Have you ever heard of Holy Flame, Massachusetts? I thought not. For anyone passing by, it would appear as nothing more than a tiny insignificant plot of land at the edge of a forest most people won’t ever notice, a place so irrelevant it’s not worthy of appearing on any map and its name isn’t legally registered anywhere.
But what the rest of the United States thinks about Holy Flame couldn’t be more redundant, for it holds a secret that this republic won’t ever be able to grasp. An ancient force of nature that rules over the existence of its protector, the princess who was chosen to watch over it long before anyone reading this was brought into this world, even if no one would be able to guess that judging by her appearance.
My name is Madeleine, or Maddie for short. I had just turned 12 years old when the revolution began, bringing my humble family to desperation. Our livelihood had been based around raising livestock and selling milk and wool which my father regularly transported to Boston. But then, in April of 1775, the rebel militias put the city under siege and cut it off from the rest of the colonies. My father, who was already used to staying a few days in Boston whenever he traveled there to sell our products, suddenly found himself trapped inside with His Majesty’s troops, compromising our primary source of income.
Meanwhile, back at home, my mother, my one year old brother and I were doing our best to stay afloat. My father continued being besieged in Boston for months, he managed to secure a small salary when he enlisted as part of the city’s garrison and managed to survive the carnage at Breed’s hill. However, the siege dragged on and the temperatures plummeted. If the situation remained like this for much longer, our chances of making it through the winter were worryingly slim.
“Maddie, go fetch some firewood in the forest, please.” my mother instructed me as my brother Jacob wept. As tears ran down his face, my mother fixedly stared at Fluffy, our lamb we had lovingly raised since birth. Tears also started filling my face as I gave Fluffy a hug before departing for the woods.
Snowflakes fell and flew around me, carried by the frigid wind that swept through the countryside. I stepped into the woods covered in my long woolen cloak from my torso to my legs and a woolen scarf wrapped around my head, a pair of gloves also covered my hands as I started collecting any tree branch I could find laying on the snowy ground. I could’ve returned home once I had managed to collect a decent amount of firewood…but I didn’t, at least, not right away. As soon as I saw the way my mother was staring at Fluffy as she desperately tried to calm Jacob down, I knew that fetching some firewood wasn’t the sole reason I had been sent outside. I couldn’t help but shed a few tears as I felt my scarf wrapped around my head… my mother had crafted it using Fluffy’s wool, just like she had done with my gloves. Hoping to briefly evade myself from reality, I began aimlessly roaming the woods, despite the bitter cold. But the sound of distant musket fire was a permanent reminder of our deplorable situation.
As I was about to return home, I noticed an odd bright light emanating from deep inside the forest. It looked to be similar to a fire, but the way it burned was unlike any conventional fire I had ever seen. Its color was extremely vibrant and the way the flames swirled around almost made it seem like it was somehow…alive. My mother had instructed me to bring firewood home, but for some reason I couldn’t quite put into words, I was compelled to follow the source of those mysterious flames, abandoning the bundle of wood I had spent nearly an hour collecting.
As I walked closer to it, a strange sensation went through my body. I felt an exceptional wave of warmth…sure, it’s nothing new for people to feel warm around fire, but the warmth that irradiated from that particular fire was so intense and so invigorating it almost made me feel like I could take off my winter clothes in the middle of that snow-coated forest and I would still be kept warm as long as I was near that fire.
“Child…” I heard what sounded like an echoing feminine voice echoing through the forest. I looked around but saw no one.
“Over here, child…in front of you.” the voice uttered again. I turned to look at the flames and rubbed my eyes, thinking the freezing weather was making me hallucinate, but it was real…the flames had spoken, and not only that, they soon started to deform until they acquired the shape of a tall humanoid figure.
“Don’t be scared. I have no intention of doing any harm to you. In fact, I am willing to help you, if you help me in return.” the fire said as I trembled in disbelief.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I faintly uttered in a shaky voice.
“You see, the forest you are in right now was once the home of a community of humans that worshiped me for countless generations. And rightfully so, for I would provide them with all they needed to survive. With my help they thrived, living prosperous lives and winning every war against numerous invading tribes who wished to seize my power for themselves. Until your ancestor arrived and brought a new kind of lifestyle and warfare. As the new settlers gained supremacy, my people began losing faith in me, until they abandoned these lands and fled further west. “ the fire explained. It then used its power to light a small branch and instructed me to pick it up.
” Bring this burning branch home and use it to cook and warm yourself up. As long as you keep the flame alive and don’t let anyone else put their hands on it, you and your family will have your lives secured.” the fire assured. “Thank you! Thank you so much! “ I exclaimed in tears as I picked up the branch and departed home.
“Maddie! What took you so long? Where’s the firewood I told you to gather?” My mother asked as I arrived home.
Upon seeing I had only brought a small burning branch, my mother began shouting some pretty intense words and complaints, which quickly turned into sobs. But I wasn’t listening to her, I was too busy bringing that branch to the fireplace and using it to create a decently sized flame whose warmth quickly spread around the entire house. My mother contemplated the flames in pure astonishment as I put them to the test and used them to heat up Jacob’s milk. Jacob drank the milk in a single gulp. Upon finishing his milk, Jacob let out a smile of pure joy, a kind of smile so genuine I had seldom seen him like that before.
My mother and I would soon have a similar reaction when we ate the lamb chops she had prepared for dinner. Despite their small size, being cooked by that mystical fire made the food feel just as filling as a full course meal! It was the first time since the start of the war we could truly say we felt…comfortable, the first day in months where we felt like we had eaten just the right amount of food and we weren’t shivering indoors! The first day in months where we could simply…relax.
We didn’t go to bed that night, we were so comfortable gathered around the fireplace lit up by that extraordinary flame that we gently fell asleep while being curled up around it. Until we were suddenly woken up by someone knocking on our door in the middle of the night…
My mother instructed me to stay with Jacob as she went and opened the door.
“Good night! We are here on behalf of…the Continental Army under…General Washington!” said a band of 4 drunk teenagers wearing filthy blue uniforms and armed with muskets and bayonets.
“What do you want?” my mother asked worryingly.
“We have been sent to gather supplies for the army besieging Boston! And we also request to spend the night in this house.” the teenagers replied as they sloppily entered our house. Judging by the way they talked and moved, as well as by the abundance of wine that could be seen inside their satchels, it was clear those soldiers (if you could even call them that) had prioritized the gathering of a certain type of “supplies” over others.
“You can sleep in the stable if you wish. But I beg you, we need the few supplies we have to survive!” my mother said. Without paying much attention to her plight, the teenagers were drawn to the flames of the fireplace. In just a few minutes of resting around the fire, it seemed their hangover had disappeared and they were now bursting with energy as if they had gotten a whole night’s worth of sleep. “This fire is…it’s not of this world!” one of the teenagers exclaimed in awe. All 4 of them silently stared at the flames and then at each other for a couple seconds before the one who had spoken earlier stepped forward and grabbed a burning log from the fireplace.
“What…what are you doing?” My mother asked.
“If you lend this miraculous fire to the Continental Army, we promise that you will be greatly recompensed once this war is won and our rights as citizens of the 13 colonies are secured!” the teens replied as they took the fire without caring about our consent or opinion at all.
“NO!” I yelled as I blocked the door and refused to let them leave with the fire. Two of the teenagers pointed their muskets at me as the other two did the same to my mother and Jacob, who was crying loudly as a result of all the turmoil.
“You wouldn’t want us to arrest you as traitors to the patriot cause, would you? NOW STEP ASIDE, OR ELSE!” the teenagers shouted angrily. I remained still and defiant despite trembling in fear, having taken the keys to the door and clutching them in my hands.
“LAST WARNING…” they yelled as they switched their muskets to full-cock position, meaning they were loaded and ready to fire. My mother and I exchanged tear-stained stares as I finally gave in, handed them the keys and stepped aside.
“Stupid girl…” one of the teens murmured as another one spat at me and smirked. But as soon as the teenagers exited the house with the fire, the nearby forest erupted in flames. A huge mass of fire rose from the center of the woods and rapidly advanced towards our house. The way it moved made it clear it was no ordinary fire, it was alive in the same way the fire I had encountered earlier in the woods was alive…but unlike last time, now it was bursting with anger.
The living flames encircled our house as the teenagers ran back inside and locked the door, all traces of the cocky and menacing façade they had been displayed a few minutes prior vanished from their faces and revealed the naïve, terrified kids they had always been. “What in the world is that thing? What do we do?” asked one of them to the one who appeared to be their leader.
“We have to hold out…Quick, take positions on the windows!” their leader replied. The living fire had become a gigantic mass with long flaming arms that slowly crept towards our house as if they were the arms of a person reaching out to squash a bunch of pesky flies. We were now under siege, just like my father over in Boston.
The teenage soldiers began firing several rounds of musket balls at the living flames as my mother grabbed the musket we owned for home defense from the bedroom and took positions alongside them. “Child…open the door…” I heard the flames calling me from the fireplace as I stood in a corner holding Jacob in my arms.
“You and your family are not my enemies…I’m only after the individuals who came here to take what doesn’t belong to them.” the fire assured. As my mother and teen soldiers continued to fire, I took a deep breath, put Jacob in his crib and rushed to the front door. Ironically, the teenagers had fewer musket balls than my mother and ran out of ammo in just a few minutes, so much for the “mighty” Continental Army!
As I swung the door open, two of the living fire’s flaming arms entered our house and grabbed two of the teenagers before they even had a chance to process what was going on, they shrieked in pain and terror as they were dragged outside and were consumed by the flames while they emitted one last hopeless scream.
The arms then returned to grab the remaining two soldiers, the one who was their leader tried to face the flames holding his musket with his bayonet pointed at them. He even pulled the trigger instinctively, despite the fact he had no more ammo left. As the third teenager was consumed, the fourth one dropped his weapon and cowered in fear in a corner.
My mother and I approached him as tears ran down his face. My mother felt pity for him, she understood he was just a poor child who had no idea what he had gotten himself into…Perhaps he had done it to impress a girl, just like how my father had enlisted in the war against the French and the Indians to impress her in their youth all those years ago. But still, she remembered how that boy and his friends had tried to take away our livelihood a few minutes earlier, and most importantly, how they had pointed their muskets at her and her children…and that was something my mother could never forgive. She grabbed her musket and yelled in rage as she plunged the bayonet into the boy’s chest. The teenager only had time to scream for a split second before agonizing for a short while as blood poured from his chest.
“Shh…” my mother whispered to him as he helped him shut his eyes as the teenager was silenced forever. “Step forward…child.” the fire ordered. I obeyed as my mother and Jacob watched expectantly.
“You will become my eternal protector. You will watch over these sacred flames until the end of time!” the fire exclaimed as I felt its energy entering my body. And ever since then, I’ve remained. Many generations have gone by, and yet I’m still here, in the same place I was raised in and in the same I’ll stay forever as the holy flame’s protector.
So if you ever decide to pay me a visit, you know how to behave, or else you’ll have to face the consequences that other naïve people before you have faced. I, Maddie, will make sure those who disrespect Holy Flame receive the punishment they deserve.