Marissa stared at her therapist, Amy. Despair flooded her. This was a terrible idea.

“Marissa”, Amy said calmly, “do you want to tell me about the feeling which led you to believing you-” she checked her notes, “incinerated your colleague?”

Marissa sensed the twitching, deep down inside her. “I actually did incinerate her” she said, trying to imitate the relaxed voice of her therapist. “Just like I did Tommie and Jamie on the playground, all those years ago. It’s real- I just need you to tell me how to control it. I already explained this!” Despite her effort, her voice was rising, and the twitching was becoming more like a sharp pain, radiating very deep inside her- her head, her lungs and her belly.

“Marissa, so is this a murder confession? Do I need to involve the police?”

Marissa shrugged. “Do what you need to do. All I’m saying is, all my life, there has been a monster or something in me, and whenever somebody angers me, it leaps out and incinerates them. Burns them to a crisp. So I need to control my anger. That’s why I’m here. I’ve already incinerated three people, I don’t want to do it again.”

“I am aware of what incinerate means Marissa, and your choice of word is interesting- we’re definitely going to circle back to that. But for now, I first want to tell you that it’s a great positive, a great thing oh absolutely, that you’re seeking help for your anger issues, you’ve taken the first great step and I want to commend you for that.”

Despite the positivity, Amy’s words needled Marissa. She could feel the thing clawing and that special heat building up. She had felt it only twice in her life. Once, thirty years ago, when it had exploded out of her in a flash of fire and incinerated Tommie and Jamie on the playground, where they were disrupting her game of hopscotch with her friends. And then once again, two days ago, when she lost control and it exploded and killed Darla, that bitch from hell sent to make her days a misery. All those years in between, she had carefully controlled it. But after it killed Darla, she wasn’t so sure she could control it anymore.

For example, now. She told herself Amy was a human, who had done nothing to her. And yet the monster twisted up inside her and Amy’s face zoomed out of control. The pain of holding it bottled up was almost unbearable.

“Please, Amy you have to help me, to tame it, it’s dangerous.”

Amy smiled “Marissa, it’s interesting- it’s great that you recognize your anger as being dangerous, and I want you to hold on to that-“

Too late. Marissa’s eyes flashed with a bolt of scarlet fire which leapt out and incinerated the therapist on the spot. Marissa gave a cry, of pain, of relief, and buried her face in her hands.