Begging to Live

The sound of destruction sings its song tonight. A music that foretells the loss of everything. The echoes of fire spread through a street in Plenish Town, as its biggest house is being consumed by the cruelty of flames.

Two humans run to the scene with buckets of water. Their determination to save drops with their buckets, as they realize the fire has already won.

A third person runs in and dumps their water into the fire. The water splashes over the wall, but the flames don’t flinch. Nothing changed. The fire continues to spread.

Inside the burning house, on the second floor, a little girl runs down a hallway. Smoke, heat, and the light of fire invades the hall, but luckily for the little girl the flames are yet to arrive. She holds on tightly to a silver necklace that hosts an emerald.

The girl enters her room and locks the door. She rolls underneath her bed. Holding her breath, staring at the door.

She hears footsteps beyond her room. Slow and steady footsteps. Someone is not rushing, but clearly persistent. They stop at her door. A light but rugged voice follows, “I always wondered, what drives your kind?”

Shadows sweep into the room from the gap underneath the door. The shadows organize inside the room. Forming and birthing a man dressed in black.

“I now realize the answer. So simple. I feel stupid. Why did it take me so long to see it?”

The man walks to a dresser, opening it. Nothing. He turns around, “It might not always be the single driving factor, but it is a common one. A common reason to fight.”

He pushes aside a window curtain. Nothing. He turns and walks closer to the bed. His black leather boots are so close to the little girl, “What drives you humans is fear. Fear. Something so simple.”

The man chuckles, “We aren’t so different after all.”

The man flips the bed over. Destroying the fragile safety of the little girl. He leans in, grabbing her wrist. Tightly pulling her off the floor. He looks into her crying eyes, “You have something that is rightfully mine!”

He pulls off the silver necklace from the weak hands of the little girl. Dropping her back to the ground.

The girl lays on the floor crying her eyes out. The man looks at her, “I try to care for you humans. I gave you all a chance. But your kind is so stubborn. Why does it need to be difficult?”

The little girl looks up, her crying eyes locking with the man. His eyes flare back with anger, “Because of that stupid man, humans like you pay the price. I hope your soul finds its way to the Water Forest.”

The man burst into clouds of shadows, flying out through the window. Shattering the pane of glass. The flames find new strength. Spreading through the house with new found power. The house is now fully consumed in flames. Completely destroying what was once the mayor’s house.