the governor's mansion

when I was fourteen, I may or may not have burned down the governor's historic mansion. who am I kidding, my best friend at the time, and I absolutely did.

Destiny and I lived in a pretty small town surrounded by dirt roads and abandoned houses, one of which was right down the road from destiny's house. unknown to me at the time, this was a historic building to the local native Americans in town, it being the old governor's mansion.

destiny and I decided to go for a walk to the creek with her older brother, Jonathan. about halfway there we saw a massive fancy-looking building, it was surrounded by hay bales and covered in Grafitti, so we thought nothing of its importance.

our group thought it would be fun to scope it out, just for a minute then we would go to the creek. upon arriving, the three of us noticed a cement plate with some words carved into it on a podium. "wow this place must be some kind of important." destiny said.

Jonathan, who was a bit older than us at sixteen, replied "Nah if this place was important, it wouldn't be so run down." now this might have been where Destiny and I messed up, we believed him. nobody even ended up even reading the sign.

Then we climbed up on the hay bales and Destiny and I, being kids played tag. Jonathan however, sat down and watched us. the haybales were bouncy and we actually had a lot of fun. soon after we decided to go into the building, it was surprisingly well lit, and Jonathan came with us.

At the end of our exploration, we all ended up on a balcony above the hay bales. we were all daring each other to jump and eventually Jonathan agreed. We chanted one, two, and three counts and Jonathan chickened out, destiny jokingly pushed him off.

the balcony was probably only eight feet off the ground, and Jonathan wasn't hurt. he safely landed then flopped onto his back. "holy crap, I need a smoke after that!" he said. He then pulled a lighter and a cigarette from his pocket and lit one.

Destiny hates nicotine, she started yelling at him about being stupid and he was killing himself with it. At the time I had nothing Against it, other than the smell was terrible. I wanted to Impress him so I asked for a hit, He was reluctant because he didn't want to show me a bad path, we were like family. however, with some convincing that I've done it before, he said he'd give me one if I jumped from the balcony.

I was terrified, though Destiny begged me not to, I told him I'd do it. He then pulled out another cigarette and lit it, this time dropping the cigarette onto the haybales he was laying on. looking back I don't think he noticed it, because Destiny and I had a much better view of the situation and didn't see it until a blaze erupted.

Jonathan being closer, immediately tried to stomp it out but the hay went up too fast, burning his jeans and ankles. Destiny and I ran out of the building, she went ahead of me and ran to a nearby pond, soaking her jacket. on my way out I fell down the steps, breaking my ankle. It hurt bad, Jonathan helped me up and told me to make sure destiny was okay and he was going to get help.

By the time destiny returned, about seven hay bales were ablaze. she still tried to stamp it out with her wet jacket and I kept begging her to come down because we need to get out of here.

She eventually threw her jacket into the fire, once she came to meet me she was crying, her arms were burned and she just hugged me. That moment brought me to tears, Destiny was never affectionate, she was always reserved and well kept. I don't know what it was but the adrenaline and her finally hugging me, It was magical.

our moment was short-lived, the hay close to us was now on fire, and in trying to leave we realized we were trapped. I lifted her up onto one hay bale that looked the safest, and she pulled me up. I was limping due to my ankle, Destiny was into bodybuilding so she was pretty buff, she picked me up and carried me across the flaming hay bales on her back.

once we got to the safe ground she put me down and we ran out of the field. after we got back out to the road, the way we fell into each other. the way we had our arms wrapped around each other it was like both of us were carrying the other yet neither of us were carrying ourselves.

As we were walking their adoptive mom drove up with Jonathan, and a fire truck behind them. she scolded destiny for crying, saying that it was her fault, then drove towards the mansion. shortly after Destiny looked behind us to the burning mansion, it was a horrific sight. the entire building was swallowed by flames and the sky was filled with smoke. three fire trucks surrounded the building along with some squad cars parked on the road.

after making it home, Jonothan and their adoptive mom soon returned, we were all questioned, and after a while, police decided it was only an accident. however we were trespassing, luckily their adoptive mom was good friends with the owner of the property, and the owner said: "let it burn, nothing like this can happen again if it's gone." however the man wanted his hay paid for.

one thousand four hundred dollars was paid to the owner thanks to Jonathan and their adoptive mom. None of us got in any real trouble because It was just an accident. all of us got proper medical attention. Recently Destiny moved out of state and we no longer keep in touch.

To this day I absolutely hate nicotine, maybe the fire had nothing to do with it, but I can't stand to be around It, even the smell irks me. It's horrible.