An Ancient and Unnecessary Fire

A woman was charged today with setting a fire that burned The Senator, one of the world’s oldest cypress trees — and she told authorities she did it because she was wanted light to see the drugs she was doing, investigators said. – Orlando Sentinel

The pale moonlight fell through the cracks of the limbs to the leaf covered ground. She crouched over a bag in the long shadow of the old senator and cursed into the silent forest air.

“God damn it,” she said. “I can’t see a fucking thing.”

She flicked her thumb against the coarse wheel of her lighter and held the flame above the bag. Her ghostly shadow covered the entrance of the contents but the flame lit up her face. It was old, and cracked, and dry. Her eyes sat on top of two large blue circles and a pair of bleeding lips covered her yellow teeth.

“God damn it.”

She stood up, stretched her back in the dim light of the moon, and gazed up at the old senator behind her.

It was massive. She stood at the foot of the giant cypress in the middle of the ancient forest. The stars peaked through the small holes in the tree cover. A lone wolf howled at the moon. And she thought about her drugs.

She knelt down on the forest floor and gathered leaves and twigs into a small pile at the base of the tree. She held her lights to the edge of a leaf and waited for the edges to brown and burn.

It only took a spark. Soon the small pile burned at the base of the old Senator, the flames leaping upwards and grabbing a hold of the ancient back. She stood back and watched as the flame started to devour the tree. She took pictures with her phone and flashed her yellow teeth through her cracked lip smile.

It was beautiful.

She dug through her bag in the light of the ancient and unnecessary fire and found what she was looking for. She picked one of the rocks out of the plastic bag and fell back on her ass.

The fire raged as the old senator died. The smoke clogged up the small windows to the stars and pale moon light was quickly clouded in a thick layer of gray. She laid on her back as the drugs took hold of her mind and finally, she was happy.