Wind

• • T W E N T Y N I N E • •

I left the cigarettes where they were and pulled out the book of matches with my one good hand. Shaking, I placed it in my mouth and removed a match. Then, I twisted the box in my teeth so the striker was at the front. Finally, using my bad hand as a guard from the wind, I ran the match across the sandpaper-like strip. Fire lit up in front of my face. Startled, my teeth let go and the book of matches fell to my feet.

The flame at the end of the match flickered, threatening to go out as the wind stormed through my bloody fingertips in a hellish whisper. It was now or never.

I dropped the match onto the trail of gasoline. The storm gusted and the flame squirmed, but I told the wind it could fuck right the hell off.

The match landed on the ground, flame still blazing.

Fire erupted in front of me.

It surged down the path I'd drawn like a speedboat through a choppy squall, flames splashing off in its wake. The heat hit me and beautiful warmth coursed through my body.

In less than a second, the fire reached the house. The menacing structure exploded like a fireball. Flames licked the walls. The windows glowed like they were melting out of their frames. The roof became a hellish inferno. Black smoke billowed out, soaring into the sky as the wind carried it away.

For a second, I felt absolutely nothing. I stared into the sun.

Then, in one of the glowing windows, I saw a face. Inside the hellish inferno, Joshua banged against the glass. Even though I could hear nothing over the roaring blaze, I could tell that he was screaming. His face melted as the fire scorched it. For a second, I thought I saw the man—the soul that had been vanquished from its body to create this tool of destruction. For a second, I saw the man Joshua had been before the Devil had taken hold, using the human vessel for his own sinister plans.

And then everything was gone. The man, the Devil, everything. Joshua's eyes went black as fire consumed him, and he collapsed to the ground behind the wall of flames that contained him.

I wheezed and clutched my body, watching the fire burn. My legs gave out from under me, and I sat down in the grass. I blinked my heavy eyes. Pain surged through my bones, and blood slicked my right arm. I collapsed onto my back, panting as my vision faded in and out.

Then, above the sounds of the fire roaring, I heard a familiar and terrifying noise I had all but forgotten—barking.

I lifted my head and tried to focus, but everything spun around me. I blinked, stars flashing in my vision. Coming in from the far fields, two dogs that were part pit bull, part something else, rampaged towards me, barks ringing out through the air like bullets.

I struggled, trying to push myself to my feet, but I was too weak. I had no energy left to get up and run. This would be it. I only hoped I would be unconscious before they reached me. At least then I wouldn't feel the pain as they tore me to pieces.

But I wasn't.

The barking grew louder, and then they were on top of me. I heard panting and whimpering and pounding feet. I braced myself for the attack, but it didn't come.

Instead, I felt heat on my left side. I glanced over. The larger dog had laid down next to me, and it rested its head on top of my chest, whimpering. Something warm and wet slithered along my right arm. I looked over. The smaller dog sat with its head against me, licking my wound.

Tears flowed from my eyes, and I wept.

Suddenly, a shrill shriek blew out of the house like an explosion from a chimney. It was the sound of the Jersey Devil dying.

And then everything went quiet... quiet and still. I looked at the burning house. I looked at the smoke. It rose straight up into the air, unimpeded and free.

It took me a second to register, but finally, as I began to hear sirens in the distance and my mind started to fade to black, I realized what it was.

There was no wind.