by Lilly Tupa
By the time I walked outside the leaves were on fire. All the mighty trunks blackened to char and a horrifyingly beautiful crimson canopy blazed above. They set their fires to prove a point and I could do nothing but watch my forest burn. No one screamed or ran or cried. We could not move. Our legs and eyes would not listen to our hearts. It wasn’t until little Albie got crushed by the first falling branch that panic truly set in. Then came the screaming and the running and the crying.
Little Albie didn’t make it, you see. It wasn’t the broken bones or the fourth-degree burns either. He suffocated under that branch. The smoke and ash filled his lungs until he forgot the taste of air. Then he forgot the taste of ash. Then he couldn’t forget anymore, all in under two minutes. Those two minutes lasted a brief eternity.
They set their fires to prove a point and I could do nothing but watch my family burn. A quarter of my coven died that day, another fifth dropping off in the following days from injuries sustained in the flames. We lost mothers and fathers and children and friends and our home. We lost so much that in our language the words for fire and destruction moulded to become one and the same. Flames were met with fear and little else.
But not me. I could never bring myself to shy away from an inferno. Would never run from a hearth nor a pyre. I too saw the end of my world go up in smoke, but the fire wasn’t to blame. It was them. With their hatred and animosity and arrogance. They set their fires to prove a point. To show how easy we could burn.
I intend to do no such thing. I will not burn nor be burnt; I will live in spite of them. I will set my own fires. Not to kill, not to destroy. I will keep warm with my flames and the thought I am the victor. They set their fires to prove a point and I will do nothing no longer.
LILLY TUPA is a young poet who has used writing to get her through this past year. She is interested in a great many things outside of writing, none of which make her sound any less nerdy, which include knitting, crocheting, reading, and buying books. Yes, she believes that reading books and buying books are two entirely different hobbies.