Fire Trap

Sometimes, it all goes up in smoke.

This was a house she loved more than anything. She had helped build it, pouring hours of toil and tears into the beautifully crafted walls, the solid foundation, and the nearly-indestructible roof that provided shelter from the outside forces that would have beaten her into the ground.

It was a beautiful house. So full of treasured memories that smiled from the walls and danced in tantalizing scents on the air. It was comfortable and familiar, and she loved it.

But it had a problem. One that ate at the inside of this beautiful house.

The wiring was bad. Sometimes, when she turned on a straightener, or tried to vacuum away some of the dirt, or even just turned on a light, the wiring would spark and a tiny fire would crop up. Time and time again, she put it out, even bringing in electricians to consult with her on the best way to fix it. They would offer their advice and leave, believing that they had fixed the problem. And yet the stubborn wiring continued to be bad. Another fire would sprout.

She got really talented at using every fire-dousing technique in the book, and labored lovingly over her task of scrubbing soot from the walls and repairing the burned spots so that guests who entered her house to look around wouldn't see anything wrong. Because she couldn't bear the thought that this house was too dangerous for her to live in. That would mean that she couldn't save it.

The fires got more dangerous. Sometimes she had to leave it and let the Fire Department  handle the fire. Then she would return and repair it once again.

Finally, one nearly took her life. She couldn't fight it anymore. The bad wiring made the house too dangerous, even for her devoted persistence. Choking back tears, she stripped the memories from the walls, carefully preserving each treasure so that it wouldn't succumb to the ravages of time.

As the movers helped haul her possessions away, she stopped at the door and looked back at her beloved house one more time. She flipped the light switch on, hearing the familiar crackle of the bad wiring. Even as she watched, a spark flashed. She shut the door and walked away, leaving the wiring to do its work.