Flame

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The night before Halloween. It was a cold, calm, fall night. Colorful leaves painted the dimly lit ground.

The little girl peered outside her window. She grabbed her oil pastels and her pad of paper her mother had given her for her fifth birthday last Halloween.

Her town thought that because she was born on Halloween she was the devil's child. Her mother homeschooled her in fear that the town might do something to her precious child.

The girl looked up from her drawing. She saw the area get lighter. She frowned and checked her clock. It was midnight. She looked to the sky for answers. Her eyes landed on the woods. People walk through them with lanterns and flashlights. One man carried a torch. Another carried tons of rope. They stood outside the house. They yelled her mother's name.

"Zelda Sapphire. You have been accused of which craft. Therefore you will be burned... tonight!" The town up-roared in yahs. The little girl heard a knock.

Her mother and father walked in with her brother. "Come on baby. We have to go." Her mother's voice was in shock but her face was so calm.

"Mama. Papa. What's going on?"

"Come on sweet pea." She was lifted in her father's arms. Her brother was held by her mother. They walked out the door. Her mother handed her brother to her father.

Her mother walked out to the townspeople. "Take me. Not my family." They started to tie her up.

"I made no promises." The townsman smirked.

"Mama! Mama!" In front of the girl's eyes, her mother was hung on her favorite climbing tree and burned before her eyes. Amongst the red, yellow, and orange flames were not only her mother's burning flesh but were her screams, her heart, her soul, and her power. The girl screamed out one more time. She and her brother were torn from the arms of their father. "Papa! Papa!"

"It's all right I love you both." Her father watched as his children were forced down into the dirt. Her father was hung next to her mother and burned as well. At least she still had her brother. She grabbed him and pulled him close.

He was ripped from her arms. "No stop!" Her cries fell silent. Everything was still. She was slapped across the face. She fell to the ground.

"What are you going to do?! Your mother was nothing but an evil ugly witch. Your father loved playing with things that weren't his. Your brother was a little thief."

"Rose!" Her little brother's terrified voice pleaded for her.

"Let him go!" She cried out. Two men came and held her back. She was too small. The men were too powerful. Her brother was done wrong just like the rest of her family. Her heart broke. She fell to her knees.

She could only think of the fire. She could only see the evil people before her. All she could feel was anger.

She screamed and before her eyes, they were all set on fire. She buried her head in her knees and covered her ears to muffle the screams. Tears streamed down her face.

When she couldn't cry anymore she stood up. She couldn't take the sight. She looked up at her family. She sucked in a breath and ran to the woods.

She wondered in them for so long she lost track of time. She came to a small cottage. A lady dressed as a nun was outside.

She turned to the small girl. "Are you lost, child?" Rose didn't speak. She didn't move. She just... cried.

"What day is it?"

"January 5th. How long have you been in the woods." She met the women's eyes.

"Too long miss." The nun went to touch her but she backed away. She was fed and clothed then taken to an orphanage at the age of six. She wasn't treated well but all that played in her head was that night.

The fire. The screams. Her family. She tried to push the visions away but that didn't work. She would live with this all of her life.

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