Flames to Ashes

Chapter 1-Revenge

I stood in front of what used to be my home. Now, all that stood in its place was a half burnt wall, covered in soot and ash, small flames still flickering. All around it was ash, small fires where wood remained, and dark smoke rising up into the sky.

The pain and sadness that clutched my heart was overwhelming, and I fell to my knees in the ash. My face, covered in black soot, was slowly washed away by my tears.

My head fell to my chest as the sobs wracked my body. My hands clenched around the teddy bear I held, the only thing that had somehow survived the fire.

I felt a heat rising inside me as rage took over my mind. I knew revenge wasn’t the answer, what happed here was proof of that. All it did was cause more pain and suffering, but I couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to get back at those who had done this to me.

After a year of trying to stop them, fighting against the people who used to mean so much to me, I couldn’t go on. I couldn’t do this anymore.

I raised my eyes, blurry from the tears, and looked at my home. What was once so beautiful and peaceful was now in ruins. Flames reached for the skies, mixing with the smoke and ash, and my shoulders fell in defeat.

I slowly stood, dusting the ash from my jeans, and turned. I picked up the backpack that I’d dropped and walked to my bike. I settled in the seat and drove away, never looking back.

Chapter 2-One Year Later

The fire was blazing when I walked inside. The light flickered on the walls creating shadows and making the cabin look a little spooky. Londyn stood over the flames, holding a stick in the flames.

She looked up when I came in and smiled. “Hey!” She straightened, propping the stick against the wall, letting the meat on the end rest just inside the flames.

“How was it? You find anything?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. I set my bag on the table and started to remove my jacket. She moved behind me, pulling it off of me and hanging it on a hook.

I scraped a chair back from the table and took a seat. Londyn took the one opposite me, “Well?” she asked impatiently. I grinned, gently pushing the bag toward her. She grabbed it, “There better not be a mouse in here,” she warned as she loosened the straps.

“I promise no mice.” I laughed, watching as she slowly pulled the bag open. Her eyes widened as she took in the contents. She started pulling things out; fruit, wire, two guns, a couple boxes of ammo, a couple cans of soup, medical tape, a book, and when she got to the last item, she gasped aloud.

“No way!” she exclaimed, “Where’d you find it?” She pulled out a cell-phone and touched the screen.

“It’s dead, but I figured one of those cords we got would probably work with it.” I motioned to the cords we’d piled into a box. “I found it outside of a house just on the edge of town. I took out the GPS tracker and taped it to a truck.”

She was still holding the phone reverently and I reached forward, practically prying it from her fingers. I looked at the charging port, and went to the cords, searching for one that would fit.

I heard her chair scraping the floor as she scooted it backward before standing up. She walked to the kitchen and started putting the other items away. “Hey, Londyn, leave the guns and ammo on the table, will ya?”

“Sure.” She replied, coming to sit beside me on the floor. “I can’t believe you found one! We’ve been looking for months!”

She watched as I rifled through the mess of cords. Without looking up I asked, “You gonna help me out here? Or you still in a daze?”

She laughed, a light, breezy laugh that put you at ease and made you wanna smile; which I did, of course, I couldn’t help it.

“I’m definitely still in a daze here. I can’t believe we found a phone!” She clapped her hands excitedly, giggling.

I shook my head as I tried to keep from laughing, just as I found a cord that looked like the right match to the port. I untangled it from the rest of the lot and grabbed the phone from off the table.

I pushed the end of the cord into the port. “Yes!” I yelled excitedly, “It fits!”

Londyn jumped up off the floor and crushed me in a giant hug. I laughed, “Don’t hug me to death before I get this thing working.”

“Sorry!”She gave me one last squeeze and then released me. I went into the kitchen and grabbed my box from the cabinet. I set it on the counter before pulling out my electrical box.

The electrical box is a device that I’d made so I could run certain items without using the electrical currents that could be tracked. Instead of the stuff running off of the electricity that came from the power plants, it ran off of batteries. During storms I used filtered lightning, but there wasn’t a storm going on right now, so the batteries were gonna have to work.

I plugged the other end of the charging cord into the box and then flipped the power switch. It gave a slight hum as it powered itself on, and I watched the phone, waiting. A couple seconds later, a small circle appeared in the center of the screen with a lightning bolt inside.

I pumped a fist in the air, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I yelled excitedly, high- fiving Londyn. “It worked!” I exclaimed, and she started jumping excitedly.

I grinned at her, “I think we deserve something special tonight with dinner.” She stopped jumping, her face radiating with joy and uncapped happiness. It was a look I hadn’t seen in a long while.

“What do you mean?” she asked breathlessly.

I went over to my jacket and reached into a pocket. I pulled out a large chocolate bar and held it up, dangling it in her face. Her electric blue eyes, surrounded by dark lashes and small laughter lines sparkled excitedly.

“Any more surprises I should know about?” she asked suspiciously. She snatched the chocolate from my hands and hugged it to her.

I chuckled, “No, but you might wanna rescue your meat now, I think it’s about to become jerky.” I jumped out of her way as she leapt forward, nearly running toward the fire.

She snatched the stick out of the flames and brought it to the table, sliding the meat off the stick and onto a plate. I grabbed a couple of knives and forks from the drawer in the kitchen and placed them on the table.

I grabbed a couple of sodas from the “fridge” and set them on the table, as well. (The fridge doesn’t actually hold anything that needs to be chilled. We mainly use it to store any food we have, and anything would normally need chilled, we eat as soon as possible, because we can’t afford to have the fridge running constantly)

We sat down for dinner. Eating the slightly overcooked meat and sipping the soda. We nibbled on the chocolate afterward, not wanting to eat it all at once, because we didn’t know the next time we’d have any. So we each took a couple of squares and then put the rest in the fridge.

Later that night, as I lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, I thought of my family. It’d been a little over a year since the fire.