He Took Fire

• Matt Shaw, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2015

The burning scent of the house smelt like the petrol in my car every day. Nobody could see anything. That's when a gush of wind intercepted through my family and tore them apart from me. I turned to see if my family was alright but as I looked I was alone, nobody standing by me, I was lost. I searched around for anything that would help me find my family but everything was burnt to ashes.
There were no clues to help me find anything or anyone until I heard a scream. It echoed through the smoky air. I followed the echo of the scream to find my sister lying on the floor with her hands gripped tightly around her neck. I cried and cried over my sister but it didn't make it any better so I stood up. I said goodbye but as I started to turn, I saw a piece of parchment rolled up in her hand. It was a pain to get her hands apart but eventually I did.
The parchment was blank apart from a few symbols down in the corner of the page. I guessed it had been burnt as well as everything else I could find. I tried to follow the trail of steps my sister had taken but another gush of wind occurred. The dust and small rocks of the road flew into my eyes and the trail of footsteps had disappeared. I looked for anything else stuffed in her pockets and I found something. A goo. A yucky looking, green goo. I touched it and held it as I collapsed to the floor as everything went black.
I woke to hear a scream of a familiar voice hoping it wasn't any other person from my family. I followed the echo once again to find my mother lying on the floor with a confused look on her face.
"Mother, mother. Can you hear me? MOTHER?" I screamed. I wondered how she could have died when no blood was spilling from her. I realised another thing. My mother was laying the same way as my sister with another sheet of parchment and again it was blank with the same few symbols that was on the one my sister was holding so I wondered who would be next! I checked her pockets as well and as I had suspected, there was the same goo in her pocket. Then I noticed! The goo wasn't goo, IT WAS BLOOD! I quickly raced away so I could try and get out of the fire and the dust and rocks of the road. But the whole thing was surrounded by flames! I looked around and I saw a shadow. I got closer and I saw the darkness in its eyes so I ran and ran but I couldn't outrun it and this time I was on the floor. I saw nothing but the shadow's eyes as I rested my head to sleep.