THIS IS A STORY

by _NAME_


Story Twenty-Three

One night, the stallion woke from his sleep with a start.

He sat up in bed, unsure what had woken him at first, but then was met with the acrid smell of smoke and burning.

In a flash, he leaned over and switched on the lamp, and noticed a thin layer of smoke blanketing the ceiling of his bedroom, trickling in from the open doorway.

A sense of dread settling in his stomach, the stallion leapt out of his bed and ran over to the door, only to see the hallway beyond completely consumed by bright, hot flames.

His eyes went wide and he backed away, but kept his gaze on the encroaching blaze, watching as a wall weakened by the fire, gave up and collapsed, blocking the hall entirely.

Smoke began to billow into the room more and more and the fires grew ever closer, licking at the paint and at pictures hanging on the walls.

The stallion swayed for a moment, transfixed by the flames, before coughing violently and coming to his senses, and began to look for some means of escape.

With most of the house likely razed by the fire and the hall impassable, the stallion ran over to the window, tugged off the curtains and blinds, and unlocked it and slid it open, revealing the calm night beyond.

He took a deep breath, coughing again, and glanced back at the fire once more as it crossed over the threshold of his bedroom, crackling and roaring all the more vigorous as it reduced his home and possessions to ash.

The stallion crawled through the window and fell into a bush just outside, silently thankful that the fire had not yet found its way outside.

He rushed out to the street and stared at the monumental inferno that had overtaken his house, and at the flickering orange light it cast over the surroundings.

And then, another wheezing cough racked his body and he fell to the ground, doubled over in pain from smoke inhalation.

As he lie there, he could feel the heat radiating off the blaze and heard a terrifying crack as several support beams cracked and buckled, sending embers cascading out and into neighboring trees, igniting them.

He looked up to see his house in complete ruin, everything unsalvageable.

The stallion let out a choked sob, and stayed there on the ground, unable to take his eyes off the charred remains of his home.

By the time he heard any sort of authorities arrive, his home was already a smoking husk of what it once was.