Under the scorching sun, she knelt in the dust an…

My name is Nathaniel Draycott. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been kept firmly under the thumb of my next-door neighbor, Vivienne Ashford—an older girl who acts like a wild sun, scorching everything she touches, with a striking face that seems born to give orders. That summer day, the park was sweltering like a steamer, and she insisted on dragging me along to see her “new trick.” I didn’t want to watch, but I had no way to escape. The dynamic between us had been set long ago: she only ever started fires, and I was the one left to sweep up the ashes. But that day, the flames she ignited licked at me, and for the first time, I felt that perhaps there was another choice besides putting out the fire.