An Ember's Tale

Chapter Three

Ember watched her house burn down with a deep, aching feeling of regret in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes reflected the flames consuming her home. She blinked several times as she watched the scene before her. Part of her couldn't believe what she had done, but her mind was only focused on one thing: her brother.

"They will come back," Mark had told her. "It's better to cover your tracks."

"By burning my house down?" Ember questioned. "Are you insane?"

"Maybe," Mark smiled. "But I have had run-ins with Imperial guards in the past. Any clue, any trace, they will use."

Ember pursed her lips as she looked back at the shack with a sullen gaze. Mark certainly was more experienced than she was, and he probably did know more about the Imperial guards than she did. But burning her house down?

Timothy, she told herself. I have to get him back.

She took one last look at her destroyed home with pursed lips. Ember reached down and picked up a piece of porcelain glass. It looked to be the remains of a doll Timothy had once bought her when she was sick. She smiled softly as her thumb grazed over the soft, glossy texture.

"Okay," she nodded before she threw the piece of glass back on the floor.

Ember slowly picked up a loose floorboard and turned to the blazing fire. Her hand trembled as she reached the wood into the fire until it was consumed by the flames. She lifted the burning wood and squeezed her eyes shut, letting the fire grab onto one of the curtains hanging from the window.

She slowly opened her eyes and stood there in her home, watching a roaring fire all around her. Her eyes widened when smoke and ash fell down above her, along with tiny embers that started more small fires that grew and danced into the wind. Ember looked over to her bed, where the ends of the comforter were slowly setting ablaze. Tears stung her eyes before she looked at her brother's bed already being turned to ash.

"I'm so sorry, Tim," she whispered. She clutched her chest while dust and ash fell onto her hair and smoke burned her lungs. "I will get you back... I promise."

Mark placed a hand on her shoulder before she spun around, her grey eyes reflecting the floating embers around her.

"We have to get out of here," he told her.

"I can't," her voice shook. She turned back to her burning house with silver tears running down her cheeks. "I can't just leave it here."

Mark had to drag her still, frozen body out of the burning home before she too was consumed by the flames. They then stood in the blazing storm as she watched the house slowly collapse in on itself before it was nothing more than smoke and ash.

"Are you alright?" Mark asked her.

Ember continued to stare at the ashes that were once her home with a blank expression. Her last tear rolled down her cheek and onto the snow. "I will be..."

Everything that happened after that almost seemed to happen in a daze. Mark led her through the outskirts of town. She followed him through cobblestone streets that were yet to be cleared from the thick snow. She was worried about leaving her footsteps through the snow since she knew the Imperial soldiers were still near, but the falling snow erased her footsteps while she walked. Ember sighed in relief and turned back ahead.

Her mind went back to her home as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

Flames. Smoke. Ash. Embers. They all consumed her mind until they pounded against her skull and she felt utterly destroyed by the feeling of regret and dread that washed over her while her fists clenched together until her nails were digging into her skin.