When the House Burnt Down

1299 words. Approx 2 A4 pages. A short read.

I loved my house. I really did! Some days I would look around it and a silly grin of pleasure would creep over my face. Some days, I even sang as I wandered about, god help those that could hear me! I had never had a house like this before, and on some level, I was a little convinced it was above my league. I wasn’t quite sure how I managed to get this amazing house, but have it I did, and it was grand! It was everything I ever wanted.

Sure, there were some things I noticed over the years, that made me think something was amiss. In fact, on some days, I was one hundred percent certain something was up, when little things just didn’t seem to work as they should. But you know how it goes... I was so busy enjoying how lovely the good things were, that I shrugged away the clues, doubted my thoughts, and neglected to look deeper at little things that flagged up as potential problems. Things that, in hindsight, were glaring beacons alerting me that there was an issue, (or more), that I was studiously ignoring in the hopes that they would just be alright, or that would simply go away on their own.

 Neglecting to pay attention to the details is literally a killer, as I discovered one sad day, when I noticed just a little bare wire glinting in the wall. It was just a small thing, I know, but I thought, “That doesn’t seem right to me?”

  I am not sure why I was so dogged about investigating such a small flaw in my perfect home. Still, I poked about at this tiny bare wire, which was so small, that I wasn’t even sure I had seen it correctly. My brow furrowed slightly as I considered and investigated it, and whilst I was trying to work out if this was a problem or not, a chunk of plaster fell out of the wall, falling at my feet with a heavy thunk of finality.

 I was quite taken aback! I couldn’t ignore it now! Stepping backwards and looking harder at things, I realised, “This doesn’t look right at all!” Sure enough, the more I looked, and fiddled about, all the more clear it became to me that this wasn’t just a tiny bare patch of wire at all. This was a major problem!

 I wasn’t really sure what to do, truth be told. I hadn’t expected to find this issue at all! It was quite out of the blue! When I tried to find out more about what was going on with the dangerous wiring, I kept having to reconsider what I could see, and I began to doubt my own eyes and understanding. Was this actually dangerous? Or was I just convincing myself it was dangerous, because I have always expected life to bite me on the arse when things were good?

I carried on investigating until I soon came to realise that this wasn’t just a little thing that a spot of insulating tape could fix. Oh no! The whole fucking house was riddled with faulty wiring! All of the danger hidden, out of sight, but there, right next to me. I had a major threat to me, right next to me, day in and day out, without me actually knowing it was so! A horrific discovery, indeed!

The more I looked, the more I found that was of concern, and I couldn’t ignore that this was an unparalleled disaster, that had been hidden from my sight, just under the surface of my pretty home! In the walls of my house were a hidden danger, and right under my very own nose!

Life does always bite me on the arse! Perhaps, I should have left well enough alone!

Whilst I was digging about trying to work out what was what, I somehow managed to grab a handful of wires that suddenly sent surges of electricity thundering through my limbs. The pain of the shock was immense. It sizzled through my blood and veins, almost stopping my heart in the searing surge of electricity. I swear! A lightning strike would have had less of an impact than that of the voltage tearing through me. I knew for sure something was wrong now, didn’t I?!

The shock wasn’t to be the worst of it, though, as I soon found out. The fire came next. An all-consuming flame tore over me, engulfing me. My skin burned away, and my burnt body was left raw. Dark blistered flesh crackled amongst the carbonised surface of naked agony that I had become.

I really thought I was going to die, you know? I screamed and screamed for help, so sure was I that this was the end of me.

The shock itself was bad enough, but this fire was worse. It destroyed me, and everything around me. I mean everything! My lovely home that I thought was so amazing was decimated. Everything I loved was in charred and ashy ruins. Even the things that hadn’t burnt up along with me, were tainted severely with a dark smoky silt from the fire. Nothing would ever be the same again! Even if I was ever in a position to try and salvage anything, it would definitely be permanently tainted with the stains of the fire that razed everything to the ground. I couldn’t actually see anything that could potentially be salvaged. Looking around again, I did think there were a few things I would be able to try and keep, despite the after-effects of the fire clinging to them, but I still knew those things would never actually be the same again.

Tainted; everything was either destroyed or tainted!

The thing is, it wasn’t over for me yet! Not by a long shot! My legs were somehow carbonised, and glued to the floor, and the wires were still stuck in the flesh of my hands. I couldn’t escape without chopping off half of my body. I guess in theory, one might be able to do that, but in reality? No! My brain did race about a lot, trying to work out a way to get away from that which had destroyed me and my home, but I just couldn’t work out how to do so!

That feeling of trapped helplessness burned almost as deeply as the fire that had ravaged me. There was no way I could see to move from the spot where I had been ostensibly incinerated. For a while, I felt frantic, before resigned hopelessness settled in. Neither could I avoid seeing the wreckage all around me. My eyelids were burned away, and I would never be able to close my eyes again! Never would I not see what had happened, and how bad this had become! Those damn wires that had hurt me so much, and yet were melted into the flesh of my hands… I couldn’t escape them. They were still just there, no matter how hard I tried to knock them away from me. Stuck! I was stuck with them!

Every now and then, a surge of electricity bolted through me again, and set my skin aflame, again. Every time I thought it was over, and that the pain would have a chance to recede, the wave of electricity came once more, and I was aflame again, with my heart thundering from the voltage, and my flesh bubbling under the flames that kept re-igniting.

I am still here, right now, you know. Praying for reprieve, glued to the devastated ruins of that which I once loved. Still shuddering under the shock, and burning, over and over, as I catch alight again, and again. And there is no way I can find to escape the wreckage….

© CATHERINE KNEE 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED