I have always been afraid of fire, but I wasn’t always afraid of it, it happened on a horrid day when my parents allowed me to have a sleepover at my best friend’s house. I was only 12 back then, and now I am 23, yet the memory was as frightening as it was that very day.

 

My friend, Marcus was quite the troublemaker, but I didn’t seem to mind it back in the day, after all, it did make us look cool, but now I regret the decisions I had made. We had quite a lot of fun in our first 3 hours, we pranked called a few friends from school, watched a few horror movies, played a few games on his computer, overall we were having a good time, but then we made the stupidest decision ever.

 

It was about 3:37 am and it was pitch dark, yet Marcus thought it was a great idea to go down to the kitchen and sneak a few snacks up. I tried my best to talk him out of it but he was as stubborn as a mule, I eventually gave up and helped him carry the snack up to his room. 

 

On our way down I hear footsteps, and I was sure Marcus heard it too, as he had a shocking expression plastered on his face. We paused for a few seconds and it was as quiet as it could get, we ignored it and hurried downstairs hoping his parents weren’t already there, but I wished we had turned back and gone to our room. 

 

I opened the cupboard as quietly as I could but it did make a creepy sound like the ones in most horror movies, but at that time I was only scared it Marcus’s parents would have heard us no knowing what else was around me at the time. Then from the corner of my eye, I noticed a spark from the door, and it began to flicker like a light blub in the dark room. 

 

It looked like a fire-cracker, but the light grew bigger and bigger and I moved towards Marcus who was as terrified as me, we were both confused as to what it was but then realized it was fire. I took the phone from the counter ahead of me. I dialed 911 to call for help but then a figure appeared from behind the room and you could see the fire spread across the room like some deadly virus only quicker. I thought at the movement that maybe it was Marcus’s father, but boy was I wrong.

 

It was a man I had never seen before, he seemed old and tired with rags covering his body yet he didn’t seem frightened by the fire beside him and roared with laughter as he was enjoying himself. I was convinced that the man was crazy and that he was a thief, but I didn’t understand how he didn’t burn himself in the fire. 

 

“Marcus Talyor and Benjamin Wilson,” he smiled, his voice was rough and deep and a million questions filled my head. How did he know our names? What did he want from us? How did he break in? But none of them were answered but his smile was enough to clear them all away as fear struck my heart, I had never been that scared of anything.

 

Marcus too was lost for words and that was quite rare, he then walked towards us and Marcus yelled on top of his lungs to call for help, but no one came. Marcus then fainted from all the smoke, he had asthma but there was nothing I could do, his inhaler was all the way upstairs and the old man had blocked the way.

 

I was relieved when I heard a siren from outside the house, the old man didn’t seem to be bothered by it he smiled as he walked back into the flames, “I will be back,” he said laughing and I knew for a fact he wasn’t joking.

 

We took Marcus to the hospital and he barely survived, a lot of questions were asked about the fire from the police and we did answer them honestly but no one believed us, after all, we were 12-year-old boys, and we had a rather wild imagination. There were no signs of anyone breaking in, which made us even more nervous about the situation, but I still believe that that old man is still out there and that he would come back.