Smoke and Angels

Ash rained down around me, enveloping my face in its dark embrace. It choked me as I drew smoke into my lungs, and I shut my eyes against the harsh blackness around me. Only the warm colors of the fire kept the dark from consuming me entirely.

I let my eyes flutter open, stinging from the heat of the flames. The smell of fire and burnt flesh filled my lungs as I breathed in the acrid air, but I forced myself to breath deeper. A gasp escaped my lips as sparks from the fire settled onto my face, searing swirling patterns into my soft skin. Raising my shaking hands to my disfigured face, I pressed my cool fingertips onto my burning flesh, clenching my teeth as pain coursed through me. Red filled the edges of my vision, but I kept my eyes open, letting out a small defiant noise. My fingernails dug into my face, drawing blood. As the pain intensified, the small noise coming from my throat grew louder and louder, piercing through the sound of crackling flames, and rising into the smoke filled air. As my voice reached a crescendo, lights began flashed above me, and I raised my head to the sky, screaming at the top of my lungs. Suddenly, one light became brighter than all the others, replacing the blackness with light so extreme that my eyes were forced closed once again.

The noise of the fire vanished. No more flames crackling, or the sound of burning skin sizzling against cool fingers. It was silent, completely silent. I couldn't even hear myself breathing. Then a single loud, sharp sound echoed through the white around me. Then another followed the first. Then another, and another. Soon the air around me was filled with the sounds of hundreds of people rising to their feet, clapping. As the sounds built upon each other, faces began to appear out of the blankness. Still, emotionless faces rose up out of the white like broken angels, each a carbon copy of the ones before. But they were all clapping - clapping for me.

I stumbled to my feet, dizziness and pain washing over me. I stared up at the crowd as their applause chorused in my ears. And even though I could feel my skin crack and split apart, a smile stretched across my face. I raised my arms to the crowd, letting their approval cascade around me. I closed my eyes in bliss, smiling softly to myself.

I did it. I passed the test.