Flame

There's only one thing in this world I'm afraid of, and that's losing it all. I lay on my back, in the middle of the field, as everything around me went up in crimson inferno. The stars in the sky, like dust, encircled my entire vision of the world. The wound in my gut burned more than the heat engulfing me from all sides. I felt the stickiness of my blood, and the wetness around my stomach.

It was over. A teenage boy, who was supposed to live his life, like any other kid in the world; going to school, having fun with his friends, studying. But here I was, lying in a burning field of fire, while my friends, who fought alongside me, lay unconscious, yet to be one with the smoke in the sky, reaching out to the heavens.

This isn't how I wanna go. That's just not fair.

I have to get up, I told myself. But my spine is filled with pain like ice, my body fought back. I can't end it all like this. My friends need me.

I got hold of a burnt charcoal stick and tried to get up. I turned and got on my knees. My hands were bleeding due to the puncture from the stones in the ground. The charcoal stick broke and I fell face first into the ground. Please, just one last time, get up, I begged myself.

I clenched my fists and got back up on my knees. I let out a roar of pain from my mouth and burst into tears.

I straightened myself up, let out a huge gasp of air. I grabbed the flaming sledgehammer beside me, left here from my past attempts at defeating the thing that destroyed my neighborhood. My legs felt like lead; the rebelled refused to get back up, but I had to. My clothes torn, shoes scrapped, face covered with soot and lungs filled with smoke. I turned around, and saw the giant flaming figure of darkness, crumbling houses under its feet.

I don't know what it is, or where it came from. I had chosen to lead my friends and myself into this death trap. I chose to be the hero. But little did I know, good things don't happen to heroes.

There it was; all I had to do was, smash this hammer into its head and save everyone. Be the hero, and stand tall over the ashes of the place where I grew up. My friends, lay on the burnt pavement, safe from fire, but unconscious.

I had dragged them into this. All I had to do was, wait for the right people to show up. But then it'd be too late. Dion, Pierson, Calliope, Maddie, Alan, Nora... I failed you all. This guilt, it's never gonna get off my shoulders. I'm sorry!

A cry burst out of my lungs as I dragged the smoldering hammer across the pavement, and ran towards my death, into the fiery creature. It was almost 20 feet tall, melting the houses around it, while people and kids ran in terror.

The infernal blaze set everyone on a rampage in the park. No one could afford to stay back and help it stop from spreading. Trees ablaze and fell to the ground, crushing everything beautiful in the park and destroying it.

I ran. I ran towards the creature as it stood two streets away from me on a path created by melted pavement and smothering pieces of wood from houses which stood here not long ago. The hammer pulled my shoulders down with it, my head throbbed with pain, and my palms felt like needles in them.

But I have to end it here.

I screamed and sprinted along the destroyed backyards. My shoes now torn, did nothing to protect my feet. I felt the fiery heat of the melted concrete of the road under my toes, leaving my skin scorched. My entire body was fighting against my will. My back hurts, my legs hurt, my head hurts, my eyes burn like balls of fire, my hands bleed, my shoulders giving up.

The creature, made of pure magma, engulfing the whole town in flames. The town people were left gazing at a distance from the red-hot inferno that turned their houses to ashes. I can't let this monster do any more damage to my home.