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visible through the blackening fumes. One by one the framed
paintings on the wall fall to the ground and are swallowed up by the
fire. The gold lead paint of the armchair begins to crackle and peel
off in the heat from the flames; falling, curling, and floating to the
ground as the tarnished gold fades further to a dull brown.
Look around; you stand in the middle of an inferno, hungry
sparks of fire bite into your skin, trails of sweat run down your back.
Look down; the straw hat still lies at your feet, it’s charred and
destroyed, just a pile of blackened straw. You’ve finally done it, you
told yourself you would one day, and now you have. You’re burning
those memories away, you’ve made the decision to forget and to
move on, but now that the straw hat is gone, are you satisfied or are
you scared?
Glass windows shatter, wooden beams splinter and clouds of
flaking paint and black ash fill the air. You watch as a framed
photograph of a smiling family falls to the ground. The face of the
father begins to burn first; the flames eat away his face, then move
onto the mother, and then finally to the identical, grinning faces of
the two boys. There are good memories that tie you to this house,
but the ones of pain, hurt and fear override them. Those are the
ones you would rather forget but will be permanently reminded of
by the scars marring your skin. You know you are alone in this world,
everyone has been taken away from you, there is no one left who
knows where you are, no one left who cares. The flames begin to
advance toward you; they slither and crawl, twisting themselves
around beams and pushing themselves higher and higher, until you
are enclosed in a circle of fire. The heat is overwhelming, you feel
your skin begin to blister and the stench of burning hair reaches your
nostrils. But this is what you wanted wasn’t it? Closure? No more
pain, no more memories, no more stares. You close your eyes.
Our new home comes into view as mummy and daddy turn into Lowvale Lane.
Willy, my brother, and I sit side by side, we’re twins, identical and inseparable in
our matching overalls and straw hats. We are excited! A new home means a new
beginning, mummy and daddy say they won’t yell anymore, we’ll be a happy
family like we used to. Daddy says he will buy us ice-cream every weekend, as long
as we help mummy around the house. We are excited; daddy says this new home
will change everything.
‘
The Fire
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