a trashy rushed entry written in an hour or two :'D 644 words [not including the title and this intro part] TW for fire, arson :eyes: i am @-vanillamochabear- okay that's it read on if you'd like to see the writing ~ Elisse The hanging smoke burned everything of me- my eyes, my skin, my nostrils. I stood in the ring of fire. At least it was smoldering down, the flames reaching just to the height of a small dog at this point. Yet I didn't understand. I didn't understand anything. How had the flames started, how had it burned down the entire post office? Why was I in the middle of it? Everything had happened so fast, impossibly fast, I couldn't remember a thing. But with all certainty, the one thing I did know, I had not started it. No way could that have been possible, the only thing I held was ashes of a stack of letters. I had no sources of starting even the smallest spark. Yet I knew I would be blamed. After all, I was standing in the middle of the entire scene. I should be doing something. I should've ran, gotten away from the scene, ran away from the splotches of fire scattered and dancing around the site. But I stood, mouth wide open, mind in blank fear and shock, feet stuck to the Earth. Until the authorities arrived. I was the only outside of the post office. Everyone else had been inside. And just as I had predicted, they naturally put all of the blame on me. "It was you." "You set the fire purposefully." "Elisse, it's your fault." The voices of my co-workers, the police, and everybody else surrounded me. Blame, everywhere. I wanted scream. I wondered if I would ever see my family again, if they would lock me up forever, without further investigation. Because even if I didn't want to believe it, if I was certain I didn't do it, I couldn't find a single other person to place the blame on. ~ Noah The dense, unmistakable scent of smoke hung in the air, like the after of a storm. Yes, I had done it. I was the one who had set the fire, burned down the building. And I had staged it so flawlessly, that the blame had fallen perfectly onto the young women, and not me. Wait a second... but why had I done it? I decided to start over again. My name is Noah Roberts, and I had set fire to the building and staged the blame on someone else. But I still didn't understand the question of why, and what for. And sudden as a strike of lightning, I jolted awake, as if I were half-dreaming before. I had done it for the master, as he had commanded me to. And realization blew by on a cold unpleasing wind, the truth that I had been manipulated, perhaps under a spell. The "master", as he called himself, had said if I set one large building on fire, I would know all his secrets. I had said no. No, I would not commit an arson, I didn't even know this crazy guy and much less wanted to know his foolish secrets. Oh boy, I couldn't wait to go back and confront. If I knew where he was. But the fire, my big mistake... it was over, but the damage was done. How I wished I could undo it all, and remove the blame from the innocent being. I felt sorry, and there was no mistake to that. I wanted to cry. I made the mess. It was my fault, even if it was against my will. My fault. The words echoed in my mind, as I crouched behind the brick fence, twirling the tiny lighter in my hand. It was probably magicked up by the master or whatnot. No way had something so small set something so big. Nonetheless, I deeply wished the object had never existed. I wished none of this had existed at all. Everything felt so unreal, a nightmare but real life.