Lies & Harmony Trilogy

Chapter Three: Burning Hatred (Part 1)

A light begins to grow at the back of my eyes, and I bring a hand to cover my lids. It shields the bright light, and I sigh in relief. It’s getting too warm, and I roll into a sitting position, rubbing my eyes. I can still feel the imaginary blisters from spider bites. I know that they aren’t real, but how can I convince my mind that when I can feel pain on the surface of my skin?

     I open my eyes and nearly scream. There are snakes writhing around like dancing flames, tongues flickering, eyes gleaming in the light, lunging towards me only to fall back before reaching me.

     I blink, and the snakes are gone, only replaced with the leaping flames that flicker at me like snake tongues, daring me to get closer. I’ve never really seen fire before, but this is the only word that comes to mind when I see it. The flames are mesmerizing, dancing and parrying with each other in a hypnotic dance. I stare, my body swaying to music that no one can hear. A spark leaps too close, and I’m brought back when a scorching feeling goes through my ankle. I jump away, startled. It’s then do I remember that flames are a dangerous substance. We didn’t talk much about the properties of fire in Learning.

     I cough and bring a sleeve to my nose, stopping myself from breathing too much smoke. My eyes are beginning to sting, but if I cover them, I won’t be able to see. I look around the room, searching for a clear path out of the line of fire, but it’s almost like it’s in a circle, blocking all exits and slowly advancing on me while it watches me panic.

     The door is closed and blocked in all directions by flames. At this point, I’m past caring whether I’m burned or not. I just want to be alive. The door can’t be that hard to open so I run to it, clenching my teeth. I attempt to leap across the fire.

     I’m lucky that the flames aren’t very high yet so I can only feel a slight tingling sensation at my feet, telling me that my slippers are beginning to burn. There’s an open space between the fire and the door, and I stomp my feet, attempting to get rid of the fire and fling the door open.

     Everyone is in disarray, and I don’t know how I missed the initial screaming. Tabitha is attempting to usher someone out of the place even though I don’t know where the exit is. I take a step forward, and it’s almost like Thorpe comes out of nowhere. I crash into him, nearly knocking him over with my weight. Thorpe stumbles and mumbles a quick apology.

     I do what I do best and ask questions. The only time I like speaking is when I’m asking questions that can improve my knowledge. “What’s going on? How did this start?” I ask him, my voice sounding loud and more demanding than I have ever been in my life. That makes me feel stronger, and I won’t lie and say that I’m not proud of myself because I am.

     Thorpe won’t even look me in the eye. He grabs my hand and begins to pull me away. “Someone set us up,” he mutters. “Let’s get out of here.”

     Tabitha nods at Thorpe and leads the way, her arms around a frail looking woman whom is shaking so badly that she looks like she’ll collapse at any moment like a fragile butterfly with its wings snapped.

     There is less fire in the main room so the pathways aren’t blocked. I look around one last time, scanning for anyone else left to the merciless fire, but no one is here. I blink, and I see the snakes in place of the flames again, still dancing a deadly dance, but then Thorpe stands in my line of vision and shoves me forward harshly. For a child, he’s quite strong.

     “Go,” he says, a tremor of fear for his own life beneath his voice. “We need to get out of here.”

     Tabitha leads us through the door, and we run down through another large room. Again, there is no one here, and there are fewer flames than the room before it. It goes the same for quite a while, and I glance back once before wishing that I hadn’t.