The Gift

     The library was fairly crowded for a Wednesday evening. He walked past the reference desk where Matthew worked and stopped by to ask Nia if he was there. She seemed glad to see him, and was more than willing to talk to him. After several seconds of idle conversation, he found out that Matthew wasn’t scheduled to show up until seven. Wade politely excused himself, and headed toward the elevators to the second floor where he and his friends usually studied. As he rounded the corner and headed toward the library, he remembered that Jo’sha was coming to the library with a female friend. That’s when the conversation he’d just heard made sense. The football player had said something about his girlfriend and a guy coming to the library at 6:00 p.m. It was too coincidental. Wade spun around immediately, and headed back out of the library to go catch Jo’sha before he made it to the entrance. 

     When he got to the entrance and looked outside the glass, he saw that he was too late. The football players were crowding around someone that looked like Jo’sha. One of them was dragging a young female away and the other four moved in closer to the lone male figure. Wade took a deep breath, said a prayer and rushed outside to see if the person at the center of the circle was Jo’sha. As soon as he stepped out, he heard Jo’sha’s voice.

     “She ain’t tell me she was your girl.”

      Wade knew immediately that his friend was in trouble. “Security, Security,” he yelled. Unfortunately, the nearest security guard was drunk and asleep on the sixth floor.

     The entire group turned and looked at him, wondering if he was serious. At that moment, Jo’sha took off to the left. Three of them immediately followed him. One of them stayed behind to deal with Wade.

    “I guess you got your boys back, huh?” he asked sarcastically.

    “I don’t want any trouble,” Wade said, trying to mask his nervousness.

    “So what’s up?” he continued, balling his fist and charging toward Wade. 

    Wade looked around trying to figure out what to do next. At that instant, Jo’sha came out of nowhere and hit Wade’s would-be attacker in the back of the head knocking him down. Wade was shocked, and stood frozen in place.

     “Come on, dammit,” Jo’sha said with a sense of urgency and a smile. 

     Wade got the odd impression that Jo’sha was somehow enjoying all of this. Jo’sha took off running again, with Wade right behind him, book bag in tow and struggling to keep up. After running off campus and into the surrounding city area, Jo’sha and Wade stopped by a barrel of burning trash in a nearly empty lot, both heaving and panting heavily. Jo’sha started laughing because he could not believe that Wade had run the entire way with his book bag on his shoulder.

     “Why didn’t you throw that shit down?”  

     Wade gasped to catch his breath.

     Jo’sha turned to face the flame, waiting for Wade to start breathing normally.

     “I need my books—that’s why. And where did you come from back there? I was sure that they had caught you and were beating the hell out of you,” Wade answered.

    “See, son, I know this campus like that back of my hand. Just for situations like this. I shook them off no problem. They’re probably somewhere in the center of campus looking for me.”

    “That gets you out of trouble for now, but what about tomorrow, and the next day, and next week? They aren’t going anywhere, and they certainly aren’t going to forget. What were you doing dating one of their girlfriends anyway? Is she the one that’s been coming by your room during the day?” 

    “I didn’t know that she had a boyfriend,” Jo’sha answered slyly.

    Wade continued to lecture. “That’s why that football player attacked me in the student center. He must have thought she was coming to our suite to see me.” Wade broke from his tirade noticing that Jo’sha wasn’t paying attention. Instead he seemed captivated by the flame in front of them. “What is it, Jo’sha?” he asked.

Jo’sha didn’t respond. His gaze seemed focused on the flame, and the fire responded, almost dancing for him. Wade watched in amazement as the blaze grew with Jo’sha’s interest. The two stood there motionless. Jo’sha watched the flame, and Wade watched Jo’sha. They were so engrossed that they didn’t notice the three football players that came barreling from behind a nearby building. Two of them took Jo’sha down immediately. The other began to pummel Wade, who had never been in a fight in his entire life. He could only scream and attempt to block the blows. Jo’sha, on the other hand, enjoyed a good fight and was holding his own with the two others until one of them connected a right hook that hit him in the jaw. Jo’sha went reeling back into the barrel of fire turning it over. The two young men looked over at Jo’sha, who had tumbled into the barrel, catching his shirt on fire. They ran, leaving Jo’sha and their third member who was still fighting Wade, behind. Jo’sha screamed out instantly as he flashed back to the explosion he had been in as a small child. 

    Everything seemed to freeze when Jo’sha realized that the fire was burning his clothes, but not his flesh. His fear diminished. He began to command the fire, and wield it so that it formed a cloak around him. He rose and the energy from the fire fed his spirit. What had been a fear of fire was now a fascination. Jo’sha looked around for the two brothers that he had been fighting and didn’t see them. He then turned his attention and anger to the young man beating Wade. The crackling sound in the air caused Wade and the young man to look up. What they saw was Jo’sha enshrouded in a cloak of fire and seemingly floating in the air.