The World Belongs To Me

• Sylvia Leung, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

People shielded their eyes. I never did. It glowed through my skin and kissed my heart, the ethereal light swaying in the reflections of my eyes. Warmer than the warmest hug, finer than home on Christmas night. The cackling singing me to sleep like the most exquisite lullaby.
Fire.
My fire.
I never liked my childhood. It felt like I was in the Arctic. The ice was a monster, thinking I was its prey. Cold pierced my hands, held me in a chokehold. My friction-heated hands barely kept me alive. But I knew I’d never be a slave to the snow. I taught myself to melt it all away. I found my weapon.
Flames seemed to cling to me. Perhaps I was a magnet to pretty red treasures. Was there gasoline on my clothes? The chemical perfume made me dizzy. But it was so, so me.
All I wanted was to rule the world.
Everybody look at me.
WHY WON’T YOU LOOK AT ME?
Those words repeated in my head, to the tune of a carol, as I lit my favourite places on fire, sanity slipping away. My conscience was a demon.
Drew nearer, nearer, ‘til my sleeve caught aflame. Oh, it was hot, but never burned. Not because I was fireproof. Because I was fire. And this was my favourite game.
If this were a cult, I’d be the god. Those poor things, too afraid to join me. I must have looked so lonely. But truthfully, I didn’t want anyone to stand in my shadow. I never needed a foil. This light of mine tears down the city lights with graceful ease.
My flames didn’t destroy. They created. I created. What a beautiful world was made, so lively, so bright. A place for me to waltz, maniac smile plastered on my features, face lit by a fresh fire. I stood alone, still do, little tongues of heat surrounding me like a hall of mirrors.
What a sorry sight, everyone laid in the ashes but me. No one ever liked me. Never saw the beauty in me. My sparks were the glitter they never saw. Did they expect me to change my mind and save them from my wrath? After all, only now do they see me. Only now, they know my name. And I want them to scream it.

Say my name.

I heard the pitiful shrieks of pain

Louder

Think smoke almost entirely engulfed the noise, But I heard the chokes and the sobs.

One. More. Time.