I could try to run. But it wouldn’t work. To do that I would have to push through the enthusiastic crowd that had gathered and escape the latching and frantically grabbing of cruel hands, I would have to get past the first circle of people around me. It would be impossible. 

They all revealed in my defeat, my capture, ignoring the cries of misery and crimson cheeks of sorrow that my face adorned. They were going to kill me, and they loved it. Heavy feet walked closer, and some part of me knew that he hauled a bucket of water. My imminent death was approaching swiftly, but I kneeled there, wounded hands grabbing at the ground, unable to do anything. 

I shuddered at it. I despised everything about this kingdom. I barely had a moment to draw in a shallow breath before the burning substance severely hit my skin. There was a terrific roar of genuine delight, easily drowning out the unmistakable sounds of my pained screams, the air thick and alight with frequent lightning and thrill. Everything burned fiercely. 

My frail body on fierce fire, a candlelit within as I was severely burned from the inside out. It seeped through my skin, my flesh, into my veins. My head is pulsed. Skin hotter than the brilliant sun. I couldn’t breathe. It squeezed my lungs. Considerable pain wrapping its cruel claws around my lungs. My scream fell on deaf ears. The roar of delight growing more thundering as my skin turned red. 

I would do anything to miraculously escape this. Laughter echoed through the town as my pleas come out of the prison of my mind, mouth cracked and bleeding, and the taste of blood metallic heavy on my tongue. Arms terribly shaking I tried desperately to furtively wipe the water away, screaming as it merely pushed the water deeper and father into my veins. Each second it grew closer to my heart, everything burning, nothing but incredible pain and nothing but fire. 

A power filled my veins, and I gasped, water trailing down my open mouth and into my lungs. I sputtered, clawing desperately at my hoarse throat. My veins horribly burned, sore heart pounding furiously. My ears perceived nothing but a dull roar, eyes burning. I screamed hysterically, and screamed, throat raw. 

I felt lighter. Freer. An extraordinary lightness settling in my heart and head. Something else was happening, something that wasn’t meant to. 

Was this death? Was it finally going to take me away? 

At that time the pain stopped. Burn marks left on my arms in eccentric trails. My ragged clothes burned away red and marred skin exposed the frigid air, hair dripping water onto my skin and the ground around me. My chest heaved as I gasped in air, staring in nervous shock as the terrible burns slowly faded into my skin miraculously disappearing. The air was faint and fierce, none daring to breathe.

“What’s happening?” a voice whispered. No one answered, no one knew. 

By Cristina Collazo