||𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤||

Prologue

𓃵
"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire."
~ Ferdinand Foch
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✟⃛ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Erin had once burnt her hand when she was younger. Her mother had been cooking and told her that she was not to go near the hot stove. Naturally, young Erin went directly there. Ever so curious, she stretched out her hand and placed it on the glowing red circle. It took weeks for that to heal. After that, Erin always listened to her mother's warnings. Except for most of the time.

Erin tried not to let herself imagine what it'd be like for that to happen to her entire body, but that seemed impossible given the current situation. When her younger self had touched that stove, she thought that pain was the worst anyone could ever feel, but the thought of having your whole body be burned seems like it would hurt a lot worse. Would the skin melt right off like she saw in cartoons or would it form sickly red blisters like her hand had? Her breath hitched just thinking about it. She didn't want to find out.

Erin had always had an active imagination, or at least that's what her parents said, but now was not the time to be daydreaming. What she needed to do was calm down and focus. Unfortunately for her, she could still feel her body shaking, but she just couldn't make herself stop. Her thoughts were racing a million miles a second. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. She was getting herself distracted, and if she wasn't careful, that could end up costing her life. She needed to find her parents. She needed to know if they were okay.

She had been in her bedroom, reading her new book, when the smell of smoke hit her nose. At first she just looked around, confused. She tossed her book aside and wondered if her mother had left some food in the oven too long. Eventually, she realized she was sweating and it dawned on her that the room had been gradually rising in temperature. This was when she began to feel afraid. She leapt to her feet and rushed across her room to the bedroom door. As she swung it open, the heat became so much more intense. Erin's fear turned into pure terror as she watched flames slowly engulf the place she called home. Her eyes darted to the right. The front door. It was right there, and yet...

She ran to her left towards her parents' bedroom. The closer she got the hotter she felt. She carefully maneuvered around the flames, though at times there were some close calls. Erin was absolutely terrified. She wasn't even sure why she went back to look for her parents instead getting to safety. It's not like they had the best relationship.

It's not that her parents hated her or anything. They made her food she liked and gave her nice clothes and bought her the books she wanted. But there were no hugs. No kisses. Erin couldn't even recall a time when they had said "I love you". They would go out to do something fun, just the two of them, and she would be left home with a babysitter. When they'd get back they would ask her if she had a good day with awkward smiles on their faces and then head to bed. But at the end of the day, they were still her family, and Erin loved them, so here she was, putting herself at risk just to be with them.

Finally she reached their room, and she wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. Her heart was beating so fast. She had no idea what she was doing. She was sure by now that not leaving the building was the wrong decision, but she hadn't been thinking. She was just so scared, and her first thought was if her family was okay. The doorknob to her parents' bedroom was hot, but luckily not hot enough to burn her. She hastily turned it and opened their door to see...

...nothing.

The room was empty. Her parents were nowhere to be found. Her hand slipped from it's place on the doorknob. Erin didn't understand. They had been there before the fire had started. She had watched them head to their room before she retreated to hers. There's no way they left already. Her room was right by the front door, they would have been able to get her.

A thought crossed her mind. They must have been on their way to her. But she wasn't made aware of the fire by her parents busting into her room and ushering her outside. She found out on her own. They didn't make it to her. They didn't make it.

Erin felt like she couldn't breathe. She gasped, desperately trying fill her lungs, but nothing she did made her feel less empty. Suddenly, her knees gave out from under her, and she came crashing to the ground. It was becoming sweltering hot in the room. Her mind screamed at her to move, to make an attempt to get to safety, but she was frozen in place.

She felt her cheeks dampen and realized that she had been crying, and so she let it happen. Pitiful sobs escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around herself. She cried until she felt like she might be hollow inside, but she still couldn't escape the feeling of loneliness. Erin was all alone in that room with no one left to save her, just her and the flames, and she wondered if her skin really would melt off like a cartoon. She'll find out soon enough.