The Siren Call of Fire (standard:horror, 735 words)
Author: LadyofMistyFog	Added: Jul 18 2003	Views/Reads: 3424/4	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Look deep into the flame, see the blue spirit dancing in the middle? Yes, look closer, for you must know what shall now terrorize your dreams.

Becky sat in the cold sand, enraptured with the flickering flames of the
campfire. The adults around her were talking, but she didn't really 
listen to them. Rather, she tuned them out and listened to the loud 
crackles and hisses of the dancing fire before her. Occasionally, she 
would come out of her trance merely to seek out a piece of wood to add 
to the ravenous beast. This was always how she spent her nights at the 
dunes, adoring the fire, wishing with all her might that she could just 
step into the fire and be the fire. 

But tonight, she heard something different inside the usual lingo of the
flames, a soft whispering, as if not one, but many tiny voices were 
chattering softly to each other. She looked around, to see if she was 
the only one who heard the strange noise, and of course, she was. With 
some hesitance, she leaned even closer to hear the sound, and with a 
loud pop, a spark flew upon her cheek. Almost tumbling into the fire in 
her surprise, she slapped painfully at the searing spot, succeeding in 
only adding to the sharp pain. 

But in that moment, she had unmistakebly heard, "Get the girl!" Her
heart beat faster and she pulled back from the edge, not so enamored 
with the flames. Once more she looked around to see if anyone else had 
heard the voice, but she knew she was alone in this experience. Again, 
she listened to the crackles, but the voices were silent. Perhaps she 
had just imagined it and she began to relax again. One by one, the 
others got up until only two others remained in her company. 

That was when the voices again began to whisper, speaking excitedly over
each other, each trying to be heard, but all still too muddled to be 
heard clearly. She didn't lean any closer least she again be hit by a 
shot from the fire. She wasn't entirely sure that the shot hadn't been 
on purpose. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of her companions 
nod off to sleep, his head touching his chest. The din of the firey 
voices got slightly louder, enough for her to catch the words, "Fire", 
"Girl", and "Come". Her eyes left the warm glow and looked at her 
friend, Jeff, who was the last one awake. He caught her eye and smiled. 


"Hey Pyro, you can stay out here and play with the fire all night long
but I'm off to bed," he rose and fear swelled in her chest. He couldn't 
leave her, if he did, the voices would be able to be heard. She didn't 
want to hear the voices, she didn't want to know what they had to say. 
But she couldn't very well tell him that, he would think she was crazy, 
and she had no idea how to convey her desire for him to stay without 
sounding off her rocker. So, she just mumbled a goodnight then turned 
her full focus back to the fire that seemed to stretch for her. 

The voices didn't increase their pitch, as she had expected, but stayed
at the same volume. Her body began to wind down, and her eyes began to 
droop, it was time for her to head off. She stretched almost lazily, 
realizing how cramped she was from sitting in the sand. Then the voices 
were suddenly screaming, seeming to explode into a full vent of sound. 
With a look of absolute terror, she gazed into the fire, and saw a hand 
of burning flames reaching out towards her. She leapt up to run, but 
didn't even get a step taken forward when she felt the heat close in on 
her. 

Bryant awoke from his sleep on the chair, when a piercing scream, near
him, shattered his rest. He looked about quickly, when his eye caught 
the flame. He stared closer because for a moment, he would have sworn 
he saw Becky receding into the flames, her arms outstretched to him and 
her mouth pleading for rescue. But surely he must still be waking up 
because that wasn't possible. He rose from the chair, stretched, and 
cast a look around just in case he did see something. But there was 
nothing and he was sure the scream was from a dream, and with that, he 
went to bed. 


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