Young Writers Society

This is how the story starts. Once upon a time, there was a girl born of fire and brimstone, she grew and so did her fire, she was told to suppress it, and she did, and she met another girl of fire and brimstone and was told to set her fire free, and she did. But this is not that story.

This is how the story goes. Once upon a time, a girl of fire and brimstone meets other children of fire and brimstone. They welcome her with open arms, but she falters. Already once she has been told to change who she is, and already once she has tried to be who she wants. She is scared she will be asked again, and that she will bend again.

But she covers her turmoil with a smile and goes to hug them back. No one notices her hesitance. Or if they do, they do not comment on it. After all, she is not the first who has been told to conform, and nor will she be the last. They will help her grow confident as they were helped, they will stoke her fire so that she is brilliant again. And when the next one comes, she will do the same. They know this pattern.

They wrap her up in their own fires, and they show her all she could be, all she will be. And for the first time in many long years, the girl of fire and brimstone feels like she is home.

This is how the story goes. The children of fire and brimstone do not always get along, the fight and sparks fly, but few are burned. Because the children of fire and brimstone feel too deeply, so while they love with abandon, they must choose who they hate, who they wish to burn, with care.

But when they celebrate, when they are happy, oh how they burn. They warm each other up, they feed each other. Alone, they are a candle, together they are a bonfire. And this is the part that the girl of fire and brimstone falls in love with. The part that makes her feel brighter than ever before. This is why she fights to keep her fire uncontained. So that she can feel this wild joy leap through her skin and burry itself deep inside her. So that she too can be a part of this breathing joy.

This is how the story goes. The children of fire and brimstone introduce the girl to others, to a variety of children she never would have thought possible. For while there are children of fire, hot and wild, and children of ice, cold and calculating. There are also children of earth, steady and unbreakable, children of wind, flighty and playful, children of stardust, bright and flickering, and children of darkness, cool and mysterious.

And the girl of fire and brimstone befriends them all. She smiles for each of them and gets them to laugh. She is sharp and witty and she is silent and thoughtful.

But still, the girl is hesitant with everyone but her brothers and sisters of fire. She knows only what life has taught her, and it has taught her to be wary of the ones who would see you change. And she is not sure yet if they will truly accept her, or if they will demand she change again.

This is how the story goes. The girl of fire and brimstone is taught a new lesson. She learns that in every group there is bad and good. And the girl learns how to pick them out. She learns the warning signs for people who would have you change. Learns the too sweet smiles and the clenched fists.

And she learns how to fight back. How to inject steel into her spine and make her fire rage for her. She learns how to shut them down, how to stand her ground and make them quiver with just a look from her eyes.

This is how the story goes. The girl of fire and brimstone makes a hodge podge family for herself, with a mixing of all children. Her smiles are real and when they open their arms, she is quick to fall into them. She learns to love her mixed matched family fiercely with all her heart and all her fire, for children of fire and brimstone do not know any other way to love.

This is how the story starts. Once upon a time there was a girl of fire and brimstone who did what was asked of her and tried to be something she was not. And once upon a time, she was shown she did not have to be what other wanted her to be, only what she wanted to be.

This is how the story goes. Once upon a time, the girl met others like her and they taught her to trust them. And then she met others who were not like her, and they taught her to trust them too.

This is how the story goes. Once upon a time, a girl of fire and brimstone learned how to spot the ones who would do her harm, and she learned how to fight them off. She learned how to spot those who would do harm to the ones she loved too, and she learned how to be merciless with them.

This is how the story ends. Once upon a time, there was a man. He was warped and twisted, and very good at hiding it. Later, people would ask if he had been born warped or if it had been planted and allowed to fester inside of him. But the girl of fire and brimstone does not know to ask these questions, she does not have the gift of foresight.

This is how the story ends. Once upon a time there was a man, warped and twisted inside, and he brought death in his wake and death in his hands.

This is how the story goes. Children of fire and brimstone do not know how to love unless it is with their whole bodies. Unless it is with everything that they are. Everything that they could be.

This is how the story ends. Once upon a time, there was a man with death in his hands and he pointed it at an unusual family. And there was a girl who loved them with all that she was and all that she could be.

There was a girl of fire and brimstone who could only scream as a man threatened death to the people she loved most, her raging fire useless against his metal death.

This is how the story ends. The big decisions are easy. The smaller ones are harder. Deciding what colors to wear and what to entertain yourself with is hard. Deciding to step in front of death and the ones you love, that’s easy.

Because children of fire love with their whole bodies, their whole souls, and everything in between.

This is how the story ends. Because fires were not made to last.