“Alexander James McLean… you’re up next.”

Alex glanced up from the desk he was seated at and just stared at the teacher. Today was “Show and Tell”, a day where all the students were able to bring something to show to the class and talk about it. Alex had a hard time trying to figure out what he could bring to the class that would be cool enough to show and talk about, but came up with nothing. It wasn’t until one night where he decided that he would share his recently discovered gift with the class.

“Hello, my name is Alex and I will be sharing about a talent I have.”

“Do you have anything to show us Alexander?”

Alex began to fidget, “I do but it goes along with my story.”

“Very well.”

Alex nodded as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “It wasn’t too long ago when I discovered this talent, and I thought it was pretty neat myself. At first I didn’t want to show my mom or even tell her about it, so I kept it a secret from her. As time went on I realized that I could possibly be the only one in the world with this talent, so if I may share it with the class…” when he saw his teacher nod, he pulled out a lighter from his pocket, which caused the whole class to gasp.

“Alex, what are you-” the teacher began, but Alex cut her off.

“I don’t know why, but I realized that I had a knack for fire and that I could do this.” He flipped the lighter open, causing a small flame to burst out. Before anyone could say anything, Alex placed his hand over the small flame, keeping it over the fire. He didn’t wince, nor did he pull his hand away… he simply held it over the flame, as if it wasn’t burning him. He then took the lighter and placed it to his skin, causing the whole class to gasp, watching him do this, but remarkably it didn’t hurt him, nor did it leave a mark.

The teacher finally shook herself out of shock and had rose from her desk, making her way over towards Alex. She quickly grabbed the lighter out of his hand, “Alex, are you crazy? What are you doing bringing a lighter to school? It’s a contraband item, you know that!” she said as she began checking him over, finding no blistering wounds.

“I had nothing to show and tell.” Alex replied. “I thought that it would be okay.”

“You thought bringing a lighter to school and trying to set yourself on fire would be okay Alex? Not only could you have hurt yourself, but you could’ve hurt other students or worse, set this whole school ablaze.”

Alex closed his eyes and turned away, “I can control it.” he whispered.

“What?” the teacher asked him, baffled by the fact that he wasn’t affected at all by the lighter he held to his skin.

“I’m sorry.” he said instead.

“Why don’t you go back to your seat. Not only will you be staying with me after class, but I’m gonna call your mom and we’re gonna have a little meeting.”

“Oooh… busted!” one of the students snickered as Alex made his way over to his seat.

Alex sat down and sulked, feeling ashamed for what he had just done. He had honestly thought that the class would think his talent was cool, would think that he’s cool, but no one did.

“Hey freak.” the one that snickered earlier whispered. “I think you’re getting an “F” for pulling that stunt.”

Alex turned towards the student who was talking to him, then glanced around at the rest of the class. He could hear their whispers, talking about him, staring at him, looking as if they were afraid of just being in his presence. Alex didn’t like this feeling, nor did he like the fact that the kid that called him a freak earlier was now laughing and teasing him. Alex grew very upset at this and could feel his body trembling in anger. His eyes fluttered closed and he felt himself beginning to shake vigorously. It didn’t take long for him to realize that it wasn’t just him shaking, but the whole classroom.

“Earthquake!” the teacher shouted. “Get under your desks.”

As all the students began to huddle underneath their desk, Alex remained sitting in his seat, knowing that it wasn’t an earthquake, knowing that he was the cause of the whole classroom shaking. The teacher stared at Alex from underneath her desk. “Alex, get under your desk!” she demanded, but Alex ignored her. “Alex!” she called out again.

Alex finally snapped out of the trance he was in and had done what the teacher asked of him, he crawled underneath his desk. Soon after he did that, the class stopped shaking. They remained under their desk for another minute or so before they finally crawled out from underneath the desk. The room was a mess, the lights above were busted while all the books were on the ground, the shelves completely broken. They teacher scanned the room to make sure everyone was okay. When her eyes landed on Alex, she couldn’t tear them away. Alex glanced up and saw his teacher staring, the feeling of insecurity were back.

~*~*~*~

“Alex, would you like to tell your mother what happened today?”

Alex glanced up at his teacher who was sitting in front of him, and his mother who was sitting beside him. He didn’t say anything and simply shook his head to his teacher’s question.

The teacher nodded, “Very well. If you aren’t already aware, the students were suppose to bring an item to show and tell about. Alex’s item choice was a lighter and he decided to… show and tell us about how he had discovered that fire has no affect on him.”

Denise looked over at her son in shock, “Alex, what are you doing bringing a lighter to school? Where did you get it from?”

“I’ve always had it.” Alex whispered back. The truth was, it was an old lighter he had found while digging through the closet one day, searching all of his mother’s old belongings. He came across the lighter and wondered if it had belonged to his father, for he knew his mother wasn’t a smoker. He held on to it ever since, and came to realize that he was fascinated with the flame it produced whenever he flicked it open. How he came to realize that fire could never burn him was an accident, but that is when his obsession with fire was born.

“I am so sorry Mrs. Newark.” Denise apologized.

“There’s no need for apologies Miss McLean, just a promise that it’ll never happen again. Because the next time it happens Alex,” she turned towards him when she said this, “you won’t be let off the hook so easily. What you did today was completely unacceptable and highly dangerous. Although the fire…” she paused for a moment, “didn’t burn you, you still posed as a threat to yourself and your classmates.”

Denise glanced her son over, “What do you mean the fire didn’t burn him?”

“Alex used the lighter he brought to school and had held the flame to different parts of his body. Remarkably, for some unexplainable reason, it didn’t burn him nor did it leave any scorching marks.”

Denise turned to stare at her son. “Alex…”

Alex looked up at his mother, sad at the fact that his mother had found out about his gift by being called into a meeting with his teacher. Instead of saying anything, he simply reached over to his teacher’s desk, grabbing the lighter. Both his teacher and his mother sat there in silence, not stopping him from doing what he was about to do.

Alex flicked the lighter open, causing it to produce a flame. He held the flame directly to his skin, causing his mother to gasp and cover her mouth. Just like before, Alex didn’t wince or cry out in pain, he just continued to graze the fire over his flesh. Denise’s eyes widened when she saw no markings on her son’s skin. Alex closed the lighter and had placed it back down on the desk, not saying anything.