Burn Out- Bella Harris

 All these people want to start fires, they want to start fires so big and so beautiful that they destroy forests and cities, fires blazing so brightly that they could never die. You have to make sure you have the proper fire starting conditions though, some people try to start fires with wet materials, their lighter doesn’t work, they accidentally light themselves on fire, a lot of these people shouldn’t have been making fires in the first place. Who can stop them though, making a fire is free. Two excited fire starters grab their match and get going on the fire, it sparks instantly. The match itself was quite ordinary but these two fire starters got so lucky, the fire grew and grew until she was blazing so brightly it was blinding. The fire starters were adding lots of logs in the beginning, until they had finally realized that this fire didn’t need it, this fire was going to be one that went down in history, this fire was going to destroy anything and everything in her path. The fire starters were so excited about their flame, their big beautiful roaring flame that they were so proud to have created. As the fire grew, she heard praise all her life. “Your flame is so beautiful”. “She’s blinding”. “I bet she could take out all of New York if  she wanted”. What this lucky fire didn’t realize is that she can’t be big and beautiful forever without adding logs, dry grass, cardboard, anything. But she thought she was invincible. And she slowly began to die out, she needed more stuff to burn. She couldn’t survive off of nothing. She always bounced back though, started adding just enough logs and dry grass and cardboard so she never fell in ranks. She had to be respected as the biggest and brightest and most beautifully blinding fire by others because without that part of her there’s no way she’d respect herself. She was nothing without her ever growing flames that would touch the sky one day. Other fires were content with small growth or at their average size, not her. She had to be bigger, she had to blaze so much brighter than the other fires, but she refused to add any sort of fuel until she absolutely needed it. She felt inferior going out to get logs, grabbing dried grass in handfuls to fuel her, she was told she was something special, she shouldn’t need to go out and search for something to feed her flames, and moreover, she really didn’t need to. This fire got away with adding little to no fuel for years and years on end, and no one could tell the difference. She avoided adding fuel to her flames at all costs, but as of late she could really use some. She doesn’t remember how to collect her fuel, and she’s too embarrassed to ask for help. In her downfall she turned to a new type of fuel, but this one didn’t help with her flame problem. Worsened it, if anything. And now she has realized, she isn’t strong and impressive for refusing fuel, she’s a fool who deserved this downfall she had no knowledge was on its way. On it’s way like a tsunami to destroy her. But it wasn’t an attack that tore her down, it was herself. She burnt out and it was her own fault.