[URL=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiwcUdX7XMw][COLOR=ORANGERED][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]A I D E N   M c K E N N A[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][/COLOR][/URL][hr][INDENT][sup][color=silver]After the bell, [i]Mather Memorial Park[/i][/color][/sup][/INDENT]

The announced dance was the last thing on Aiden's mind as he stormed through Mather Memorial Park. His skin was seared by rage; his whole body aching for release, as though some demon trapped within him demanded to be set free. Aiden hated this side of him; this wrathful monster that could so easily be prodded and provoked. He had been trying so hard over this past year to get some semblance of mindfulness; yoga, meditation, anything it took to sedate his temper. And he'd been succeeding, until today. He was just like the rest of them, his own rational thinking overpowered by his adolescent predicament. And he hated it. 

Except, he wasn't [i]really[/i] like the rest of them. There was something very specific that his body longed for, demanded, [i]needed[/i]. Well, there were a few things - but one in particular was shouting louder than the others. It had been suppressed for far too long for Aiden to put up any sort of fight, and so it was with a sense of helplessness that he found himself clambering off the well-trodden path and into the denser woodland, his feet moving furiously of their own volition. He knew that he shouldn't; every nerve in his body warned him that he was being reckless and marching into danger. And yet, they also sang in harmony: [i]Do it, do it, do it now.[/i] And before he knew it, he had arrived at the clearing.

He'd frequented this spot often during his younger days, a crude swing hanging from the branch of a tree that bore his carved initials acting as a testament to his time spent in the secluded retreat. It was this sense of privacy - no, isolation - that had drawn him back out here on the brink of adulthood. As a child, this unassuming clearing had been the place he was able to let off steam, and that was exactly what he needed right now.

He approached the tree cautiously, as though it might bear a grudge for all the time Aiden had not visited. But still it stood, its loyalty as strong as each bough. He ran a hand along the weathered wood, his fingers running along the decade-old etching of his initials in the bark. He closed his eyes, allowing something inside of himself to undo, if only ever-so-slightly. He traced the carving once more, this time with his index finger, which had grown so hot that the letters became charred as the tree was branded by heat. 

He smiled. It just felt so [i]right[/i].

Invoked, Aiden turned and gripped the swing firmly, marvelling as the heat of his hand burned through the rope and caused the construct to ignite. It fell to the ground like a ready-made campfire, and his lips curved further. He was beginning to lose any inhibitions he might have, as he allowed a ball of flame to slip from his fist, shooting upwards like a military flare and followed quickly by a second and third. A swipe of his free arm set a jet of flame reeling through the clearing, and it was only when a large bush on the opposite perimeter swiftly caught light that Aiden realised what he was doing. His eyes grew wide in panic as he watched the angry red tongues lick at the nearby fauna, feeding the hungry beast and allowing it to grow at an alarming rate. 

And so Aiden did what he did best: he fled.