The Flame Danced.

Moving seductively as it twisted around my finger.

Twirled up my arm.

Lit up my torso.

“Call to me. Use me,” the voice begged. Fire. Her lulling soprano tone making me sway.

“Use me…” she pleaded, pulling and tugging against me. Promising a release from my pain.

My past.

“Use me!” She roared, yanking on my mind, and I obliged, letting her take over. Diving into the peace of not knowing. Not feeling.

The room ignited in that soft, sweet blaze, the crackle of embers a symphony to her ears. My ears.

“Dance,” she sang. “Dance my children.”

Our children.

Wasn’t fire supposed to burn? I wondered, my mind growing sluggish and weak. Wasn’t I supposed to be happy? Now that I could protect . . . someone. I was supposed to protect someone . . . wasn’t I?

Numbness . . .

It spread throughout my entire body, up my arms and down my back. Sealing me off. Stealing my worry. My regret.

There was someone important . . . Someone I should remember . . . If I could just . . .

The light cast shadows across the empty room, dancing as they chased each other, almost alive in their playfulness, their hatefulness.

The flame entranced me as it flickered up my body, growing bigger and taller, higher and higher . . .

It grew still, spreading hungrily and igniting everything in an orangey-red blaze.

My power, it had awakened.

I smiled. I’d been granted my wish and now I could protect her, always.

Nadalia…! I remembered with a pang. I’d forgotten her. My sister. My life. I had forgotten her!

And then I saw her face, her eyes—those innocent, chocolate brown eyes—watching me silently, a quiet scream frozen on her lips, horror encased in every crevice of her body, every line in her face. She was afraid of me. She feared me.

Me?

And then the fire was gone.

Leaving me in total darkness.

 

– Short Story written by Jae Lei Nyght

©2012JaeLeiNyght

 Excerpt From “The Unborn.” Written by Jae Lei Nyght. Book One In The Dark Trilogy. Kara. (Stay Tuned For More.)