Steam Read Online Free

was losing weight left, right, and center no matter how much she ate. It seemed like her metabolism had been ratcheted up by ten levels.
    The amount of energy she had was outrageous. She lived on the sixth floor, and she’d been sprinting up the stairs every day for a week. She’d been hitting the gym like a maniac too, running on the treadmill until the person behind her started to get frustrated with her hogging the machine. Then, she’d move onto the stationary bike and hit the weights until her muscles screamed. It didn’t matter what she did. She still felt restless and twitchy.
    Maybe her co-workers were right. A glass of wine and a bubble bath might actually relax her enough to lull her to sleep tonight.
    But first, she wanted to peek inside the box. The bakery was well known for having the best pastries, and she’d been drooling over the window displays every day.
    She slowly opened the box, pausing halfway to savor the rich scent of chocolate wafting from the cardboard container. She loved chocolate almost as much as she loved her car. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture what treat her co-workers had bought for her. A brownie? A slab of fudge?
    Finally giving in, Sunny opened her eyes and finished tearing into the box. Inside sat a beautiful chocolate cupcake.
    Only one thought ran through her head. Yum .
    She pulled the cupcake out of the box and placed it on a little plate before rooting around in a kitchen drawer. She had to have a birthday candle in here somewhere. She loved candles and had them stashed all over the place.
    A little pink one caught her attention and she stuck it in the center of the cupcake. She lit it and stared at the tiny orange flame. Shivers raced down her spine and something deep inside her tugged toward the fire. The pull toward the flame was so intense, it was almost creepy.
    Closing her eyes, she did the same thing she did every year. She sang “Happy Birthday” to herself and blew out the candle, prepared to make some silly wish.
    Except this time, unlike other years, the flame didn’t extinguish.
    Instead, it looked a little bigger and seemed to glow a little brighter.
    Sunny was pretty sure she didn’t have any trick candles hanging around. There was no reason for the flame to continue to burn.
    Electricity crackled along her skin, goose bumps breaking out over her entire body. Something big grew inside her. It was almost like her body was building up for some kind of huge event. She’d gone from feeling twitchy and restless to feeling like her skin was about to split wide open. It was excruciating and thrilling all at once. The fire fascinated her, drawing her closer like the proverbial moth to the flame.
    The flame grew bigger and bigger until the entire cupcake was engulfed. If she didn’t blow it out, it was going to set her table on fire. Ignoring the fact that her body was about to explode, Sunny bent over and blew at the candle again, putting all the extra energy she could behind it.
    It was almost like she’d thrown a jug of gasoline around the room, soaking the carpet and walls, the fire burned so big and so fast. Within seconds, the entire apartment was on fire. She rushed for her fire extinguisher but it was too late. The fire alarms were already going off in the hall and she could hear the faint sound of sirens outside.
    Shit, shit, shit . What the fuck had happened?
    * * * *
    Two weeks later, Sunny was still staying in her cheap motel room. Her apartment building had completely gone up in flames. The fire chief had made a statement to the press about how he’d never seen a building burn down so fast. According to him, it was like the fire had had a life of its own. When they’d sprayed the building with water, it had seemed like the flame would jump out of the way.
    Something told her not to come forward with her story of creating the fire. For one, she really didn’t feel like having another stay in a psychiatric unit. One stay as a teenager had been