The Art of Burning

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Beautiful? Are you blind? That is Blackwood Manor, Elias. This place is hell. We gotta go. Now."

"Don't look at the smoke. Look at the color. See that blue streak right in the middle of the flame? Right by the window frame."

"I don't care about the blue. It is hot. My face feels like it is melting. Where is the exit? Smoke is too thick. I can't see a thing."

"That ain't normal fire. It is gas. I mixed some chemicals on the drapes earlier. Copper chloride. That is why it burns blue. Like the ocean. Only burning."

"You did this? You burned the house down?"

"I didn't burn it. I just sped up the process. This house collapsed years ago, Marcus. You are the only one who still sees it standing."

"What are you talking about? These walls are solid. They are hot. Where is the front door key? This knob won't turn."

"Don't bother turning it. That knob doesn't exist. You are just imagining it because you want to get out."

"You are crazy. I am holding the knob right now. It feels cold. Wait. Why is the knob cold if the fire is raging?"

"Because you are scared. When you get scared, blood leaves your fingers. Listen to that. Hear that sound?"

"Sirens? The fire department?"

"No. Listen closer. Pop. Pop. Pop. That isn't wood cracking. That is a clock ticking. Time is up."

"Please. I don't wanna die here. I got a wife and kid, Elias. Sarah is only five."

"Sarah? Marcus, Sarah is in college. She started last month. You forgot?"

"Liar. I took her to kindergarten this morning. Don't mess with my head."

"Your memory is jumbled. Carbon monoxide does that. Or maybe you just don't want to accept the truth."

"What truth? Help! Anybody out there! Help!"

"Scream all you want. But nobody can hear you. House has been empty for ten years. Neighbors say it is haunted. Maybe tonight they are right."

"I'm breaking this mirror. I'm throwing this chair through it."

"Throw it. But look at the chair. Your hand went right through it, didn't it?"

"What. Why can't I grab the chair? Why is my hand... why is my hand transparent?"

"Because you are fading, Marcus. This fire isn't burning your body. It is burning your ego. Burning the parts of the world you are holding onto too tight."

"No. Impossible. I feel the heat. My shirt is soaked."

"Mind games. Guilt feels hot. Remember that night? The night it rained on Blackwood Hill?"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it."

"You were driving too fast, Marcus. You wanted to get home to Sarah. But the tires slipped."

"Shut up! Cough. This smoke. My eyes sting."

"Get low. Don't look for oxygen. Look for your lost memories. This Persian rug. Remember it? This is the same rug from your car floor mats. Blood red."

"Why are you doing this to me? We are best friends, Elias. You were in the car too."

"Yeah. I was right next to you. That is why I am here now. I have been waiting for you, Marcus. Waiting for you to wake up."

"Wake up from what? We aren't dead. I feel pain. My leg hurts."

"Pain is just trauma residue. Look at the ceiling. Look at the black smoke rolling. Looks like a tunnel, right? People talk about the light at the end of the tunnel. They don't talk about the fire guarding the entrance."

"Ceiling is sagging. Move!"

"No need to run. Let it fall. Let it crush us. We won't feel a thing. We will just wake up somewhere else."

"You are a devil."

"Maybe I am your angel of death. Or maybe I am just the voice in your head trying to make peace. Hey, look at my grandfather's portrait on the wall. That face. That isn't my grandfather. That is your face, Marcus. Your face after the impact."

"Can't breathe. Chest hurts. Feels like a steering wheel is crushing me."

"Because a steering wheel is crushing you. Three hours ago. Firefighters are cutting the car apart down at the bottom of the hill. But your soul... your soul ran up here. To this old house. Because you didn't want to admit you were gone."

"Help. Elias. I am scared."

"Don't be scared. How do you put out the sun, Marcus? We are small. Dust. Look at the crystal chandelier. Swinging. Firelight reflecting in the glass. Like ambulance lights, right?"

"Falling! Chandelier is falling!"

"Woah. Look at those sparks. Beautiful. Like the fireworks on New Year's Eve. When you promised you wouldn't speed anymore."

"My feet. My shoes feel hot. But why can't I see my feet?"

"Because your feet are still pinned in the car. Only your consciousness is here. And this fire. This fire is the truth chasing you down."

"I am begging you. If I am really dead... why does it hurt so much? Why is it so real?"

"Because hell isn't a place, Marcus. Hell is denial. As long as you don't accept it, the fire will burn you. Over and over again."

"I don't want to. I want to go home to Sarah."

"You can't go back. But you can go forward. Let go. Let go of the steering wheel."

"I am not holding a wheel. I am holding your hand."

"Look at my hand. Really look. Do you see fingers? Or do you see charred bone?"

"ARGH! Your hand! You are a skeleton!"

"Everyone is a skeleton under the skin. Tonight we are naked. No skin. No masks. Honest."

"Crazy. This is a nightmare."

"Nightmares don't hurt like this. Stare at the fire licking the sofa. See the movement? It isn't dancing. It is beckoning. It is saying 'Come home'."

"My eyes hurt. Can't see anything. Just red."

"Good. Old world is fading. Focus on the red. Let it swallow you."

"Two minutes left? You said two minutes?"

"Time doesn't exist here. Two minutes could be two hundred years. Who knows how long you have been repeating this dialogue with me?"

"Repeating? We have said this before?"

"Hundreds of times. Every time the house burns, every time you scream, every time the roof collapses... you forget. And we start over from 'Beautiful, isn't it?'."

"No. No way."

"Do you want to stop? Do you want out of the loop?"

"YES! I WANT OUT!"

"Then stop fighting. When the main beam snaps in a second... don't scream. Don't be afraid. Accept it. Say 'I am ready'."

"Noise. Sirens. Very faint."

"That is the siren of the living world. Far away from us. Let them do their job. We have our job."

"My hands. Can't feel my hands."

"Because you are letting go. Good. Keep going."

"Mom. Forgive me, Mom."

"She hears you. Believe me, she hears. Oxygen to the brain is gone. Feel light?"

"Feel. Feel like I am floating."

"There it is. Gravity gave up. Elias... why are you smiling?"

"Because this time, I think you made it. This time you didn't scream for Sarah. You called for Mom."

"Your back. Are those wings? Why is the fire on your back shaped like wings?"

"Because I am not your friend, Marcus. Your friend Elias is safe. He crawled out of the car. He called 911. I just came to pick up the passenger."

"Argh! Wood falling! But... but it doesn't hurt. Went right through me."

"Because you are smoke now. Smoke doesn't feel pain when wood hits it."

"Bright. Why is it so bright? Where is the fire?"

"Fire finished its job. It burned the wall separating us. Now... walk forward. Don't look back."

"Vision is white. Clean."

"There we go. You arrived. Look up, Marcus. Roof is open. Not seeing the sky. Seeing a door."

"Elias. Are you coming?"

"I have to wait here. Might be another lost soul wandering up to this house tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"Go on. One. Two. Three."

"..."

"Beautiful."