When I woke up, I was surrounded by fire. It sang through me, poured from me. Everything was ablaze, but I wasn't. I was naked and surrounded by smoke, ash, and flame. Heat pounded through me and I reveled in it, felt it, pushed until the haze of pleasure faded.
I sat in the bed, staring at my room. This had to be a dream. There was no way it was real. I tried to wake myself up, but nothing happened. I slowly came to realize that I actually was awake, and that's when panic hit.
I got out of the bed and ran from the room. "Mom?" I yelled. "Dad?"
I ran down the hallway to their room, pushing through the burning door, the flame never touching me. There were two lumps in the bed, burning black. I took a horrified step backwards and then another. I turned and ran downstairs just as the front door shattered in and a firefighter burst through. I ran to him and he scooped me up as the fire poured down the stairs after me in a stream.
The firefighter carried me outside and wrapped me in a blanket, depositing me with the EMTs. There was a bustle of activity around me until the EMTs figured out that there was nothing wrong with me externally. They hustled me into an ambulance and pulled away from the house. I panicked again.
"No!" I screamed as we pulled away. "No! Mom! Dad! Stop! Stop!" The ambulance didn't stop. Something poured out of me and then the inside of the ambulance was on fire. The EMT in the back with me was screaming. The one in the front hit the brakes. As soon as the ambulance stopped moving, I pushed past the EMT and out the door and ran.
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Child Disappears after House Fire
By Rick London | July 12, 2007 | Knoxville, Tennessee
A child disappeared after her house caught fire Wednesday, killing both of her parents. Jessie Elizabeth Markson, age 11, was the only survivor of the fire.
The fire broke out at 10:10 p.m., according to KFD District Chief Fred Strom. The flames were extinguished about 20 minutes later.
Strom said the girl was placed in an ambulance to be rushed to East Tennessee Children's Hospital. The girl had no outward signs of injuries, but may have been suffering from smoke inhalation.
The ambulance caught on fire itself shortly after leaving the scene with the girl. In the panic, the girl disappeared.
Firefighter John Sheldon reported that he found Jessie naked on the stairs when searching for survivors as they fought the blaze. EMT Mary Rothman reported that the girl was screaming for her parents shortly before the fire started in the ambulance and then pushed her way past Mary before running into the night.
If anyone has any information about the whereabouts of Jessie Markson, please contact Knoxville Social Services or Knoxville Police Department.
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I'd found a cave to hide in. At least I wasn't cold. Fires sprang up all around me unexpectedly, with no warning except a pressure at my temples and the back of my skull. Then I'd feel a sort of release and something would be ablaze.
At least in the cave, there was nothing to really catch fire. Rock just didn't burn like that. After fleeing from the fire, I'd stolen some clothing off of a clothesline as I headed towards the mountains. Then I'd had to do it again when I had accidentally set the clothes on fire while I was asleep. I was on my third set of clothes, this one an ill-fitting set of flannel and jeans that some campers had left out to dry.
Now I knew how my house was set on fire and how my parents had died. Tears dripped down my face again. I hadn't been able to stop crying since I'd realized that I was the one who had lit the house on fire. I was the one who had burned them in their bed. It was all my fault. And somehow, I was immune to the fire.
I had no idea where it had come from or how to control it or if it could be controlled. As I stared at the wall of the cave, I felt the pressure and then the burst and a mossy rock flamed until all the moss was gone.
I leaned my head back against the cave wall and cried.
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Thefts Reported by Smoky Mountain Campers
By Mallory White | July 20, 2007 | Knoxville, Tennessee
Thefts of food, clothing, and blankets have been reported by campers near the Cades Cove area of the Smoky Mountain National Park. No suspects have been apprehended, but camper Marsha Billings of Tampa, FL reported getting a glimpse of the suspect and that it might be a child.
Campers are encouraged to lock up their belongings at night while this case is under investigation.
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I'd figured out how to block the fire from just coming out of me. It was kind of like when you had to pee and you just held it. Similarly, at night, if I dreamed about fire, something had burned when I woke in the morning. I didn't dare leave the cave for long and I was going through a blanket a night.
I was stealing from the campers, but I knew it wouldn't last long. Eventually, someone would catch me. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't control the fire. The more upset I was, the more panicked, the harder it was to control. In fact, once I held it in for an entire day and by the end, I was itching with the need to set something on fire. I set a rock on fire in the middle of a stream before I went to bed, just to make myself stop itching. The fire was so strong that it spread out over the top of the water, too. Steam had filled the air.
I was terrified, guilty, miserable, and completely and utterly lost.
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Fire Reported near Cades Cove
By Rick London | July 25, 2007 | Knoxville, Tennessee
A fire was set in the forest near Cades Cove last night. Rangers put out the blaze before it did damage to any of the historical structures, but several trees were destroyed by the flames.
Police have no suspects at this time.
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Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'd been trying to hold it back while I crept into the Cades Cove area to try to steal some fresh water from the stores there. I'd managed to make it the entire day before and all through the night, only by waking every time I felt any kind of itchiness or pressure. I'd waited until dark to head towards the cove, but a bird had startled me by flying out of the bushes and I'd let go of the flame, setting that very set of bushes on fire.
Then I'd just run as quickly as possible back to the cave. I could see the fire from where I was, and it called to me. Instead of dying out like all the others, it built and built, pleasure singing through me, just like when my house was on fire.
Oh, no! I tore myself away from the blaze and covered my head in a blanket, weeping. It wasn't fair. Why was I cursed with this?
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I was exhausted. I'd been keeping myself awake for days, trying to control the fire and the desire to set it, trying to keep from setting anything on fire by accident, trying to stay away from the rangers who had finally found my cave, albeit without me in it.
But now they were tracking me. There were two of them. One of them had short, dark brown hair. The other was taller and had longer, slightly sandier hair. They didn't dress like park rangers, but who else would be looking for me?
I wasn't very good at sneaking around in the woods. I'd never done it before now and the only reason that I had been able to stay ahead of them so far was because I was slightly more familiar with this area in particular.
That was over now, though. I'd moved well past the area that I knew and I was running out of options. I climbed a tree and just hoped that they'd pass under it. Then maybe I could circle back and get my stuff before moving on to a new area.
I saw them coming before I got settled in the tree. The branch beneath me was bouncing a little. I worried faintly about its stability, but I had to stop now, or they would hear me. I stiffened as they approached.
They were both moving quietly. I held as still as I could get while the taller one checked the ground. "She came this way," he said. They started to walk past the tree, and I started to release my pent-up breath when the branch under me cracked. As I fell, the tree above me burst into flames.