Raging Fire

My emotions had always been all over the place, major mood-swings that could fall so low or rise high. Until a few years ago when I finally became happy.

The town I lived in was your typical, picturesque town; cute houses, church, shops, town-square, high school, that kind of thing. The sun was always shining, even during the winter. The grass is perfectly green, sky dazzlingly blue. When it snowed, it was always gentle and pillow-like. It was amazing, really. The church bells always played a beautiful tune on the 30 past each hour, as well as the usual hour marker tunes. The folk who live here are super nice. They’re always smiling, saying hello, helping each other out. I don’t think there had been a day in the last 5 years I haven’t spent smiling.

I was a teacher at the high school, so you’d think I’d have some miserable days, wouldn’t you? But no, every day was wonderful. Even if I woke up from a bad dream, I’d somehow cheer up not long after.

I’d never really wondered why I was always happy, until one day, I had gone to town to get my coffee and bread and came back home to do some housework, when I overheard two neighbours talking. “Morning Eileen!” I stood with my back to the side of my house after hearing, “Is Katy in a good mood today?” I couldn't see either of their faces, but I could hear the way the question was asked. “Morning Barbara. Yes, I believe so.” Eileen responded. She loudly shuffled her feet, then carried on talking, in a hushed tone, “I saw her skipping across the square earlier to the cafe. Looks like we’re in for another good day then.” I stopped and leaned against the wall, trying to make sense of what just happened. Why on earth would they be talking about my mood like that? I thought nothing more of it, as they may have remembered my lows and hoped, for my sake, I'd be happy. But, they had only moved into town 3 years ago, and there was something suspicious about the way they said it. Looks like we’re in for another good day then. It’s not like I taught their children, so why would they say that? I decided to make it my mission to find out.

The next morning, the sun wasn’t shining as brightly as usual, the beautiful blue sky became covered in part with fluffy white clouds. The grass didn’t seem as green. I heard the church bells; they chimed slightly different to normal. I got up to make coffee, and as I poured my second cup from the cafetière, the phone rings. “Hello?” I answered.

“Hi Katy! It’s Sandy, I was wondering if you wanted to come to the pool with us girls today?”

It was a Saturday, so I thought what the hell. “Yeah sure Sandy! What time?”

I heard muttering and then, “Around 10?”

I had already gone to my room to find my bikini before I’d responded with, “See you then!”

So, I went to the pool with the girls. Oh, it was a wonderful day! The sky was the brightest blue I had seen, the sun was gorgeous. It was getting later in the day so I decided to head back home.

After showering, I went for a walk around the town-square to think about what Eileen and Barbara had said the day before. I was walking towards the town hall when I heard a noise. Voices. Talking. I walked closer to realise they were talking about me.

“Folks!! We all agreed to keep Katy happy. We all agreed to not discuss the issue anywhere near her! Eileen, Barbara, how could you almost let that slip?” I heard. It was the Mayor. What issue were they not allowed to discuss? Why? Were they talking about my parents? Tears welled in the corner of my eyes and suddenly, rain fell too.

The buzz from the town hall stopped abruptly. The rain gets heavier matching my tears as the Mayor makes his way to the door to see me, standing there, sobbing my heart out. “Oh no Katy, don’t cry, it’s okay.” He tried to comfort me, but failed epically. I heard the footsteps of the others arrive at the door to see me bawling in the rain.

A few more people try to calm me down before someone shouts, “Just tell her already!”

“Just tell me what?” I screamed. I looked at everyone gathered in front of me, the entire town soaked through, standing in the rain with absolutely terrified looks on their faces.

The Mayor looked like he knew this day would come, “We were trying to protect you, but...” he sighed heavily, blurting out the words, “your emotion controls the weather so we’ve been trying to keep you happy.”

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN AND HIDDEN THIS FROM ME?!”

“... About 5 years,” came a voice from the back of the crowd.

“We wanted to protect you, we thought you knowing this would hurt you. That is the last thing we wanted!” Aria sobbed. She was one of my close friends, one of the girls I had gone to the pool with today.

I felt the rage build up inside me as quickly as the thunderstorm had started. I screamed at everyone, “HOW DARE YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIENDS!”

“We are your friends Katy. We love you, which is why we tried not to burden you with this.” Sandy said, looking like she might burst into tears herself. Aria stood beside her, with her hand on Sandy's shoulder.

All I could hear was betrayal, the voices of people who lied to me consistently for the past 5 years. I could see mouths moving, but things got quieter, until I was teetering on the edge of rage.

This is when the fire started.

It didn’t stop.