When the House Burnt Down

It is easy to ignore the signs…

AI Artwork prompted by Catherine Knee

I loved my house! I really did! Some days I would look around it and a silly grin of pleasure would creep over my face. Some days, I even sang as I wandered about at home, God help those who could hear me! I had never had a house like this before, and on some level, I was a little convinced it was above my league. I wasn’t quite sure how I managed to get this amazing home, but have it I did, and it was grand!

It was everything I ever wanted.

Sure, over the years there were some things I noticed that made me think something might potentially be amiss. In fact, on some days, I was one hundred per cent certain something was up when little things just didn’t seem to work as they should. But you know how it goes... I was so busy enjoying how lovely the good things were, that I shrugged away the clues, doubted my thoughts, and neglected to look deeper at little things that flagged up as potential problems. Things that were, in hindsight, glaring beacons alerting me that there was an issue, (or issues), that I studiously ignored in the hopes that they would just be alright or would simply go away on their own.

Neglecting to pay attention to the details is, literally, a killer as I discovered one sad day. It began when I noticed just a little bare wire glinting in the wall. It was just a small thing, I know, especially in light of the more obvious faults that I had selectively buried in my mind, but this time, when I noticed the little bare wire, I thought, “That just doesn’t seem right to me?”

I am not sure why I was so dogged about investigating such a small flaw in my perfect home, especially after ignoring the signs for slow long. Maybe it was simply because I had been ignoring the signs for so long! Still, I pondered this tiny bare wire, which was so small, that I wasn’t even sure I had seen it correctly. My brow furrowed slightly as I considered, and the more I considered, the more I realised I had to investigate further. Whilst I was poking and prodding about trying to work out if there actually was a problem or not, a chunk of plaster fell out of the wall, falling at my feet with a heavy thud of finality.

I was quite taken aback! I couldn’t ignore this now! Stepping backwards and looking harder I realised, “This doesn’t look right at all!” Sure enough, the more I looked, and fiddled about, all the clearer it became to me that this wasn’t just a tiny bare patch of wire at all. This was a major problem!

I wasn’t sure what to do, truth be told. I hadn’t expected this at all! It was quite out of the blue! When I tried to find out more about what was going on with the dangerous wiring, I kept having to reconsider what I could or couldn’t see, and I began to doubt myself. Was this actually dangerous? Or was I just convincing myself it was dangerous because I have always expected life to bite me on the arse when things were good?

I carried on investigating until I soon came to realise that this wasn’t just a little thing that a spot of insulating tape could fix. Oh no! The whole fucking house was riddled with faulty wiring! All of the was danger hidden, out of sight, except for this tiny clue, but there the danger was, of a certainty. And it had been right next to me this entire time, just lurking in the dark recesses of the walls, out of sight, festering away. I had been living with a major threat to me, day in and day out, without me knowing it was so! Ridiculous, really!

A horrific discovery, indeed!

The more I investigated, the more I found that was of concern, and I couldn’t ignore that this was an unparalleled disaster, which had been hidden out of my sight, just under the surface of my pretty home right under my very own nose!

Apparently, life does always bite me on the arse! Perhaps, I should have left things well enough alone and not worried at that small bare wire! Wishful thinking. It was always doomed to come to my attention at some point. These things always do.

Whilst I was digging about trying to work out just what was what, I somehow managed to activate something that sent surges of electricity thundering through my limbs. Expected. You can’t poke at bare wires in your house and expect to not get zapped.

The pain of the shock was immense. It sizzled through my blood and veins, almost stopping my heart in the searing surge of electricity. I swear, a lightning strike would have had less of an impact than that of the voltage tearing through me! I knew for sure something was wrong now, didn’t I?!

That shock wasn’t to be the worst of it, though, as I soon found out. The fire came next. An all-consuming flame tore out of the walls, spreading over me, engulfing me in a tornado of burning plaster, molten wire and sizzling flesh and hair.

My skin burned away, and my burnt body was left raw. Dark blistered flesh crackled amongst the carbonised surface of naked agony that I had become.

I genuinely thought I was going to die, you know? I screamed and screamed for help, so sure was I that this was the end of me.

The initial shock itself had been bad enough, but this fire was worse. It destroyed me, and everything around me. I mean everything! My lovely home which I had thought was so amazing was decimated. Everything I loved was in charred and ashy ruins. Even the things that hadn’t burnt up along with me were tainted severely with a dark smoky silt from the fire. Nothing would ever be the same again! Even if I was ever able to try and salvage anything, it would be permanently marked with the stains of the fire that had razed everything to the ground.

The thing is, the ordeal wasn’t over for me yet! Not by a long shot! My legs were somehow carbonised, and glued to the blackened floor, and the bare wires were still stuck, embedded into the flesh of my hands. I couldn’t escape. My brain raced and skittered about a lot, trying to work out a way to get away but I just couldn’t work out how to!

That feeling of trapped helplessness burned almost as deeply as the fire that had ravaged me. For a while, I felt frantic, before resigned hopelessness settled in with the searing throbbing agony. I couldn’t even avoid seeing the wreckage around me since my eyelids were burned away. Would I ever be able to close my eyes again?

Stuck! I was stuck! Was I stick here forever?

I cast my shrivelled eyes around me, my eyeballs scraping around in their dehydrated sockets. I couldn’t see anything that could be salvaged. What was I thinking? Salvage? Would I even survive this myself?

Every now and then, a surge of electricity bolted through me reset my skin aflame, my flesh bubbling under the flames that kept re-igniting.

I am still here, right now, you know. Praying for a reprieve, glued to the devastated ruins of that which I once loved. Still shuddering under the shock, and burning, over and over, as I catch alight again, and again. And there is no way I can find to escape the wreckage….

Inspiration

Let’s just say, this is not about a house fire.

Want more unsettling horror with a twist?
👉 Read “What’s in the bag”

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👉 Visit the Poetry Blog

Summary

A psychological horror short story by Catherine Knee exploring hidden danger, denial, and the destructive consequences of ignoring warning signs