HotHead

Thirty-three years ago, Elijah Davis came into our black and white world; in a small military hospital surrounded by two nurses, a doctor and the happiest mother. Four years after his birth, his father, a military general, retired from service and came back to their home in Dallas, Texas. Elijah grew up in a neat neighborhood for the lower middle class with his brother Micah, who was born when Elijah was only eight.

The public elementary school for the county was merely a stone’s throw from the Davis’ two-bedroom terrace so Elijah was able to support his mother with house upkeep. She worked three jobs at the time. Nicknamed “Major” by his army buddies, Elijah’s father suffered from PTSD and so could not hold a job. A housekeeper for three elite families, Elise Davis was never around to protect her sons from the effects of Major’s illness. Numerous times during his childhood, Elijah’s body was substituted as a punching bag and his back used to put out cigarettes.

One day, when Elijah was barely six, Major set his military uniform aflame and he was forced to watch. Several days later when all the pictures from his time in service were thrown out, Elijah was made to start the fire. In order to protect his brother from being a victim of their father’s violence, Elijah spent more time around his father. He learned that Major became much calmer when he had someone to smoke with so, by Eleven, Elijah was already a chain-smoker.

On his way back from school one day, Elijah and Micah were mugged and beaten. When they returned home, Major was upset and beat them up again. No son of his would be a wimp so, Major began coaching his boys using tactics he learned in the army. Elijah, he spent more time with.

Aside from having a muscular physique, Elijah is also very intelligent with an anti-social disorder. Several times in his high school years, Elijah was caught behind his school playing with the matchsticks he kept around for whenever he had to light his father’s cigars.

One time, Elijah snuck out of the house to take a smoke alone while his father was asleep. When he returned, Major was wide awake and very angry when he discovered why his son had left home. After a brief scuttle between the two, Major burns Elijah’s left eye with a heated honing knife. Despite the scar it left, the ladies seemed to think he is cute and, coupled with his smarts, dubbed him “hothead”.

Because of his outstanding performance, Elijah won a scholarship to study his choice course in Oklahoma State University. He chose philosophy. Shortly before he left for school, Major disappeared from their home and all efforts to search for him turned up nothing.

After earning his doctorate in philosophy, the university retained him as a staff and Elijah worked his way up the ranks to become a professor. With his salary, he supported his mother and brother from where he resided on campus.

Despite his aloofness, a colleague fell for Elijah and began making advances toward him. Rowan Lake was a senior lecturer in the English department. Rowan who was an excellent cook came around Elijah’s apartment with food every week. During one of her weekly home calls, she walked in on him shirtless and began questioning him about his scars. Angered by the intrusion, Elijah pushed her onto the lit oven and burned her entire face just so she could have scars of her own and see how it felt to be bruised. Unfortunately, Rowan didn’t survive the attack.

Elijah found that he liked the feeling from watching Rowan’s flesh burn and the urge to light things soon became overpowering. Elijah begins to set stuff aflame randomly; until trash cans and stolen clothes were not enough for him. Before his lectures one day, he doused the hall with petrol and while his students were waiting for him, Elijah dropped a lit matchstick. No one could escape because Elijah locked the doors as he watched them burn. Before anyone realized he hadn’t been in the fire, he fled Oklahoma.

He returned to Dallas under the guise of a leave and continued supporting his mother who now worked two jobs. Micah who had started classes in the community college was never around so, Elijah had ample time to steal people’s belongings and burn them.

Elijah suffers from bipolar disorder. At his points of high, when he was super excited, he burned anything – including a homeless man he picked from the neighborhood’s park. During his lows, when he became depressed, Elijah picked pockets and smoked till he passed out.

A pathological kleptomaniac and pyromaniac, Elijah’s obsession with fire nearly cost him a shirt so, deciding he couldn’t be setting fires wearing flammable apparels, he broke into the states fire department building and stole as many firemen uniforms, he could carry. Whenever he was alone at home, Elijah snuck off wearing a bunker gear to burn, burn, burn.

Mass hysteria spread throughout Dallas at the mystery arsonist who was burning down buildings and bodies. After a federal-owned building was burned down with about thirty staff inside, the government realized the case was too much for the Texas Police Department to handle and a task force was deployed to track down the arsonist.

Elijah, who now referred to himself as hothead whenever he was out to burn, burn, burn was tracked by the task force to his house one day when both his mother and brother are home. They broke into the building and arrested all of them. Elise and Micah were taken to a government safehouse while hothead was transported to a different location.

The next time he wakes up, he is trapped in a cell…