Smouldering
by Elizabeth Averay
Running, running, running. Can’t stop. Must keep going. Have to make it. Not allowed to fail. To fail is to die – that’s what Granddad always says. So I keep running. I have to, they are after me.
Two days ago I showed them what it’s like to be under ‘fire’. The thing is, none of my cousins liked it! I mean, all I did was use Papa’s flamethrower, blasting away over their heads. No one was in any danger. But that was two days ago, so why chase me down now?
Unless it’s because they found out I deliberately put firecrackers in the line of fire – literally – or used smoke bombs to make it hard for them to see. It was only a prank! A practical joke. Something different for Halloween, but no, they are all after me.
Just a bit further then I can get the train and get away from them all.
Yes! Done. I made it…
Oh, crap. That was just a dream.
I’m in a forest, surrounded by trees, tied to a pole with a dozen dry bundles at my feet.
There are twenty or so figures in long dark robes circling the pole and chanting slowly in loud voices, but I can’t make out what they are saying. One of them is being let forward through the robed figures. This one is holding a flaming branch.
The figure comes closer and says, ‘Do you have any last requests?’
REALLY? What have I done? Why are you doing this? Who are you? Where am I?
‘You are charged with…’ Long silence. She lowers the brand to the kindling. Tilts her head back and laughs as she drops the torch and finally says, ‘You are charged with being a really pathetic prankster.’
The branch goes out as it lands on the bundles. I get untied, and we walk home, but I am left with a burning desire to get back at the lot of them.
And I will.
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