Alternate Ending To Build A Fire
“Burn, burn, burn!”
Like the throbbing of a dark heart, the chant drummed the crowd into a frenzy. Their howls slammed into the black and white walls of the houses that leaned into the old marketplace. Relentlessly, they hammered on and mingled with the heated air that shimmered eover the mass of coifs, hats and fists.
A greyish haze rose, separating Rosy from the sweating mob, like ground fog rising on a winter’s day. But this was the height of summer, and this mist travelled on the stinking fumes of the fire. It blocked the sight, but not the sound, and sent fingers of searing heat towards the heavens where swallows cavorted in the summer skies.
Their sapphire blue was mocking her. Not for her the freedom. Not for her the escape.
The …show more content…
I’m here.
Rosy wanted her friend to live, but willed her to die. The writhing body stilled. On that mask of soot and terror, a smile cracked. A smile!
Had Rosy’s gift reached her friend?
As if in answer, the face slackened, the eyes closed and the body convulsed one final time, then slumped into the ropes, towards the greedy lancets of the fire that rose around her.
Mercifully, the smoke once more clouded the scene, frustrating the crowds who raged and howled at missing such an enticing part of the show.
Bile rose in Rosy’s throat, scouring it raw. It was over, she had to leave.
The howling of furies in her ear, Rosy doubled over, waves of nausea rolling over her.
She had to run, escape now, or she would be found out!
A cough tickled her throat, all moisture had been sucked into the fiendish heat. After swallowing twice, Rosy gave up and carefully minced her steps over the loose rocks, until she reached the broken stairs she had climbed up on. Gingerly, she descended, one step after the other, until the soles of her slippers hit solid ground.
Now, she would have to get out of Marlborough, find the copse where she had tethered Molls and return—not home. That Avebury was no
Like the throbbing of a dark heart, the chant drummed the crowd into a frenzy. Their howls slammed into the black and white walls of the houses that leaned into the old marketplace. Relentlessly, they hammered on and mingled with the heated air that shimmered eover the mass of coifs, hats and fists.
A greyish haze rose, separating Rosy from the sweating mob, like ground fog rising on a winter’s day. But this was the height of summer, and this mist travelled on the stinking fumes of the fire. It blocked the sight, but not the sound, and sent fingers of searing heat towards the heavens where swallows cavorted in the summer skies.
Their sapphire blue was mocking her. Not for her the freedom. Not for her the escape.
The …show more content…
I’m here.
Rosy wanted her friend to live, but willed her to die. The writhing body stilled. On that mask of soot and terror, a smile cracked. A smile!
Had Rosy’s gift reached her friend?
As if in answer, the face slackened, the eyes closed and the body convulsed one final time, then slumped into the ropes, towards the greedy lancets of the fire that rose around her.
Mercifully, the smoke once more clouded the scene, frustrating the crowds who raged and howled at missing such an enticing part of the show.
Bile rose in Rosy’s throat, scouring it raw. It was over, she had to leave.
The howling of furies in her ear, Rosy doubled over, waves of nausea rolling over her.
She had to run, escape now, or she would be found out!
A cough tickled her throat, all moisture had been sucked into the fiendish heat. After swallowing twice, Rosy gave up and carefully minced her steps over the loose rocks, until she reached the broken stairs she had climbed up on. Gingerly, she descended, one step after the other, until the soles of her slippers hit solid ground.
Now, she would have to get out of Marlborough, find the copse where she had tethered Molls and return—not home. That Avebury was no