• ~'Dark.........It's so dark. Where am I?' The darkness fades leaving only a scene of a small town. 'Home! I'm home!' A boys voice echos. 'Everything's okay!' Suddenly the scene shatters. Only fires and black smoke remain to be seen. The smell of burning flesh hovers like Death himself.
    “What did you do?!” A husky voice shouts in the darkness. The boy trembles, tears brimming to the surface. “I-I didn't mean to! I-i” The man steps forward and grabs the boys shoulders. He gave him a rough shake. “Tell me! What did you do?!” The tears spill over. “I'm sorry! It was an accident!”
    Walls are falling and their crashes sound into the night. A large flaming wooden beam falls. Landing with a deep thump on the man. The boys eyes are wide with terror. His tears are tainted black with ash. Biting his lip, he turn his trembling body and runs out the house. “You! You did this! You've damned us all!” The ash laden people of his town shouted as he streaks past. “Why?!” Their voices reach his ears but he doesn't stop.
    The boy kept running. Even if he fell, he'd just get up and go again. 'My fault! They're dead and it's my fault!' He screamed. His vision was blurred by his tears, and his eyes still burned from the smoke and fire. 'It was an accident!' He cried out. Everything faded black again. And the boy was alone again. In the darkness. 'I didn't want this!' He screamed into the darkness.
    “Dear child,” A deep menacing voice echoed. “You did want this. You begged for this to happen.” The boy covered his ears with trembling hands. 'NO! No I didn't!' To golden eyes opened behind him, and a large blood chilling smile appeared bellow them.
    “But you did! You did child! You pleaded! You wished for this!” The boy's eyes were wide in terror as he heard his voice begin to echo. “I wish you all would just burn! I wish you would just burn to death!” Tears fell faster, and his shaking became faster.
    'You're lying! I-I couldn't have said that!' He cried out in false hopes and rapped his arms around himself. He knew that is was true. He had said the when a group of older boys had jumped him and taken a branding iron of a crescent moon to his left shoulder.
    The deep voice roared in laughter. “There's nothing to be afraid of.” The boy lifted his head. An invisible force pulling the ribbon that tied the boy's long white hair back. His hair fell and seemed to encase his shoulders in an illusion of snow.
    'Why?' He asked. “Why?” The voice repeated in a hushed tone before it roared in laughter again. The laughter slowly faded out existence.