Chapter Text
Orange and yellow flames flicker for a few seconds before the wind takes them. The fire is out almost as soon as it starts, leaving behind the faint smell of smoke as the air carries it away.
Dan curses, dumping more gasoline on the old swing in an attempt to make it highly flammable. He’s done this only a few times beforehand, in the summer when the wind was at bay and the air was humid, but it’s fall now, complete with dropping temperatures and chilling winds that make it hard to get a good fire started.
The area surrounding the swing is relatively open, hidden only by distance as the playground is stored away in the corner of the park. Barely anybody comes here during the day when the sun is shining bright, so it’s completely free rein at night. The playground is run down anyway and practically abandoned, save for a few people who occasionally stop by it to get drunk, so he doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong. If anything, he thinks he’s helping everyone out: he’s getting rid of something that’s takes up more space than it’s worth all while fueling the fire inside of him.
He lights another match, being extra careful to shield it from the wind, and once the flame is a reasonable size, he quickly throws it at the seat of the swing. It lands in the middle and the fire quickly spreads across the gas covered surface and before he knows it, it’s swallowing the swing whole.
He steps away from it to admire his work, a sense of pride taking over him, but the euphoria vanishes completely seconds later when he feels his phone vibrate in the pocket of his skinny jeans. Sighing and cursing under his breath in annoyance, he pulls his phone out, reading the screen. Unsurprisingly, it’s Louise, asking him where he is. He’s only just finished reading it when another text alert pops up.
Louise: Hey, are we still on for tonight??
Shit, he thinks, quickly typing out a response that says he’ll be there in twenty minutes. He had forgotten all about their plans when he had decided to finally burn the swing that had been taunting him and begging him to burn it for so long. After he had gotten used to his strange passion (which, by the way, was never supposed to go beyond one fire), he had known it was only a matter of time until he gave into his desires to set the swing on fire. It’s only his luck that he decides to give in on the night that he promised Louise he would hang out with her.
Louise’s house is only ten minutes away from the park, but he takes another five minutes to stand a safe distance away from the burning swing before he leaves, watching the flames dance in the wind out of the corner of his eye when he finally starts walking away.
This is his messed up life, kept secret by his sheer invisibility, with no chance of getting caught, and that’s how he likes it.