Fire Falls (standard:fantasy, 1876 words)
Author: Julia	Added: Jan 23 2011	Views/Reads: 5676/1974	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
I had to write this for English--what do you think?

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

This was a late summer's night, when the trees were still green and the
air was still hot this late. Timothy's white T-shirt made it clear that 
he wasn't expecting to be followed, and Caroline was thankful for it, 
because at times even with the white guideline she wasn't sure where he 
was. When he turned to the woods, Caroline felt a slight confusion 
enter her thoughts. She had expected him to go to some house, and a 
girl would open the door. She would be kind of sleepy-looking as it was 
so late, but her face would turn to delight as she saw who it was, and 
she would usher him inside with a smile. So entering the trees with 
their thick branches didn't make much sense to Caroline. She continued 
following, stepping carefully so as to avoid making a sound. She was 
sure that it would be awkward-at the least-if he discovered her here. 
Her attention was sharply brought to the center of the field that 
Timothy had just stepped in. A dim, orange light had begun to glow 
there, pulsing lightly. Timothy took a few sure steps toward it, and 
then she heard his voice. He began to chant something, something that 
Caroline didn't understand, words that she had never heard before. The 
orange light had a burst of brightness, and then it dimmed again. With 
the light Caroline had seen a glimpse of Timothy's face, filled with 
excitement and adrenaline. His coal black eyes stared into the depths 
of the light as his voice continued on in this strange language. All at 
once, fire erupted from the spot in the field. Caroline gasped, and 
immediately covered her mouth with her hand. Timothy's olive skin had 
taken on a reflective quality, and the fire seemed to dance upon him. 
His voice boomed out again, and suddenly more figures appeared, 
surrounding the center of the field with the fire. Some were small, or 
hunched over slightly so they looked smaller than they were. Others 
were taller, some standing stick-straight with a sense of importance. 
Every face was indistinguishable, shrouded by the darkness that their 
hoods cast. Caroline watched in a mixture of awe and horror as they 
began chanting with Timothy, all voices working together to create one 
thing. And then all at once, the chanting stopped. The air stood still. 
Caroline held her breath. And then, slowly, something seemed to appear 
in the flicker of the flames, taking shape inside of it. The flames 
became a face, or something like one. The eyes weren't in the right 
place, and the mouth spat fire. 

It began to speak, and its voice was high and deep at the same time,
like two voices were speaking together. It spoke in what seemed to be 
the language that the figures had used to conjure it. It spoke slowly, 
surely, its voice imprinting in Caroline's brain. She would remember 
this voice for as long as she lived. She was so transfixed by the fire 
burning and twisting that she wasn't on guard at all. Suddenly Timothy 
was by her side. “What are you doing here?” he said. His voice was not 
at all friendly. 

Caroline gasped. “I...I just...” she stammered. 

Timothy pulled her into the circle. He said something that Caroline
didn't catch, perhaps that in that language again. All heads turned 
toward her, focusing. An icy feeling clutched at Caroline's chest, and 
then spread throughout the rest of her body. Timothy addressed her 
again. “We have a job for you,” he told her. Nothing like the regular 
voice he used with her. It was more rough; severe. “We need you to kill 
your brother.”-- 

. 

Caroline now shook herself back to reality. She felt tears forming in
her eyes but angrily blinked them away. She refused to follow Timothy's 
orders, no matter what that meant for herself. She wouldn't sacrifice 
her brother's life, especially not for the devil-worshippers or 
whatever they were. And she knew that today would have to be the day. 
She didn't know how she knew, but Caroline could feel it in her very 
bones. 

. 

Later that day, Caroline confronted her brother. She didn't know why she
hadn't thought of it earlier, but now she told him every last detail. 
He listened in grim silence, his dirty blonde hair falling over his 
amber-colored eyes. When she was done, he shook his head. "They didn't 
plan well enough, obviously," he told her. "Because they're right, I am 
dangerous...to them. And they didn't stop you from telling me, so 
that's good news, at least for you and me." 

"Why are you dangerous to them?" Caroline asked. She looked at her
brother curiously, almost afraid. Was everyone hiding things from her? 
Her brother didn't look very dangerous, really. Except, she supposed, 
his tanned arms were rather muscular, but what was he going to do, 
strangle them to death? Besides, she was sure other people in town were 
stronger than him, so why did they choose him out of everybody else? 

"I am the ice to their fire," he responded simply. "I can easily put
them out." 

. 

It seems that everything of importance always happens at night. Indeed,
that was now the case, as well. Caroline walked out the door, onto the 
abandoned street. Her boots kicked up the autumn leaves as she made her 
way to the entrance of the forest. Silently, her brother followed, a 
good distance behind her. She found the water of the lake, and she 
stood in front of it. "Timothy," she called softly, her voice quivering 
slightly. She waited. 

A shadow appeared close to her, and took a couple steps closer.
"Caroline?" He inquired. He looked almost human again. Almost, but not 
quite. Caroline knew better than to believe that. 

"I...I can't believe I did it," she said, a sob escaping from her
throat. She thought of her stupidity, believing his love. She couldn't 
believe she had loved such a monster. She couldn't believe she had 
followed him out of fear that he was cheating on her. She couldn't 
believe she brought her brother this close to danger. 

"You did it?" Timothy asked, his tone exuberant. "How? Tell, tell all!"
He danced around childishly; disgustingly. And suddenly things happened 
very quickly. A rush of wind, a splash of water, a thin form of flame, 
a yell, a crunch, and a slam. Timothy was on the ground, and he had a 
slight layer of water on him, or something wet. He seemed to be 
shrinking, or maybe it was just Caroline's imagination.... He shriveled 
like a raisin, looking like paper burning in a fire. At last his body 
was still, and Caroline and her brother watched in silence. A small 
form rose up out of Timothy's body, and flitted above it for a second. 
It was a dark fairy, freed from its prison, able to fly free. Caroline 
shuddered and walked home with her brother. 


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