Inferno
598 Words
Scene 1: The Burning Confessional
Fire roared through the chapel rafters. Carson screamed as flames licked his tailored suit Sofia’s painted prophecy coming true.
"NO! PUT IT OUT!"
Staria lunged through smoke, seizing the Bleeding Star where it fell. The diamond seared her palm 512.8 carats branding flesh but trapped Carson’s stolen power inside its crimson depths.
Jason tackled Carson into a burning confessional booth.
"You wanted Moretti blood?" He slammed the diamond against Carson’s chest. "DRINK IT!"
The stone glowed white-hot, fusing to bone. Carson’s shriek choked to silence.
Scene 2: The Devil’s Bargain
FBI agents stormed the ruins. Agent Rossi aimed at Staria’s head:
"Drop the diamond, Thorne! Interpol wants it for the Louvre heist!"
Jason stepped between them, hands raised.
"She didn’t steal it. I did." He nodded at Staria’s seared palmthe diamond’s weight etched into her skin like a tattoo. "Her burn proves I forced her to handle it."
Rossi sneered. "Why take the fall?"
Jason’s eyes locked on Staria. "Let her walk free... and I’ll give you the entire Moretti empire. Names. Accounts. Shipping routes."
Staria screamed as agents cuffed Jason.
"DON’T TRUST HIM, ROSSI! HE’S"
Jason’s voice cut through hers, cold and final:
"Run, stellina. Paint our future. I’ll find you."
Scene 3: Ghosts and Galleries
Nine months later.
Staria stood in a Chelsea gallery, champagne flute trembling. Her debut exhibition: "Bleeding Star" sculptures forged from chapel ashes.
Critics swarmed Piece 7: "The Confessional"bcharred oak encasing a diamond-shaped void.
"Genius!" "Haunting!"
None knew the truth: Jason’s fingerprints were pressed into the ash.
Carson’s ghost haunted her. She saw him in every shadow diamond still buried in his chest. At midnight, she’d paint their shared dreams:
- Jason in a concrete cell, sketching her face.
- Carson’s corpse in a morgue drawer, the diamond pulsing.
- A baby with storm-gray eyes, crying in an empty penthouse.
Scene 4: The Auction Trap
Julian Thorne(Carson’s silent partner) approached, lips curled.
"Carson promised me that diamond. Where is it, Miss Thorne?" He slid a photo across the bar:
Jason, beaten and bloody in Rikers Island.
Caption: "Execution date: 9 days."
"Sell me the Bleeding Star," Julian whispered, "or Jason dies screaming"
Staria smashed her flute. "The diamond’s gone."
"Then paint me a new one," he hissed. "Or haven’t you seen tonight’s prophecy?"
She had.
Julian holding a knife to a pregnant woman’s throat HER throat as Jason watched, helpless.
Scene 5: The Visit
Rikers Island smelled of bleach and despair. Jason’s knuckles were split, eyes hollow.
"You shouldn’t have come," he rasped. "Julian’s watching."
Staria pressed her burned palm to the glass.
"He wants the diamond. I told him it’s dead."
"It’s not," Jason said. "Carson’s body vanished from the morgue. The diamond... it’s healing him."
He slid a charcoal sketch under the partition:
Staria, hugely pregnant, cradling a newborn in a burning gallery.
"Our daughter. Paint her safe, stellina. Forget me."
Guards dragged him away. Staria clutched the sketch and felt the first kick in her womb.
Cliffhanger: The Bleeding Canvas
That night, Julian broke into her loft.
"Last chance, darling. The diamond... or I cut his appeal short." He flicked a switchblade.
Staria dipped her fingers in black paint.
"I’ll show you where it is."
She slashed her palm open reopening the burn and smeared blood-paint across a canvas.
The mural bloomed:
Julian’s corpse in a diamond-filled coffin. Jason, free, holding a gray-eyed baby.
Julian lunged. "Liar!"
Staria grabbed her sculpting chisel
"No," a scarred hand seized Julian’s wrist. Carson stood in the shadows, diamond glowing through his shirt.
"She painted my revenge first."
- Writer
