Forest Fire

By Archisha Paul

“Have you ever seen the fire burning? The bright ribbons of flame as they whip back and forth, destroying everything in their path, slowly enveloping their victim. There is beauty in them. If a person was to simply stand and observe, he would know how extraordinary this earthly element is. It is like a cruel mistress, Isn’t it? Seductively calling you closer with its graceful dance, inviting you with its warmth, and just as you are within its reach, you burn.

It hurts where they touch you, searing pain rushes through your nerves but you can’t step away, you simply stand and bear it, because how else would you achieve the warm love it offers, the one you desperately long for, the one that this harsh world can’t provide you.

I did it. Not for the disgusting tortuous reasons they tell you or for the screams that fill the air when a life is taken by them. No, no my intentions are pure, I simply wanted to feel its embrace. I don’t understand why people assume I am crazy for wanting to do so, don’t we all light fires?

We light them to worship our gods don’t we, the candles in a church, the diyas in a Mandir, we even do it at the final resting place of our beloved ones, then why, when I do it to see its beauty do people assume it a crime?”, The little girl slowly looked up, her eyes filled with innocence and sorrow. The therapist didn’t know what to say, this was not what he expected.

He was surprised to find the 10-year-old sitting in his office reading the newspaper with a sad expression when he walked in this morning. He had no clue where or how she had managed to enter, or even who she was. He stood as terror took over his face. “Do you think I am crazy too, sir?” the girl asked with such childlike innocence the doctor almost wanted to comfort her, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The girl simply stared at him a gentle smile spreading across her face. She had seemed familiar at first but he couldn’t place her, it struck him then, he glanced down at the newspaper, there it was, in big bold letters of the usual font in the newspaper.

‘Body of a little girl found in the nearby forest fire’ Sources say it was the result of Arson.

The picture next to it was of a little girl, 10 years old, in the same outfit as his visitor and with the same smile. He remembered thinking how crazy a person had to be to purposely light a fire just to satisfy some morbid pleasure it gave them when he read the newspaper this morning before leaving for work. He had mourned for the little girl and thought how she possessed such a sad fate. He had hoped he would never have to face a person with such a mental disorder. Oh, how he hated fire he had thought as he had entered his office where his little guest surprised him.

The doctor looked to where the girl was sitting but no one was there now, just a burnt mark in the shape of a little person sitting.

By Archisha Paul