Sam
The day couldn't get any weirder for Sam as he went home from school. All those freak accidents at school were just the beginning of a bad day at school. When he got home his parents were in the middle of baking some cake that his mother had learned in her baking course. Clearly dinner would be from the restaurant if his stepdad was helping them cook tonight. He left them to it and headed towards his room.
He grabbed an apple while going upstairs and bit into it while checking his phone. He had a science project that was due tomorrow and sat down at his desk and opened his laptop to start working on it. Football took most of his time and he was always struggling to keep up with his assignments. His desk faced the wall beside his open window.
A crow was cawing obnoxiously on the tree just outside his window. Sam ignored it and set his apple down on the desk to type away at his laptop. The cawing grew louder and Sam found himself unable to ignore it any longer.
He picked up his half eaten apple and threw it at the crow sitting on the tree in a fit of rage. The crow flew away immediately and Sam returned back to his laptop.
After a few minutes he heard someone shouting at something. A flash of red caught his attention at the window. Somebody wasn't shouting something, that somebody was panicking because the tree outside his window was on fire.
The tree was partially burning and Sam sat at his desk terrified of what was happening. How was the tree burning? How did it even catch on fire? The door to his room burst open and his mother barged in panting heavily.
"Sam get away from the window!" She yelled while she ran to the open window to close it but remained back as the flames were too hot to be near them.
Sam got up slowly and walked away from the window. "How did it catch on fire?" He asked softly.
"The neighbours said something was thrown at the tree, that's when it caught on fire." His mother answered and managed to close the windows. She hurried back to her son and then checked him to see if he was injured.
"Something was thrown at it?" Sam asked.
"Yea, they said somebody threw something at it and then the tree caught on fire." His mother, satisfied that he was unharmed sighed in relief and then hugged him at once.
Sam on the other hand unable to move, did not return the hug. He was still going over what had happened. Why would anyone throw anything- Oh wait.
He was the one who threw the apple at the crow and that's when this must have happened. But how did an apple begin a fire? How did the fire even begin in the first place?
Sam grabbed his phone and then started walking downstairs. He went to his front yard and saw his stepfather spraying the tree with the hose. The neighbours were helping him.
Maggie, his neighbour's daughter, spied him coming into his front yard and then pulled at her mother's shirt and pointed at him. He couldn't hear what they were talking about him which he guessed by the glances they kept shooting at him.
Then the lady got a furious look on her face as she marched over to his house. She started arguing with his mother and it seemed pretty serious by the way the two women were moving their hands around animatedly.
Sam heard the women talk as he moved closer to them.
"My son would never start the fire! How could you even think of accusing him of doing such a thing?" His mother yelled.
"We saw him throw something at the tree Ava, my daughter saw him throw that apple at the tree and so did I. Your son started the fire." The lady argued back.
"Sam did you throw anything at the tree?" His mother asked him.
"I threw it at the crow, it was making a ruckus-"
"See! He admits he did throw it. Can you justify that?" The lady cut him off.
"Sam why would you throw a flamed apple at the tree and start a fire?" His mother gave him a glare that had him breathing harder.
"I didn't throw an inflamed apple, mom." Sam cried.
"Then how would you suggest the tree caught on fire?" His mother yelled at him.
"I threw a non flamed apple at the crow who was making too much noise! I didn't start any fire mom." Sam tried to reason with his mother but she didn't seem to listen to him and was arguing with the neighbours when his stepfather came to stand beside them.
Sam never liked the man. Aaron Davis was a cruel man. He never liked Sam because namely he wasn't his flesh and blood. Sam's father left him when he was a kid and his mother remarried to Aaron because they fell in love or some other story that his mom told him. Personally he thought Aaron married his mother because she had such a huge house and much wealth to last her generations. The self serving prick had only married his mother to not have to struggle in his life anymore.
"Ava, I told you he was starting to rebel again." Aaron smirked at him and then quickly changed his expression to a concerned parent when he looked at his wife.
"I'm not rebelling you moron, I'm telling the truth, I didn't start the fire." Sam growled at him.
"Sam! You will not talk that way to your father." His mother scolded him.
"But mom, I didn't do anything. I threw an apple at the crow who was making too much noise. I didn't start any fire." Sam reasoned with her.
"Then how did the tree catch on fire Sam? Clearly nobody else threw anything at it." His mother yelled at him.
"Ask your husband then, maybe he threw something at the tree and blamed it on me. Clearly he never liked me and this is his way of getting rid of me." Sam growled at the man.
"You will not disrespect me boy!" Aaron stepped towards him.
Sam stepped closer to him. At seventeen he was almost a few inches taller than his stepfather.
"Or what? You're not my father and you never will be." Sam said in a threatening soft voice.
"I am your stepfather boy and you will listen to me whether you like it or not." Aaron didn't back down.
"Sam, go back to your room. You're grounded for this nonsense. I don't know what you're trying to prove by doing all of this." His mother told him.
"What? Why can't you believe me when I just said I didn't set the tree on fire? Why would I even do that?" Sam looked at her bewildered.
"How am I supposed to know that? You're the one who's doing it so clearly you know the reason behind this madness." His mother yelled.
Sam ran his hand through his hair and then muttered a curse at his father and walked out of there.
"Sam get back here!" He heard his mother yell at him but Sam just walked away. More likely he ran out of there. He'd made sure to grab his phone when he got out of the house and that's all he needed. Sam ran out of the place. He ran all the way to school and then stopped when he couldn't anymore
How did the tree start burning? Why didn't his mother believe him? She always listened to what he had to say? He'd never rebelled before. Sam was the image of a perfect son in front of everyone. His stepfather had been a pain in his ass since his childhood but Sam didn't bother with him since his mother was happy.
He couldn't deal with everyone ganging up on him. He needed to be alone to think about what he was going to do. Going back home was not an option. Aaron would be there, ready to do some damage control that would most likely end in a bad situation for Sam and work in favour of his stepfather. He headed to the only place where no one would bother him: The Brew.