A World of Ash and Flame

Chapter 1

I know I shouldn't be up here.

But.

I am.

And Mum is going to kill me for it.

If she finds out.

I'm hoping she doesn't.

I look through the winding branches of the tree and stare at the wild bush beyond. It surrounds the paddocks and the main road, tight and cluttered. A densely packed sea of green and brown flora. At the heart, the trees are black, burned and scarred.

There was a fire.

Years ago, when I was only little. There was smoke and screaming. Sections of the bush were destroyed, while others blackened. The heart was one of them. Nature can come back from an event like that but will forever bear the scars.

I rub my finger against the skin on the top of my wrist. It is white where it should be warm brown and purple in others. My scar. A web of mountains that rise out of my wrist. When the fire came, my cousin took me to the top paddock, said we'd be safe. He was wrong.

So very wrong.

We were stuck. Trees had fallen blocking our way out. I remember the flames inching towards us. So close I could touch it. I did.

Touch it.

The hot red licked my wrist and I jumped away. It burned. I screamed as my hand blistered and pain laced itself into my veins. My cousin, Rob, grabbed me and ran. Trying to find an escape.

My mum came, the firemen hot on her heels. They got me out, as I cried.

I had escaped.

Trees falling.

A figure could be seen through the flames.

Screams.

Screams of pain.

Agony.

I escaped.

Rob did not.

In an instant he was gone. As if he was a candle and his flame had been blown out.

You'd think that after an experience like that fire would be on my list of top three fears. It's not. Burns are though, I can still remember the pain. Mum hates fire with a passion, I think she's scared that I'll get too close to it again. I think she reckons I won't escape.

That I'll end up like Rob.

Snuffed out.

Gone.

She's wrong. I may find fire mesmerising but I'm too scared of the pain that will surely ensure to get too close. She won't let us light candles though, or have a fireplace. It was promptly removed after the accident, now it's a succulent storage area.

I don't care.

Succulents are cool.

This is my tree. The place I come to think. Without any distractions. Right now I'm thinking that I should probably be climbing down and going to school. But the view is too stunning. The sky is free of clouds and a shade of blue that can only be described as perfect. White specks play in the paddocks, lambs. The dam looks clear for the first time in its life. So what if it's practically forty degrees and set to rise? I sure don't. I love the hot weather.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

There must be a bee nearby. I don't care, I'm not scared of them like my sister Lissa. They do much more good than bad. I'm alright with a couple of bee stings for a taste of fresh, golden honey.

The buzzing continues and I realise that something appears to be jumping up and down inside of my pocket. I shove my hand into the fabric pouch and clasp my phone. Of course. It wasn't bees. I check the caller ID and am not the least bit shocked when I see Mum's name.

Mortified more like it.

I let it ring out and hope that she assumes I'm just going for a nice, easy jog to see the new lambs and can't answer my phone because I'm cuddling with the cute bundles of fluff. Something tells me that she's not going to think that. My phone goes silent for all of two seconds before...

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

The buzzing seems more insistent now. About ten times more annoying too. I make a mental note to change my ringtone when I get home.

I should probably answer it. She'll be more suspicious if I don't answer and it must be important if she's calling for a second time. I lie against a branch and whack leaves away before pressing the green 'accept' button and shoving the device towards my face.

"Zhara?" Mum says.

"Yep Mum, it's me."

"Why are you giving me a front stage view of your nostril hairs?" She asks, sounding ridiculously unimpressed.

I quickly adjust the camera angle, instead giving her an extreme close up of my eye.

"Zhara," Mum tells me, "I thought you knew how to use Facetime? This is like having a conversation with my father!"

I have to snort at that statement, Pop isn't the best at holding a phone.

So I probably shouldn't have snorted.

Lesson learnt.

The movement causes me to roll over and just about out of the tree. I grip onto the bark, horrified when it comes away and into my hand.

"Paperbark!" I scream as I fall and slam onto another branch.

"Zhara!" Mum exclaims, "are you alright?"

I've completely forgotten that Mum's still on the phone. It's a wonder that I'm still holding the phone.

"I'm alright," I say, "the lambs just like to play a little rough!"

Mum gives me a look.

A very suspicious look that speaks of trouble.

Lots of trouble.

Probably quite a few chores as well.

There goes my summer holidays.

Crack.

I glance at the branch that I'm sitting on, it's quite a bit thinner then the one I was on before.

Let me rephrase that, quite a lot thinner.

The branch snaps and I'm falling again.

I drop my phone this time, hoping the screen will be alright. My hands grab and slip off hundreds of leaves, twigs and a few actual branches before I hit the ground with a thud.

I'm almost one hundred percent sure that I just landed on my phone.

And that Mum just saw my entire performance of falling out of a tree and lying to her.

Ouch.

I'm screwed.