Beautiful Disaster

A Story by Dreamgirl23732

Hissing. Spitting. Crackling.

Dad and I initially thought nothing of the peculiar sounds as we sat by the lake in the small clearing that we had stumbled upon a few years ago.

Being one of my favourite places in the world, it held some of my most cherished memories.

As we spoke softly, the odd sounds seemed to approach us quickly, causing us to snap our heads up in confusion.

It was then that we spotted the flames heading in our direction, ripping their way through the forest, quickly closing in on us. It took us mere seconds to snap out of our panicked haze before we began running away frantically. The fire was escalating, closing in on us rapidly. Even tendrils of smoke reached desperately to the sky, as if trying to escape the blazing inferno below. Suddenly, I could feel the flames, hot against my skin �" nipping, licking, caressing.

Just as I began to hear the faint sounds of sirens, a dull thud resonated as dad tripped over a tangled hedge, falling to the ground. He refused my offer for help, promising to join me soon, pleading for me to continue without him.

When the edge of the forest came into sight, I put every ounce of energy that I possessed into sprinting towards it.

It was only when I quickly glanced backwards to see if dad had caught up yet, that I was met with the ghastly sight of flames leisurely enveloping him in their scorching embrace.