Flames burned at the wooden beams of the house. Smoke rose up around me burning my lungs. The heat of the flames was almost unbearable. I choked a couple times and struggled to make my way through the burning house. I rounded a corner and behind me a beam came down ablaze. I looked down the hall and stopped. At the end of the hall stood a girl in a nightgown completely calm. The flames and destruction didn’t seem to faze her at all. I just stared at her for a few seconds then noticed there was a gas can at her feet. I tried yelling at her over the crackle of burning wood.

“Did you start this fire!” I yelled. “How did you get in here!?”

The girl just stood there. I took a step toward her and she raised her head to look at something above me. Instead of leaping ahead to avoid what she was looking at ,because it could only be a fallen beam, I looked straight up. As soon as I did I saw the chunk of flaming wood come speeding at me.



I woke up in a cold sweat. I was sitting up on my bed clutching my chest. My heart thundered inside and I felt like I was ready to burst. My face was soaked in sweat. The image of the girl and the beam flashed in my head renewing the fear each second. The images were permanently imprinting themselves in my mind. I threw off the blanket and swung my legs off the bed. My feet hit the bare floor and I was relieved to find it was cold. I walked to the bathroom and turned on the faucet. I ran my hands through some water and threw some on my face . I ran my hands over my face and took a deep breath. Nothing but a nightmare I thought. I turned off the faucet and looked in the mirror. As soon as I did I leapt back in alarm. Staring at me through the mirror was the same girl in my nightmare. I blinked and wiped my eyes and looked back at the mirror.

She was gone and in her place was my own reflection. I sighed as my heart slowed down from where a second ago it was racing. Good god now I am going nuts I thought. I wiped the mirror with my hand. Nothing. I began walking back to my bed when I smelled something burnt. At first I ignored it then I felt the heat. I ran to the doorway of my room and looked down the hall. All along the walls and floor were flames. The wooden stairs of my house were black and still burning. As I looked in shock the flames crawled toward me like a cat approaching it’s prey. I turned and ran to my window. It was pretty obvious I wasn’t going out through the hallway.

I ran to the window thankful that I had left it open. As soon as I got to it though the window slammed shut. I slammed into with my entire body trying to shatter it. No luck. I just ended up hurting my shoulder. I turned and began looking around the room for something to hit the window with. The flames had already crawled into the room and were snaking up the walls. As I looked around my attention was snagged by something sitting in my doorway. Sitting below the burning doorway was a bright red gas can tipped on it’s side. My mind began reeling. Panic was making it’s way into my mind just as the smoke from the flames made its way into my lungs. I began choking on the smoke and snapped back to reality. I grabbed my alarm clock off my nightstand and threw it at the window. The clock burst on impact and it’s pieces flew everywhere.

By now the entire room was ablaze and the smock was constantly getting thicker. I had to get out of here I thought. So I began kicking the window to no avail. I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt trying not to inhale the poison surrounding me. The smoke scalded my throat and set my lungs on fire. I stumbled around the room trying to find something to smash the window with. Then my vision began to get foggy and I gave up. I ran to the door and fell straight through the floor. I felt weightless for the first few seconds then I hit the floor. The impact knocked the remainder of wind in my lungs out. I lay sprawled out on the floor gasping for air only to find nothing but smoke to inhale. I looked up and saw her standing there. The girl stood above me looking down on me with not a trace of emotion in her eyes. She held a match out just above my head and horror struck me.
“No,” I weezed. “please,”
I reached out toward her feet but she stepped back and dropped the match. The
flame struck my face and I began to scream. In seconds the flame engulfed my entire face and spread over the rest of my body. I felt a searing pain as my skin was burned away. I screamed out and rolled across the floor but the flames weren’t going out. At that point all thought was lost and the smell of my own burning flesh filled the air. I cried out for what seemed like hours of unbearable pain before I felt the end. My heartbeat slowed and I could no longer breath. I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling. My body still writhing in pain but my mind aware that I was going to die and I could do nothing to stop it. Just then the ceiling caved in and my cries stopped.