Circus of Ashes

PROLOGUE

RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ

How do you feel when everything is falling apart and you’re only watching, and you can’t do anything about it? I was a mere 10-year-old, in front of my home which erupted in flames. A splendid collusion of colors, an explosion of hues. Such a beautiful scenery yet deadly and lethal. Feeling hopeless, I stood watching the disaster and everything I had known for so long being devoured by the yellow tongues of flames. Sirens of ambulances and car cops surrounded me. I was numb. Almost lost in the world between reality and imagination. Waiting for my father outside the tent, his words were still ringing in my head

“Son, I will be back soon!”

But soon never came.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, brown eyes were staring into my green ones. It was a police officer who tried ushering me and guiding me toward a cop cab away from the fire. I refused to move as I was immobile, my eyes still fixed in front of me.

I was so lost in thoughts that I wasn’t aware that two officers were practically dragging me until the view of my home retreated in front of my eyes. My pupils dilated as the realization hit me. I came back to my senses and freed myself from their grip. Everything around me went in a slow motion while I was at my peek speed dodging the cars to get back in time to save my father.

My heart was thudding loudly in my chest as the fall breeze was hitting my face and adrenaline coursed in my body. Looking back, the cops were chasing me. After a short pursuit, I stood in front of our tent. The cops stood in half circle leaving a safe space of two meters between us. They were pleading me with their eyes to not come near the fire. Brushing off the uneasy feeling, I broke eye contact with them and took a brave step towards danger.

With not a moment of hesitation, I faced the tent’s entrance.

Glancing behind me one last time, I took a step back. The officers sighed in relief when they saw what I did. I gathered whatever strength I had and lunged toward the entrance of the tent, ducking my head and making sure I avoided the fire while closing my eyes.

Saying that the officers were shocked was an understatement. They almost had their eyes bulging out of their socket. I would’ve laughed at their sight if we were in a comic book, but this was reality, a life and death situation.

Inside the tent was an entire catastrophe. Everything around me was utter chaos and mess. Documents were scattered all over the ground almost turning to ashes and shrapnel of wood covered it too. I tried avoiding them as I stepped further.

I scanned the place for any other damages. The ceiling was totally blown out and the night sky was on full display. The stars illuminated the pitch-black sky. In the meantime, the smoke leaked covering a massive portion of the sky and made my breathing difficult.

I coughed profoundly. I stopped when my eyelids felt heavy and started closing a bit. The firefighters fill up the place, their eyes wandering over definitely searching for me. I fell producing a loud thump to the ground. In a matter of second, one of them was kneeling in front of me securing me and carrying me in his arms as he told me to hang on while the silent killer took over me and took me back to his land. Unconsciousness.