Just marked

Denera

“Please, stop,” I pleaded, hugging my legs tighter to my chest.

There was fire everywhere.

Nothing made any sense and I could hear the screaming of children from a far distance.

It wasn't safe to be here but my legs would not move.

“Help,” I croaked.

I was surrounded by trees and they were all covered in flames, I watched as some fell to the ground and whimpered when the hot scattered pieces met with my skin.

“Mum, Dad,” I cried out to no one in particular.

“Denera!”

***

I jolted upright in bed, my eyes flying open wide as my heart raced frantically. Drops of sweat covered my entire body, with some trickling down my face. The sudden sensation of fear left me confused and uneasy.

A dream - another vivid, unsettling dream.

But this one had felt different, in it, I called out to my parents.

I never really knew my parents.

A heaviness settled in my chest. They were a blank space in my life, a big hole that my subconscious mind seemed determined to try and fill, even if o