Chapter 1

Imagine being surrounded by a circle of fire since the day you were born but only just waking up and realizing you were there.

On the outside of that fire, you can't see anyone or anything so you have no idea if there is any sign of life outside of it.

And by the time you turn around and see if there's anything that can help you put out the fire, all you see on the ground is a matchbox with three matches inside of it.

Now, Callie was given two options.

To stay inside of the circle, where she knew she would be safe since she had been there all her life without realizing it. But now that she was awake, she'd be unhappy because she was alone. Despite the three people who just suddenly appeared, she knew she would never belong.

Or to take a chance and jump over the fire, not knowing exactly what the outside of it entailed.

Perhaps an endless and long battle that would drain everyone that was both in and out of the fire.

Or perhaps she'd bring the fire to those who were safe, harming the innocent people she loved.

Or perhaps she'd find even more fire, realizing that she couldn't prevent herself from being burned.

But Callie didn't like either of those options. She preferred option number three that she would give herself and didn't involve anyone trying to take anything from her or hurting the ones she loved the most.

She preferred not to get burned again.

Or maybe she was never burned in the first place.

Maybe she was branded all along.

If you were to look up the term branded in the dictionary, the most common definition would be marked with a branding iron to show ownership.

That's must've been how it had been from the very beginning only she didn't know it.

She was never a person like she thought she was.

She was always someone else's property.

Nothing was ever her choice and she was tired of everyone trying to take control of her own life. And every time that happened, they were always people she didn't know.

Option number three was the matchbox.

Option number three was her choice and it was safe for everyone else involved.

Callie grabbed all three of the matchsticks and lit them all at once, making sure to drop them into the circle with her and let the fire consume her completely.

If she didn't have control, nobody would.

The second Callie saw Stef and Lena approaching from behind Brandon on the bench; she released her lips off of his. He turned around and noticed his moms from afar and quickly stood up, realizing that they hadn't seen either or them at all and seemed lost in their own conversation. Brandon could tell that they were having an argument of some kind and he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he turned around to tell Callie they were safe, he was surprised to see that she was no longer beside him.

He glanced around the perimeter in search for any sign of the girl, but with all of the people around it was easy for him to lose track of her.

Callie knew that she was spinning out of control, but she wouldn't let someone else make these decisions for her anymore. Even if they were the wrong decisions they were going to be made by only her this time.

She would try to make sense of it all some way or another.

She wouldn't view herself as the victim anymore.

She's only a victim if she lets herself be portrayed as such.

And if that meant setting the fire herself and watching the flames burn everything away then that was exactly what would happen.

Robert could refuse to sign the papers and legally be her father, but Callie would never be his daughter.

The Fosters could fight the Quinns in court and make a ton of promises, but they'd never actually win.

She could pretend to be a part of their family, but she knew it was never meant to be.

Otherwise wouldn't it have already happened?

Callie would make damn sure that she didn't have either of them, before she'd let herself get burned a second time by someone else.

She would do the burning this time.

She'd be in control.

A/N: Attention this is NOT A BRALLIE. Although there might be some scenes of Brandon and Callie in here, I want to be clear that every decision Callie makes between them is not being made out of love but rather out of confusion. In that finale, I'm not gonna lie, she looked confused as hell to me like she was trying to make sense of something because she needed anything to make sense at that point. That was my interpretation of it, I don't want anyone to continue reading assuming that this will end on a positive Brallie note.

Also, this is sorta my sequel to Burned. If you read it, great. If not, you don't need to but just know that it might help some to read it, though not necessary.

In Burned, the moms found out about the burning/selfharm and thought they put a stop to it.

In this fic, Callie will be dealing with a thousand more issues and taking burning to a whole other level.