No one knew there was a phoenix nest nearby. Or that today was the day of their rebirth.

No one knew.

Later, it would all seem poetic. A thousand fire birds die and then plume back to life in an explosion of flames, while the fire draws death closer to my sister. Life, death, life and death again.

I lost so much. There is nothing to blame except nature. And that is not something I can defeat. When I look back, I know there was nothing I could do. She told me to go. She told me to leave her before we both became trapped. I’ll never forget the sounds. Her screams were louder than the roar of destruction.

A month later I returned. The forest, next to the drooping splinters of my home, was a picture cast in gloom. I sifted through pools of ashen plastic for awhile, before deciding to look elsewhere, taking from the wreckage a key I had never seen before. It felt like an omen; there was something I had not yet seen.

Near the nest, I found more. A single wet match.

Hate flowed through me.