment.
The
Journal
needs someone on the front lines. I'm the best they've got.

Her mom
was
the best. And when she'd written home, she'd told vivid stories about the fighting and the starving people in the Southern Fed. How much they needed help from the North. She'd signed each letter:
We'll be together soon.

The last letter had come six months ago. Caris was tired of waiting.

She turned on the corner lamp and began to write.

Night, and the crumbling streets of Metaltown are still with anticipation.

About the Author

Kristen Simmons
has a master's degree in social work and is an advocate for mental health. She lives with her husband, Jason, and their precious greyhound Rudy in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her most popular books include the Article 5 trilogy,
The Glass Arrow,
and
Metaltown
. You can sign up for email updates
here
.