Fire, fire everywhere. It was engulfing innocent people, and the small village would be nothing soon.

And I didn't know how to stop it.

I was in the woods, and it seemed as though I was the only one out there. My eyes kept getting blurry from the tears that kept flowing, and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't stop anything. There wasn't anything an Earthbender could do when fire was the enemy.

So I watched. I heard the screams of innocent people dying, of buildings falling. I watched until I couldn't watch anymore.

And then, I woke up.

That dream has been haunting me for about two years now, and I am pretty much done with it. It's always the same – the man screaming at the near end, the scene blurring before me before I wake up – and it's always terrifying. The vivid details of the nightmare were haunting my every sleeping moment. But it wasn't like I could do anything about it, so I didn't.

Sighing, I sat up and rubbed my eyes hard, trying to get the flashing pictures of the flames and smoke out of my mind. I couldn't deal with it anymore. It was too hard, too hurtful.

I had tried so many things to get rid of the images, but it was exhausting, really. I even tried to traumatize myself with something else that was real, but it didn't help either.

But as I looked out my window, I realized that my little Earth Kingdom village was bustling with activity. My mother would probably come up to my room to tell me to help with whatever was going on.

But that's when I smelled the smoke.

My fear set in, and I started gathering as much as I possibly could. Was my dream coming true? I didn't want to find out.

I slung my sack over my shoulder, putting my hat over on top of my bun, and started running. I ran out there as fast I could, knowing my mother and little brother would probably still be in there. I didn't know where they were, so I couldn't go and find them and bring them to safety. Just like my dream.

I rubbed at my eyes to keep from crying. It was my chance to change my fate, so I had to do something, now that I knew it was happening and that it was real.

I blocked off an area, sending wayward children into the safe zone, and then started creating more and more. Now they were for anyone, and I knew I would not be climbing into one of those. Who knew if they would even work?

Before I could get very far, a wall of fire came at me, and I managed to skirt around it, but not without experiencing a semi-severe burn on my forearm. As I ran from my village, I bit on my shirt collar, any slight movement making my burn sting like crazy. I couldn't do anything now.

I reached a high enough peak, found a pond and dipped my arm in it. The coolness soothed it, and I was focusing on my burn now. I did what I could. I had to convince myself of that. The distraction of my burnt arm helped me.

But I still didn't know what the cause of the fire was, really. Was it the Fire Nation? Was it some haywire fire place? It was probably the Fire Nation, maybe the Rough Rhinos. But I didn't know, and probably wouldn't.

For about an hour, I soaked my arm before wrapping it up. It was blistering already, and I almost vomited from the shock of fabric touching it. I cried then, because of my loss, because of my burn.

I tried to sleep, and for once, I couldn't. Because my nightmare was finally real.