Home Fires Novels & Stories

My hand grips my phone so hard, I fear it might crack. Andrei walks into the room with a tablet in his hands. "You should see this" He says as he hands the tablet to me. I take it and begin to read the news displayed on it. Two of the Italian mafia owned hotels just exploded, taking hundreds of lives in it, The headline read. Above the headline is the picture of the buildings burnt to the ground. The air leaving my nostrils feels hot against my skin. I'm practically seething.

Tres fretted. “Just grab your coat, let’s go!” Tres hurriedly threw his arms into a hoody, muttering, “Okay, okay.” He opened the door and they dashed into the hallway. At the end of the corridor, James could see softly flickering orange lights; the fire was burning somewhere below. He stole a quick glance towards the lounge and saw flames building through the glass door. That end too? In that brief moment of hesitation, he couldn’t help but wonder why the alarms had not gone off yet. He shook it off and turned to Tres. “We need to get as many out as we can, got it?” Tres swallowed back his fear and nodded.

I didn't even know how I let it slide for the first time ,then she got the nerve to do it again ,well fuck that ,I fired her. I rolled out my king sized bed , putting on my slippers as I made my way towards the bathroom..Stripping off as I got in the shower and turned on the warm water and started to wash myself..After I was done and even lotioned ,I put on my black Kelvin Clein sports bra with matching briefs and wrapped a towel around my waist before walking out the bathroom..Looking on my bed I found my dark green Italian suit placed there with a white shirt ,my rolex watch ,a leather belt and the suade dress shoes placed on the bank in front of the bed..I groaned annoyingly..I really hat

CALLIE The third fire this week. The third fire I’d caused in my apartment complex this week. All because the sight of him in his firefighter uniform with his muscles flexing was a turn-on for me. I touched myself to the memory every night. “Sir, apartment 3B… my kitchen is on fire,” I said, touching his bicep and fighting the urge to run my fingers on it. The neighbors were rushing out of their rooms as the firemen stopped the fire.

I said to him and he nodded at me. “Fire, blue fire works best for witches, it starts to burn them from the inside,” he said to me. “I’ve never used blue fire before, just green and red,” I said to him. “It works basically the same, but I’ll teach you the words. I’ve never used them, because I don’t want to feel the burning afterwards, you should really consider not doing it,” Bryan said to me. “If the option is there not to use it, I won’t. Last time wasn’t so nice,” I said to him and he laughed at me.

I am unable to look away, although I really don’t want to see what happens either. Her nostrils flare, and an inferno of red fire shoots out of her mouth. A blood curdling scream erupts from my father upon impact, causing a shiver to run down my body. Our father was many things – but he was no pussy. For him to be screaming like that, it must be absolutely excruciating.

Then everything changed in one night. The fire started in the kitchen due to faulty wiring, the investigators said later. By the time the smoke detectors screamed us awake, flames had already consumed half the first floor. Jake got me out through the back door, both of us coughing, barefoot, in pajamas. Our parents were traveling for their anniversary, thank God, so it was just us standing on the lawn in the dark, watching firefighters battle the blaze that used to be our home. Jake’s phone rang while we waited for the all-clear to go back inside for anything salvageable.

I stumbled out of the car before it had fully stopped, my breath catching as I took in the sight of flames consuming my house, the firefighters dousing them with powerful streams of water. Mrs Reynolds appeared at my side, her face pale and tear-streaked. “Callie, I’m so sorry. I…I tried to save what I could, but…” I shook my head, unable to form words. My house. My memories. Everything was gone. A firefighter approached, his expression somber. “Are you the homeowner?” I nodded, my voice catching in my throat. “The fire’s under control now, but the damage is extensive. It looks like it started in the kitchen, possibly an electrical fault.”

And the fire was caused by the homeowners themselves. It was truly unbelievable. After the firefighters left, Harriet threw herself into Delbert's arms. "Delbert, it was so scary. I thought our home was going to be lost!" She sobbed with tears streaming down her face blackened with soot. "Am I useless?" "Don't cry, darling. It was just a momentary slip, and besides, I was there with you." Delbert consoled her gently, glancing at his now unrecognizably burnt billion-dollar-worth villa.

Didn't she know that their master could end her life in the matter of seconds when he was angry? One year ago, on a pitch-black night, the Leves family was sleeping soundly. Someone had set off a huge fire and burned the entire Leves residence. That night, the firefighters arrived only when the fire had burnt through the whole house. By then, almost all of the Leves family members were burnt to death. Only the three of them managed to escape.