This was the piece that I was working on and which I said I would rewrite. Apparently I lied.

[This piece is not eligible to win the challenge.]

Aww, man, that’s harsh.
It’s the same thing in China.
Grah! I can’t judge ‘purpleness’ (although I am entering this challenge tonight) but I love the tone. So matter-of-fact, clinical, detached, the killer blow being so unfeeling – it just gives the reader a chill, or at least it gives that chill to me!!!

Thanks, PJ. This story is based on true events that happened during the War of 1812. This particular event may have been harsh, but it would actually have been a little bit less harsh had the American soldiers showed up when they had threatened to. What I wasn’t able to fit into the story was the snowstorm that came up during the day. Nevertheless, as far as I’m aware, no one died in the incident. In fact, it is recorded that one of the residents was a woman sick in bed, and the soldiers carried her out of the house still in her bed before setting the house ablaze.