Burning Point

Julian clutched Luna's sleeve, his voice trembling with urgency. "Luna, he's acting way too real. It's starting to freak me out."

"Let's just go," he urged. "Mrs. Hill worked so hard on dinner. It's Thanksgiving. We shouldn't keep Mr. and Mrs. Hill waiting."

At that, the hesitation in Luna's eyes vanished. She shot me one last, icy glance, then turned away, her arm looped through Julian's.

They had barely walked sixty feet when the flames at the front of my car suddenly shot up nearly two feet high.

Crackling noises tore through the air as the entire vehicle burst into a violent blaze.

The scorching heat pressed against my skin through the windshield, and a suffocating wave of terror swallowed me whole.

Every survival instinct in me roared to life.

"Help! Somebody help! The car's on fire!"

I screamed until my throat burned, grabbing my phone and hurling it at the window with all the strength I had left.

The screen shattered on impact, and the jagged glass sliced open my palm. Blood streamed down my wrist, but I barely felt the pain.

That desperate cry finally made Luna stop in her tracks. She spun around and froze when she saw the inferno engulfing my car.

But Julian, standing beside her, suddenly let out an exaggerated shriek of his own. "Sebastian! Are you setting off fireworks there? That's wild but seriously dangerous! I get it, your car's got top-notch safety features, but come on, you don't need to play with fire just to impress Luna!"

"Fireworks?" Julian's absurd explanation twisted Luna's thoughts again, muddying what little clarity she had left.

After all, she had always believed that I was someone who would do anything to get my way.

"Sebastian, you're out of your mind!" Luna shouted at the burning car, her voice trembling with fury.

I kept slamming against the window with everything I had until, finally, a crack split across the glass.

A rush of cool air streamed through. I pressed my face to the opening, gasping for breath like a drowning man breaking the surface.

Julian darted toward his own car, yanked open the trunk, and grabbed a roll of wide, clear tape. In seconds, he was back at my window.

"Sebastian, why would you break the window? That's dangerous!"

His voice dripped with fake concern as he tore off strips of tape and pressed them firmly over the crack, layer after layer, sealing off the only flow of air.

He even smoothed it down with his palm, making sure not a single wisp could escape.

"This is your and Luna's car, man. How can you be so selfish, just smashing it up like that?"

"You—" The breath I had just managed to draw caught in my throat, and black spots filled my vision.

Luna stormed over, her anger flaring.

"Sebastian, will you just stop this already?"

She snatched the tape from Julian's hand, glaring at me with eyes that could cut glass, and began sealing the crack herself—one strip, then another, until no trace of air remained.

I stared at her face, so familiar, yet suddenly that of a stranger. My hands dropped limply to my sides as my breathing grew shallow and weak.

Memories flooded my mind, uncontrollable and sharp.

Back in college, when she'd been struggling because her family couldn't afford much, she'd skipped meals so often she developed stomach problems. I used to cook for her every single day, making sure she ate something nourishing, changing the menu constantly just to help her get better.

After graduation, I stayed by her side as she started her own business. I used every connection I had, pulled every favor, and chased down investors for her. I drank through endless business dinners until my stomach bled just so she could focus on her career without worry.

And now, she was the one sealing off my only chance to live, layer by layer, with her own hands.

Just as my mind began to blur and the edges of the world dimmed, a middle-aged man on a motorcycle drove by.

He spotted the burning car and hit the brakes hard.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing? The car's on fire. Call 911! Someone's still in there!" he shouted.

A spark of hope flared inside me. I started pounding on the window with everything I had left.

Smoke and Scorn

Luna's face went pale, but Julian quickly turned to the man and said anxiously, "Sir, you've got it all wrong! My friend's just cooking there!

"He's into crazy experiments. He said he wanted to try out this car kitchen thing and cook us a Thanksgiving dinner on the road. Guess he overdid it a bit. It's fine, really. The car's on fire, sure, but he's perfectly safe inside!"

"Cooking?" The man looked utterly confused.

Luna jumped in right away. "Yes! My boyfriend loves pulling stunts like this. Sorry you had to see that. We'll take him home right now."

The man looked from me to Luna and Julian, suspicion flickering in his eyes. He shook his head and muttered, "Kids these days really know how to have fun."

Then, he started his motorcycle and rode off into the distance.

Inside the car, the oxygen was nearly gone. The system blared its final warning.

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Danger! Carbon monoxide levels are critical. Oxygen below eight percent. Evacuate immediately! Evacuate immediately!"

The flames surged higher. The window glass glowed red-hot, creaking under the heat.

Suddenly, I remembered that my sister had insisted on keeping an emergency fire extinguisher under the passenger seat, just in case something like this happened.

I used the last of my strength to drag it out, but when I tried to pull the safety pin, it wouldn't budge.

I stared closer and froze. The pin had been sealed to the handle with superglue. Worse yet, the extinguisher was completely empty.

Julian saw what I was holding and burst out laughing.

"Oh, Sebastian! I told Luna the other day I'd never tried using a fire extinguisher before and was dying to know what it felt like. Luna's the best. She even showed me how to use it herself. We might've emptied the whole thing by accident."

Tilting his head with mock innocence, he added, "But you're such a careful driver, Sebastian. I figured you'd never need it anyway, so I just put it back where I found it."

Luna stood behind him, not the slightest hint of guilt on her face. Instead, she affectionately said, "You're such a kid sometimes."

Then, she turned to me, her expression hardening into pure irritation. "Sebastian, would you stop this nonsense already? What are you trying to do by putting on a whole show? You even pulled out the fire extinguisher. Keep this up and you really will get yourself killed!"

I didn't answer. I just stared at her.

Then, before they could react, I lifted the extinguisher high above my head with every ounce of strength I had left.

"Sebastian, what are you doing? Are you insane?" Luna finally lost her composure, her voice cracking with real fear as she shouted at me.

I ignored her and slammed the extinguisher against the window hard.

A deafening crack rang out. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces.

I was free.

I didn't care that the shards tore into my skin. I clawed and scrambled toward the broken window, ready to drag myself out.

But before I could, a hand shot in from outside, yanking my hair and wrenching my head backward.

Luna, furious, had thrown open the car door the second the window shattered.

"You bastard! You were faking it this whole time! Still strong enough to smash my car, huh?" she screamed, shoving me back into the driver's seat with brutal force.

She grabbed a roll of duct tape and bound me tight against the chair, layer after suffocating layer, until I couldn't move at all.

I struggled weakly, but she didn't even budge.

To my horror, she tore off another strip of tape and pressed it over my mouth and nose.

"Mmph… Mmph…"

The pain of suffocation hit instantly, flooding my brain like fire and ice all at once.

Luna watched me gasp for air, her eyes dark with something unreadable. She leaned in close and murmured, "Sebastian, you never learn, do you? Tonight, I'll make sure you do."

The fire inside the car roared, reaching its breaking point. The air vibrated with the deep, growing rumble of an impending explosion.

My vision dimmed. My thoughts blurred.

Just as the darkness swallowed me, a furious shout echoed from not far away.

"How dare you hurt my brother! Are you sick of living?"