Fire. It was all she could see. Climbing the wooden walls, covering the floors, and turning the thatch roof of her family home into ash, raining down onto her. The occasional heavy rafter croaked against the howling of flames.


    She was trapped on the upper floor of her family home. The snapping above her grew from faint to noticeable. The rafter, creaking in the balance, rocking, suddenly toppled towards her. She leapt out of the way barely moments before it crunched against the floor, falling through, leaving behind a gash, a wound in the building. She stumbled, crawled to the fissure in the wood. Through it, she saw Hell itself. The wooden furnishing of the otherwise stone-and-brick-built had created an inferno, with the enclosed, stony space serving as the kiln. Flames licked against the hard clay walls, turning the previously white walls into a puss-gray color.


    A similar snapping to before was heard. This time, below her. the floorboards had been weakened by the high flames, and also by the crushing blow of the fallen rafter.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Crackling. The wood gave out, and she fell into what was, for all intents and purposes, a furnace. Her last sight, as she was falling, were piles of scalding embers and ash, laying on the floor.


    It felt as if it would be better if she were born without her eyes. Because they’d reminded him of her mother, her father always said he liked their deep blue color. But she’d far prefer sparing herself the burning agony of her pupils being touched by embers and ash. And as her eyes were sizzling, she realized that her crying made it no better. It was as if her tears were fizzling out before they could attempt to cleanse the burning out of her eyes.


    And the smoke. The smoke made her light-headed. She was about to pass out. She needed to get out, she knew that. Blinded, feeling around, she lost strength in her knees and fell to the floor.


    As her consciousness was taking to the backstage, Edith began remembering some of her past experiences. Was it her life flashing before her eyes? Was this really the end of her tale?


    Her mind flipped through all the memories of living with her father in that home, which is now soon to be charred ruins. In her last moment before blacking out, she heard a muffled shout:


    “There’s one more in here!”