Lyrics are from "Your Heart Is An Empty Room" by Death Cab For Cutie.
Written 26th February 2008
Flames and smoke
Climbed out of every window
And disappeared with everything that you held dear
But you shed not a single tear
For the things that you didn't need
'Cos you knew you were finally free
Flames devoured the building, angry and uncaring. They climbed the walls and emerged from the windows, letting oxygen fuel the terrible blaze. The fire was terrible, yet wonderful; an array of scorching colours, orange and yellow and deep, blood red. The fire was a contradiction: beautiful, so beautiful that you just wanted to gaze into the heart of the dancing flames forever – yet it was deadly and terrifying, able to deal out so much damage you’d reel back in shock. Fire could not be contained, not for long, and it massacred everything that stood in its way. It was destruction in its purest form. Destruction is merely another form of creation.
Black smoke billowed from any gap it could find. Clouds of the sooty, acrid substance gathered in the night, black against black. The clouds flew upwards and would’ve blocked out the waxing moon had she been in the sky. As it happened, the night was cloudy, and there were not even stars to offer the little light they did.
It was the kind of night that was silent, wonderfully still. The kind of night when you sat staring out of the window, watching the flickering lights that dotted the horizon, feeling as though you were in a dream – and, maybe, you were. There was no way to tell when not a thing moved outside your window, when not a tree rustled or an owl hooted.
It was the kind of night that killers coveted. The kind of night when they could slip from shadow to shadow so easily, so perfectly, for everywhere was a shadow.
It was the kind of night when terrible things happened.
And a man stood and watched his home burn, face impassive. He did not cry; he did not even think about crying. He didn’t need to – there was nothing in that old building he neither wanted nor needed. In a way, this blaze – this monster that he had created – was liberating. He was finally free.
He turned and walked away, the fire lapping at his clothed back.
~REVerse