The Shortest Tales: Horror

Flames of Stupidity

In Aaron's opinion, books were one of the most valuable items any human could get their hands on. Each novel was a story, a piece of time, an example of history. Not only was a tale told within the book, but the author's life was also explored. Due to this obsession, Aaron had gathered quite the collection. In his rather large house, he had an entire floor dedicated to the books he spent years obtaining, akin to a library.

They meant the world to him, all from different parts of the world, written by people of different cultures and different livelihoods. He often spent his hours either reading through his collection, or organizing it in some fashion, adding new ones every day. Today was special, however. He had finally gotten his hands on one of the first copies ever written by the Grimm brothers.

As he spent hours flipping through the novel, examining its contents with glee, Aaron decided that tonight was worthy of a treat. He swiftly ran to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of wine, and turned on the stove, blue flames flickering rather violently. A steak didn't sound so bad to Aaron, and it would pair well with his choice of beverage. As he retreated upstairs to grab the book, he poured himself a glass of wine while looking through the pages. He would return downstairs in a moment and prepare his meal, however he was too immersed in his new addition.

A little time passed as he continued to examine the novel, pouring another glass of wine, and soon finishing it too. It wasn't long before Aaron started to smell something unusual. As he breathed in the air, his eyes widened. It was smoke, he forgot about the stove. How in the hell did he forget? As he looked at the bottle of wine, he realized he had nearly drunk half of it. He cursed himself as he stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen.

The sight that met him was terrifying, the fire from the stove had managed to catch one of his cook books on fire, which caused the cabinets above to spark into flames as well. Unsure of what to do, he tried pouring water from the sink onto the disaster, but it did little to help. Aaron had recently gotten rid of the fire extinguisher, as it had become too old, yet he never replaced it.

As the flames consumed the kitchen, he was forced back, still a little too drunk to understand what was happening. As fear consumed him, he dashed outside before swiftly falling onto the grass. He laid still for a small amount of time as his head spinned. As he looked up at his house, he was dumbstruck. The entire building was engulfed in fire, and there was nothing that could be done. All of Aaron's work, his dreams, the love he poured into his collection, all destroyed by the inferno of his own stupidity.