Fire
I awoke to the sound of a roaring fire. I snapped awake and rolled out of bed in a panic. I stumbled to the door, choking on the thick noxious fumes of the black smoke. I couldn't see anything through the haze and fire was everywhere. My lungs felt like they were going to burst, causing me to become ever more frantic on getting out. Eyes stinging, I finally made it outside, where I collapsed to the ground and gulped down the fresh, bitter night air.
As my eyes cleared, I realized that my hands were on fire. Screaming, I began to swat my hands about in an attempt to put them out. When it finally went out I noticed that, strangely, my hands were not burned. I stared at them, shocked. As my shock began to wear off, I realized that my parents were nowhere in sight.
“Surely they got out,” I thought to myself.
A whoosh came from the house I called home for fifteen years, as the roof collapsed. I screamed my parents names, hoping that they would stumble out. I came to the dreadful realization that my parents had not come out. I slowly sank to the ground and began to sob. Orphaned and made homeless all in one night, it seemed unbearable. And it was all my fault. I don't know how, but something dark inside of me, something that chilled me to the core, told me that it was my fault. That's when I heard the shouts.
Turning around, I peered through blurred teary eyes, I saw the townspeople run up with water buckets to douse the flames. No one gave me a second look. After several hours, and even more water, they finally acknowledge me.
“What did you do,” Charles the butcher snarled.
“I didn't do anything. I swear,” I gasped. “My parents were still i--”
“Quiet you monster,” someone shouted.
All at once they began to scream and shout at me, telling me that I was responsible for this.
“Stop, please. I didn't do anything.”
They began to crowd around me, growing angrier by the minute. I looked around, hoping to see at least one friendly face, but all that met me were murderous faces.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” I screamed, and with a FWOOSH I was surrounded by flames. I felt the dark feeling inside grow.
Several of the townspeople shouted in both pain and shock. As I watched a few collapsed and did not move. I stared at my hands in fear and astonishment. The knowledge that I was the one who did that scared me.
The townspeople screamed and cowered in fear.
I turned and bolted into the night. The townspeople set up pursuit for some time before falling back and eventually fading away. But the memories would haunt me forever.
Three years later, I was still struggling to come to terms that I was an orphan and an outcast. Everywhere I went I was driven away by the people, in fear and rage. I was forced to live in the wild and fend for myself. I had made friends with the animals in the forest and found a sense of belonging. Even then, it didn't fill the void left from the death of my parents.
I had managed to sneak back into the town and salvage some of my parents belongings. Even though their smell had vanished long ago, it still reminded me of them. I had decided to build a shrine in honor of them. I used a stone and scratched their faces into the wall of the cave I now called home.
Every morning I would go to the edge of the forest, well out of sight of the people, just to watch them go about their daily lives in happiness. I longed to know how that felt. To have friends that were human and accepted me. But no matter where I went, my secret was discovered, and I was called a monster and a murderer. That never stopped me from trying even when things seemed hopeless.
Almost every night I relived that moment my parents were killed. The flames, the smoke and the image of my home burning down were imprinted into my mind forever. I imagined the faces of my parents as they realized that their time was coming to an end. I would often wake up drenched in sweat. And the dark feeling that I felt that night never left me. Even though I knew it was my fire that caused my misery, it came to be like a friend to me.
As a result of my coming to peace with my new found abilities, my dreams were not as troubled. On some nights, I would dream of the life I could have had. I dreamt that my parents were still alive and I had many friends. It would always bring a nice feeling inside of me. Until I woke up, that is. The first few years I would wake up thinking I was back home and then I would realize that I was far from home, and that I would never return.
On cold winter nights, I would have a nice fire roaring, with several of the forest animals huddled around me, having overcome their initial fear of me as well as my fire. I still woke up with my hands aflame, and I had to be careful that I put them out before they got out of control. At first it was hard to start a fire, for every time I did, I was brought back to that horrid night all those years ago. Eventually, I overcame my dread and began to experiment with my strange powers. It started out as little things, such as lighting twigs and dead leaves on fire. Then as I began to get more comfortable with it I expanded on what I could do. I learned that not only could I create fire, but I could also extinguish it and, best of all, control it.
Some nights I would lay and play with the fire. I would make it form shapes and faces and do plays. Those nights made me feel a little less alone. I would make my parents out of the flames and would pretend that I was having a nice family meal with them. Sometimes I would use the flames to create other people my age that I would act as if we were going to play a game or were about to go to school. This would, for a time make, me feel less alone. But the crushing loneliness would always come back as soon as I extinguished the flames.
One night I was awoken by voices. It had been so long since I heard another person's voice that it took me several moments to register what I was hearing. And, despite wanting for so many years to want to hear another’s voice, I was frightened. Until I heard what the voices were saying.
“Are you sure he’s still out here? How do we even know he’s like one of us,” it was a youths voice, full of annoyance, no doubt about being out here at this hour.
“Yes I’m sure. You heard all of the rumors. If he’s out here then we must find him, before someone else with a more sinister agenda does.” This was a kinder, older voice.
“But it’s been four hours with no sign of him. Can’t we just go back home?”
“Have you not seen all of the signs? It looks somewhat just like the Great Calabor back home. Just with out stone and nearly as many scorch marks.”
“If he’s been living on his own since his powers started, and has been able to keep it under control all by himself, then he must be a truly powerful fire mage,” a new voice said, this time a kindly woman.
“Indeed he must be. The most powerful mage yet.”
“Do you really think that he could be the Capril’s son?”
I felt like now was the time to make an appearance. They were already nearly upon me and to try to make an escape now would be futile. I stood up and light a fire in my hand. Startled the trio spun around and each revealed what they themselves could do. The woman’s hand crackled with electricity, while the young man’s hand was steaming with frost. It was the older man who caught my attention. His hand was a swirling black mass of what seemed to be energy.
“What do you want,” I said wearily, my voice gone so long with out use coming out barely as a croak.
“We want to help you,” the old man said. “Stand down you two, we don’t need to frighten him any more.”
The other two reluctantly lowered their hands, ending their flow of magic. The old man followed suite and slowly walked towards me.
“You are a fire mage and we want to help you harness your powers. We are just like you. We don’t want to hurt you.”
“That's what so many people have told me. Right before I would lose control of my powers and hurt someone. Then they all scream the same things as everyone else says. They chase me away calling me monster and murderer. What makes you so different?”
“We are different from everyone else,” the old woman said. “We, like you, have powers that others find frightening. We have a town made up entirely of people like us.”
The old man nodded his agreement. “We haven't had another fire mage since the great Capril died so many years ago. We believe that you are his son.”
“That's impossible. I watched my parents burn to death four years ago in a fire. A fire that I started.”
I was so emotional that my fingertips had started to smolder. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, willing my heart to slow down. It had been so long since I had lost control like that. I'd forgotten how frightening it was.
“You don't understand,” the gangly boy said. “Your parents would have to have some kind of powers in order to have a child with powers.”
“Well maybe I'm different from you too,” I said, my heart racing again, this time in anger that this complete stranger had the nerve to tell me that the people that I had called my parents for fifteen years were not in fact my parents. It was absurd.
“Be that as it may, we are not so different. We can help you control your powers. You can have a family again, no longer be alone. Isn't that what you want,” the old man said, shooting a scalding glare.
I was scared though. I wanted so desperately to have a family and a home again. To have friends once again. To not live alone and as an outcast anymore.
“How can I just go with you? I killed them.”
I fell to my knees and began to sob, overcome by the lose and loneliness. I felt a comforting arm around my shoulders, and I looked up and saw that the old woman had knelt next to me.
“I know it's hard, believe me I do. When I was younger than you are now, I was attacked by some townspeople because they saw me using my powers. I had gotten so frightened that I just lashed out. I killed half of the townspeople. It took me twenty years to get over that. But when I joined these folks here, I learned to better control my powers, and was accepted once again.”
I could feel my resolve begin to crumble. I was so tired of living alone. So tired of having to deal with the pain and lose on my own. But I was still conflicted within myself. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt someone else. They were so nice to me.
"I just don't want to hurt more people," I sobbed. "I've hurt so many people and I just can't trust myself. I can control my powers out here. I've not hurt anyone since I've gotten out here."
"We've all been there. But if you come with us, you can learn to control it with help from other people."
Images of what could have been, what can be, swam before my eyes. Without even realizing it I was saying yes. I looked up at the old woman and smiled, the tears streaming down my face. I was so  relieved to now have a family once again.