Aira's Revenge

I heard the screams and saw the flames from my room as I was preparing for tomorrow's big exam. The university is going to be closed for at least a week, if not longer. Classes have been cancelled, but I still don't know if they will reschedule or not.

I knew it was bad news when the smell of smoke started to seep underneath the door. I didn't want to believe it, but there it was: evidence of the fire that spread through the whole block of houses where most of us lived. The KKK burned down our houses in retaliation, because one of us decided to stand his ground against their efforts to intimidate him.

It made me think back to yesterday. That young man had a wife who was pregnant with twins and a daughter who wanted to see her first ballet show on Friday. Now that family won't get to see that show, because one of the hateful members of their group got drunk and felt like killing all those he thought were different from himself. And then today, he goes into the streets and starts setting things on fire, like a monster out of his own nightmare.

When I heard sirens from outside my window, I thought about running away from this place and never looking back. But then I remembered something my mother used to say: "They can destroy your house, but they can't take away your courage." It was odd how she used an expression related to buildings when she meant something else entirely. Before she disappeared recently, I told her that I was gay and she said that love was always worth fighting for, even if you die defending it.

I took something from my wardrobe and went downstairs. There were burning pieces of furniture on the street and people rushing around trying to help save as many things as they could before the entire neighborhood was reduced to ashes by children playing with matches instead of toys they could learn something from. My mother always taught me that there is no age limit when it comes to learning - children must learn right from wrong, just as adults must stay true to themselves when those around them are trying hard to push them in other directions than their own hearts would take them if given free rein.

The front door had already collapsed in its frame before I got there - what remained was a pile of smoking rubble where somebody had lit a bonfire which now threatened to reach our house next door. I rushed inside and grabbed what remained of my mother's clothes - she had always liked wearing red, so she called them her 'lucky' socks, shirt and skirt - and put them in a suitcase as fast as I could before calling 911 on my cell phone. As soon as I finished giving them my address and telling them that there was a fire starting on our street, I left through the back door and ran back home as fast as I could while carrying everything that reminded me of my mother in my arms.

I arrived home just in time - inside the house the fire hadn't broken out yet, but embers were floating through the windows like angry little fairies who wanted nothing more than vengeance against us for daring to stand up against their master's hate-mongering ways.

I put down everything on a table near my room's entrance before taking off all my clothes except for my underwear while holding onto both hands with one hand each over my heart in prayer position while saying this chant: "Fire go out! Water quench!" And immediately after making sure everything was drenched with water from two buckets near my bed before putting all the wet clothes on top of those items on top of the table which didn't get wet enough during this emergency situation.