His routine was precise. He always woke up to his parents fighting intensely. Every day, new sparks—usually over trivial matters—led his mother to the ashes of the past, and as customary, his father lost control, took it out on his mother, and left for work. His mother wiped the blood from her face while spitting insults and, to end her day, grabbed her favorite beer from the fridge and lay on the couch until she passed out.
It was another day walking to school hungry and without money to eat. His exhaustion consumed him from the inside, suffocating his mind and rendering his classes increasingly meaningless. The whole day passed in the blink of an eye. Punctually on the way home, he was caught by his classmates to participate in their game of “who could incapacitate him first,” feeding the bonfire of their egos.
Lying on the street, near the dumpster beside the school building under renovation, the cold overpowered him. His eyes felt heavy, and his consciousness was about to be extinguished when he was covered by a pleasant sensation, a unique burning warmth. He didn’t remember this ever happening before. Upon opening his eyes, he found an antique lighter with an embossed symbol he had never seen.
The dead of night. He stood at his front door feeling no hunger, no fatigue, and no wounds, the lighter in his hand. Before entering, his parents were repeating the same scene from earlier, not noticing their son hadn’t appeared yet. The young man whispered to the lighter and flicked it a single time. A new day began in his life; for the first time, his routine changed. The fire in his lighter raced, surrounding the house quickly, devouring it. He watched his house burn and his parents fleeing in flames, in agony. Both crawling. In their last breath, they tried to reach their son, extending an arm to touch him, but charring before they could, side by side.
The flames returned to the lighter, and again, that burning sensation warmed the boy’s body, coaxing a smile onto his face. And now the young man knew that those were the flames of a new day.
