I ran. The tall white fire seared behind me sister and I, my calves burned hotter, I have never pushed my body to the limits I’ve had to that day to simply survive from the sudden roaring hot fire that overcame the woods my family had been camping in. I don’t know where my mom is, or my dad, my sister is in front of me, she’s all I see. The grass was dry, and the air was blowing in my ears, my face was sweaty and cold from the crisp wind. It smelt like ugly smoke, and ugly black clouds defaced the sky. Tears where inside my ears and my legs became numb. I ran downhill, my limp legs tapping the lifeless grass. The sound echoed inside my numb skull. I liked feeling the chill air hit my body, I felt afraid to feel heat, god forbid the fire swallow me whole. I ran faster. At the bottom of the hill was a large rocky river, the water was low, it was summertime. My sister was wobbling from rock to rock across and I followed behind. I watched my feet as I steadily walked through. My foot slipped on a clump of wet moss and my leg dunked into the warm river water below. The temperature of the water I had expected to be freezing was lukewarm, I cursed the California summertime. I wanted to hate the heat forever, but I climbed out of the rocky puddle and looked up at my sister. She was standing still. A naked man was on the other side of the river. He was masturbating. He was turned away, he couldn’t see us, he was watching the smoke clouds in the sky. His body was old and tanned, skinny, wrinkled and dirty. I had a feeling he was homeless, or at least a crackhead. He was talking to himself, he was shouting something but I couldn’t hear what it was he was saying. My sister turned to me, her face was unreadable, but I knew she was thinking exactly what I was thinking; we both didn’t know what to do. He disappeared into the forest. I hurried to my sister in front of me.

“Did you hear what he was saying?” I asked. My sisters eyes widened,

“You didn’t hear that?” She asked, I shook my head.

“What did he say?” I got anxious, I scratched my forearm.

“He said I started the fire” she looked at the gothic clouds of decimation. “He was saying I started the fire over and over again I started the fire I started the fire”

“What do we do?” I felt helpless, but I trusted in a kind of delusional hope that is needed in situations as unusual as this. “What do we do?” I watched the fire behind me, I saw the flames catch up. We had to run forward. My sister didn’t answer me, I knew I was asking a useless question. I had to run forward. The mush wrapped my left shoe, my ankle felt tight, I couldn’t possibly care. We ran into the woods, the man looked me in my eye, he was close, I saw every wrinkle, every hair, every twisted wart, every wide pore. He was beef jerky, his skinny arms clutched my shoulders and he shook me. My sister was gone.

“Why did I start the fire?!” He cried, his teeth where a few. His breath was like a dragons; hot and deadly. His tears didn’t cool his red sunburnt skin, it looked as if it would. He inhaled a long dried huff and wailed,

“Why did I start the fire?!” The man squeezed my arms, he wanted my help. I didn’t know anything about him, I didn’t know what he needed.

“Because you love fires” I said, I held my body still, I couldn’t move. I watched an amber fly behind his head, it landed in a dry bush. I looked him in his eyes, I begged for him to understand me.

“You have always loved fires” he wasn’t looking as me, he was crying like a small child.

“I don’t love fires, I don’t know, I don’t feel anything towards fires, I just like to watch everything burn, I like to be responsible” his fingers pressed into my muscles, I dared not to move.

“I just want to become something” Hot red flames flickered behind his feet.

“You want to become fire” I said, I felt strong with my words as soon as I spoke them. He let me go. I ran away and the flames chased me. I felt no pain as I ran for my life, a deer ran in front of me. I followed the skipping brown doe barrel through the forest with me. The strong fire exacted anger in its chase. He consumed the life in every direction his body could reach. He was selfish and hungry, wrathful stupid and unrelenting. I ran.