Allegedly

by Tiffany D. Jackson

I’m fire, trapped in ice, ready to turn into wildfire and burn everything down around me.

How could he love me, even when I’m like this? Doesn’t he know he could die in my blaze? How do I save him from myself but keep him for myself?

They turned a knob inside me. I hear the four clicks of the gas pop before the flame ignites. My heart is covered in peanut oil. I can smell it frying, burning to a crisp. My legs move like a robot’s. I have no control over anything anymore. I’m gone. Someone else is here now.

My body locks up, the usual reaction to strange kindness,