[center]Explosion[/center]

I remember the first time I witnessed a true explosion. It was horrifying, the way the smoke surrounded the area; and me. The heat was intense, I was too close. I still have the scar on my thigh from two degree burns, but I refuse to do anything about it, despite the pain it brings to me every second of every day.

I guess I should tell you how I got burned, and how I witnessed this explosion. You see, I was a dumb kid in my day. My father was an alcoholic, my mother died of tuberculosis, and the only one who loved me was my deaf 4 yr-old brother. My father got drunk every night, and he never even explained why. But my guess was because our mother died.

Anyway, my father always abused my brother and I. And when I was at school, I always wore long sleeves or jeans to cover my bruises. Sometimes both, even if it was 95 degrees outside.

Only my two closest friends knew what was wrong with me, and one day they made me ditch school. They were always so happy and gleeful, but not today. I still remember the day, July 22nd 1991. They forced me to leave school, even though it was private and almost no bullies. I wanted an education, school was my solitude.

"Jackie," my guy friend Alex said, "don't you hate your dad?" he said to me once we were hiding in his dad's auto-repair shop. "What? Why do you care..?" I replied to him. I knew the answer, though. He had a huge crush on me, or at least that's what his sister Ella told me. To prevent Alex from spilling his "secret", Ella replied, "Because we have a huge prank to play on him. He's always drunk when you come home, and something is always broken [if not your brother]. And he is like, obsessed with cars, right? Well, we have a plan to stop him from drinking." she talked with a low tone, a smirk creeping upon her face as her lips moved to every word that emitted from her mouth.

Something in my mind told me that something wasn't right. But, anything to keep my brother Joshua from getting hurt and possibly dying, I would give in to. However, I wasn't prepared for what Alex tells me next. "Let's blow up one of his cars." he said with a smile that did not fit the mood of this conversation one bit. "Wait, what? Are you fricking crazy?" The two siblings looked at each other and laughed. "No!" they replied simultaneously. "We have a plan," whispered Ella. "Our mom runs a firework shop and she has those big officia