Made of Fire

Chapter 1

My name is Annie, I am 16 years old. And I am on the run.

My feet pounded furiously over the rough terrain, I had given up the stealthy cat like movement as soon as I left the city. I had run a good 4 miles before fatigue overtook me and I slowed to a stumbling walk, resting against a tree stump I sunk to the ground and buried my head in my hands. I only hoped that I had put enough distance between me and the truth.

Taking my water bottle out of my small backpack I took a couple sips before putting it away again. 'Best to save the water for as long as possible' I thought to myself as I neatly organised my pack until it was in order again. Pulling out my map I tried to find where I was, 'Ok' I thought 'I'm in some farmer's field and if they find me I will have probably been better off staying at home'. I give a small chuckle as nothing out here could be as bad as it was back home.

I am pulled out of my little daydream when I notice a pair of eyes looking at me. I feel a stab of fear attack my heart and I am momentary paralyzed until the owner of the eyes lets out a small 'baaa!'. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding, taking long steady gasps of the countryside air. Nervously, I creep forward towards the bush and reach a trembling hand out into the bush.

"BAAAAAA" The sheep bleats as it propels its self out of the bush.

"AHHHHH!" I scream as the sheep leaps out.

I promptly silence myself by stuffing my fist into my mouth. A light switches on in a far-away house and I instantly go into a crouch like position. I am certain that the light belongs to the farmer's house and they have heard me screaming.

Forgetting my fatigue, I grab my stuff and make a beeline towards the nearby style. Hurtling myself over the style I crash to the ground on the other side. I have clearly miscalculated the size of the style. Groaning, I contemplate whether I should crash out where I am or whether I should move out of the hard, dusty bridle path into the forest on the sides to find somewhere softer and safer to rest. There is no doubt that I need to find shelter but with the increasingly intense pain in my right ankle I don't think I can summon up enough energy to even stand up. Never the less, I crawl to the side and rest against the fence, I remember my energy bars in my backpack and decide to spend some time eating them while I decide what to do.

Half an hour later my energy levels are resuming to normal. My mind is set, I need to find shelter and find it fast. With the darkness closing in rapidly I test my injured ankle, first I lever myself up with my hands and good leg to a standing position, then, very tentatively put a little pressure onto my right toes. I let out a small gasp as white hot pain shoots up my leg and round my body. I am certain that I have broken my foot in the fall, deciding that I can no longer trust letting my weight rest on my right foot. I bend my right knee so the foot is well of the ground, Placing my backpack on both shoulders I grip the fence with my right hand and hop into the dense forest.

Hopping is hard work even if you are in a healthy condition; I have barley put 10 meters behind me before I am forced to stop. Looking round I take in my surroundings, I am within a small canopy of trees that give me good protection from passersby, there is a hollow tree trunk lying on its side that might make a good shelter. On the ground are lots of pine needles and dry bits of bark 'useful for fires' I make a mental note to myself for later use. Cautiously, I approach the tree truck. I use nearby branches as crutches, I find the tree trunk empty spare a couple of rodents and spiders. Grabbing a particularly fanned out pine tree branch, I use it as a duster brushing all of the spiders off and shoeing out the rodents. Content that I have made the trunk as wild-life free as I can I sit down with my left leg folded underneath me and my right leg stretched painfully out in front. Taking out a couple of blankets from my pack I lay them on the inside of the trunk, ready for when I go to sleep.

I collect some stones and place them in a circle diagonally left to the truck. Gathering up the dry twigs I set about snapping them to length and strategically placing them in a wig-wham shape. Rummaging through my back pack I find my lighter and jolt my thumb down the catch. Fire instantly appears flickering madly from the top, placing the lighter at the bottom of the twigs, I wait until the twigs are alight, then slowly, I move around the bottom of the wig-wham doing the same thing until all the twigs are alight and the wig-wham is transformed into a constant mass of moving flames greedily lapping up the twigs, spluttering and spitting as it does so.

Momentarily mesmerized, I consider plunging my head into the centre and ending my life there and then, but two reasons stop me from my terrible sin. The first is that the fire is not hot enough to kill me and at the worst, would leave me in agony with severe burns. The second is that I didn't run away only to end my sad, pathetic life in some strange forest, I ran away to sort out my life and make a fresh start.

I am still thinking these thoughts when my belly growls at me. Time to eat. I take out a can of bake beans and without bothering to open them, delicately place the whole can on top of the raging fire. As my food cooks I decide to assess my injured ankle.

My hands fumble with my shoe laces as my claustrophobia kicks in, it is almost entirely dark apart from the golden glow of the fire. Shoe laces untied, I carefully remove my shoe and peel my sock from my swollen foot. Great. My ankle has swelled to about 3 times its normal size and in comparison to my left ankle, it looks like a giants. Tenderly I place my fingers on the swollen ankle, although the pain shoots up through my leg, I continue to gently massage it trying to feel for any breaks in the bone. None. My hopes are up as I notice that I can move my foot, thinking that I must have twisted it, I remove my other shoe and sock. I wrap the socks tightly around my bad ankle as a make-shift bandage; I'm not willing to rip apart my clothes, not just yet anyway.

Placing my shoes to the side by my backpack I grab a long stick to poke the can of bake beans out of the fire with. The label has long since melted away and the can has a red glow to it, I leave it to cool down while I gather handfuls of earth and pat it on then fire, I learnt this method from the telly where the earth will preserve the heat for days, to re-start the fire all that is needed is some oxygen or more dry wood.

By the time the fire has turned into an unattractive lump of dirt the can of baked beans has cooled, using the knife from my back pack and a hefty rock, I place the knife pointing down on the top then using all the force I can muster, slam the rock down onto the knife's handle. It does the trick, the knife pierces through the tin and wedges its self firmly inside. Now I lay the can on its side and slam the rock repeatedly on to the knife handle, my plan works and soon the lid falls off and the cans contents is exposed. I swap the knife for the spoon in my backpack and greedily stuff myself with the beans.

When I can eat no more, I put the lid back on the beans and pack everything away, except for my knife. I crawl inside the tree trunk and snuggle between the blankets, my knife firmly in my hand. I close my eyes and let the sounds of the night drift me off to sleep.

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This is my first book! I'm not quite sure where it's going at the moment but what I do know is that the next chapter will reveal much more of Annie's past. This chapter was just to get an understanding of her current situation. I don't know when I will upload again but it will possibly be sometime within next week. :) p.s sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes.

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