The World Burned

It started in China, far from him, in a place he did not know. In the beginning the flames were cool compared to what they would become. They licked across forests and cities and it was several minutes before the mountains melted down, leaving a flat mass, shimmering in the heat.

He walked outside her house, ignoring the rain. His brain would not work properly for the first several minutes. All he could feel was a weight that seemed to hint at future disaster or pain so great that the body will not accept it.

It moved across the oceans and they were vaporized. By the time it made it to Australia and the eastern reaches of Europe, it had reached its full fury.

He began to replay the last several months in his mind. His jokes and her silence. He had known that something was wrong, but he had not imagined the unimaginable.

It began to pick up speed now. Germany, France, England, and Spain never even saw it coming. They had just enough time to feel a flicker of heat and then nothing at all.

He started to ask himself why and then cursed himself roundly. He knew why. He knew EXACTLY why. He had thought that she was above such things, that he had found someone who could look past it, but he had always sensed his mistake.

In the end, there was a brief moment where the whole of existence was her smallish house, alone on a hulking wreck. She even had time to notice that she had lost power before it all rolled on her. It was done.