Anthology, Volume 17, Spring 2011 Page: 23

                                
Bettina Brown

Kristen where she sat helpless in the road. It flickered in the wind,
yet it didn't go out. Kristen's heart was racing, and her hands were
sweating. She was terrified to tear her eyes away from the strange
sight, and she willed it to go away. Her attempts to restart the car
were as furious and frequent as her prayers; however both were met
with only the same unyielding click, click, click.
The flame was now a mere twenty feet away, and it flickered
violently as the wind moaned and rushed through the clearing and
wrapped around the car. Between the sound of the engine clicking
and the racing of her own heart, Kristen heard a sound in the wind,
so quiet and faint that at first she believed it to be nothing but the
sound of her own imagination. However, as the wind grew stronger it
rocked against the car and the house itself seemed to sway sadly in its
grip. The worlds of the child now sailed free like the dead leaves that
swirled through the cold night air.
"Won't you come play with me?" The question had barely
registered in her mind before the sound of the engine firing up
drowned it out. The flame twirled wildly in the wind and reflected
off the blackened eye of the bound doll as it scraped along the gravel
behind the Mustang. Then the flame was completely extinguished
and gone in the night.

2)

Anthology  17