u/BisexualCarnival958

The house is on fire. I did that. I didn’t mean for it to happen.



My name is Gabriel Blackwood. I’m ten years old, and I lived in a small town in the desert called Birkad. I was afraid of the dark, so I taught myself fire magic. It’s all wrong. I’m very scared, and I need help. I made a mistake, and I need help because my world burnt down before my eyes. It’s my birthday today, and I want to go home.



I am the second son of Abigail and Beauregard Blackwood. We moved here from Andjema after I was born, and my brother left for school in Falcon Haven last year. My father expected great things from me too. I hope he still does. My mother was a magician, and she taught me some magic when I was younger. My mother taught me to evoke greater forces. I taught myself how to conjure fire.



I don’t like the dark, and I never have. Nothing bad has ever happened, but it doesn’t mean nothing bad won’t happen. The light constructs my mother taught me to create required concentration. I would stay awake for hours until I suddenly woke up in the morning. I only started to sleep peacefully with the fire by me. When my parents found out, they freaked out and told me it was dangerous. Why didn’t I listen? I was so stupid.



I swear it was an accident. I was being more careful after I got burned. I was gathering small bits of paper or other burnable scraps every day, and I kept the fire on a little dish. The light was warm and calming, and I had finally started getting enough sleep. I guess I knocked the dish over in my sleep. I didn’t think I could. I’d been doing this for a few weeks at this point. I should have been more careful.



I woke up that night, surrounded by flames. I screamed for help, but no one came. I just started running. I managed to get out of the house, and I ran to the sheriff for help. The neighbors put the fire out, but the house had already collapsed by the time they got there. I don’t know where my parents are. I don’t know if they made it out of the house. I hope they did. I do hope they’re okay.



I’m going to keep running. I don’t know where I’m going, but I know that I am not afraid of the dark anymore. I can sleep in the dark now, but my dreams are haunted by nightmares of my family’s house burning. I wake in the middle of the night screaming and thrashing, and I hear the roof collapse every time I look at it as much as a candle. I now fear the fire. The dark was mysterious, but the fire is terrifying.