text: Everything became a waiting game. I sat silently, biting my lips to keep my breathing quieter, trying to keep every centimetre of my body still. I could hear one of the guards getting closer. Their footsteps were slow. Methodical. Every few paces they paused and swiveled, looking for movements in the forest. They must have been only a few metres awaye, standing on the edge of the bank behind me. I could sense his feet above my head, his presence closing in. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the moment. “Anything?” another guard in the distance called out. I prayed for a negative answer. “Nothing,” the guard behind me replied. I let a small exhale of air leave my lungs. The guard continued past me. But their progress was slow, and it took many minutes for the sound of their footsteps to disappear into the darkness. Eventually, it seemed like my part of the woods was empty again. I guessed by the positioning of the moon that it was around two or three in the morning. I had maybe six or so hours before daylight came and I no longer had the protection of darkness. It was enough, but time would disappear. I made my way back through the woods towards the Citadel. I crouched low and tried to keep my footsteps quiet. I couldn’t hear any guards nearby, but I could never be certain how far the sound traveled. It had taken me five minutes of running to find my hiding spot, but it took a good hour of patient steps, moving from tree to tree, to get back to the Citadel. At the perimeter wall, I snaked to the back of the settlement, away from the populated parts, towards the empty houses, and more importantly, to the storage areas. I managed to guess my spot with perfection, and as I heaved myself over the wall, I landed right next to the propane tanks and petrol canisters. Strange as it was, this was probably one of the safest places to be right now. Almost every guard would be out looking for me, no one would have expected me to come back. I lifted one of the propane tanks and dragged it over to a nearby home. With the butt of the gun, I smashed the corner of the window. Large cracks split across the glass, and with a small push, a large section of the pane came loose and fell inside the building, smashing against the ground below. I picked up the tank, and with care placed it inside the building before returning to the storage area. I bought two more cans, placing each one inside the home. Finally, I returned with one of the ordinary petrol canisters. Inside the hollow lie were three large propane tanks, sitting quietly, waiting. I lifted up the petrol cannister over the cracked window and opened the cap. The clear, strong-smelling liquid, gushed out from the tank, and spread across the floor of the home, pooling around the tanks. I held the can in place till the noise of liquid splashing against the concrete stopped. With every last drop emptied I discarded the cannister inside. A strong acrid smell poured from the building, burning the inside of my nose. The whole process had taken an hour, and I could already begin to make out the slightest hints of the sun rising in the east. I hurriedly pulled out the lighter from my pocket. I flicked the ignition hard. However, the old artifact had rusted, and it was hard to get it to come to life. I flicked the ignition maybe four or five times before the briefest of flames, and the smallest of sparks jumped from the lighter. It was all that was needed. The smallest of embers fell to the ground, landing among the fumes rising from the liquid, immediately igniting. Fire spread out from the window ledge and ran into the home. Flames leaped from the floor, painting the walls in oranges, reds, and yellows. I could feel the roasting heat rise from inside and I know it wouldn’t take long for the pressure in the tanks to overflow. I quickly ran back to the perimeter wall and climbed back over, retreating to the forest. From there, I trekked along the wall until I was level with where the prisoners were kept. I could do nothing now but wait and hope that the fire took hold. The minutes that followed were torture. The sky to the East was getting brighter by the moment, and I was beginning to mutter to myself from the sheer anxiety, bargaining with some universal force to let my plan go as I hoped. Then, it happened. There was a boom, a mighty roar that pushed the leaves of the trees back in fright. From behind the wall, I watched as the sky was filled with a huge fireball, a bright orb that made it seem like the sun had already risen. It gave way to a magnificent fire that stretched up like a beacon, calling all to its presence. The citadel, or at least some part of it, was aflame. I climbed back over the wall and ran towards the building where the prisoners were kept. As I hoped, the event was big enough to have distracted the guard outside, and they had already abandoned their post to deal with the larger crisis. I walked up to the door and shouted as loud as I could. “Stand back, away from the door, quick.” I counted to three before firing two gunshots at the lock of the door. Wood splintered and metal snapped, and with one final kick, the door was open. “Get out. Tell everyone you can.” The prisoners ran out onto the grass, running in whichever direction felt safest. Last to reach the door was Jacob. “Thank you,” I said. “It was worth it.” I paused for a moment. “Do you want to come too? We could escape together.” He hobbled out the door. “You think that fall was all fake? Nah, I’m not getting out of here quickly enough.” “You’ve got to escape,” I insisted. He looked to the fire. “Half the island will have seen what you just did, and they’re all about to rush up here to help. There’s nothing I need to escape anymore.” He smiled at the pillows of smoke spreading over the Citadel. “You go. There will still be plenty of people who would gladly shoot you dead. It’s too late to save the Citadel, but not too late for their revenge.” I patted him on the arm. He patted mine back. And we parted. \ It was time to escape from the island. But if I were to survive out on the seas, visiting different islands, I would need to eat and pay for transport and shelter. I needed money. I headed to the front of the Citadel, and barged into one of the council member’s homes. I walked to the front of the house where I found a small canvas bag. I picked it up and began grabbing anything small enough to carry. Delicate gold jewelry, subtly carved trinkets, and of course artifacts; numerous small plastic boxes to which I had no idea of the purpose and a couple of handfulls of the lighters piled in that glass cabinet. I filled the bag with as much as I could, and then headed outside. I opened the door, stepping out into the dawn. It took maybe a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light. When they did, I saw the glint of the gun pointed at me. “Stop,” the guard said. His voice was strained, his hands trembling. His eyes darted around him searching. “Put down the bag.” I lowered the bag, and raised my hands. “It’s okay. I’m not going to cause any trouble.” “You already have,” the guard replied. His fingers twitched on the trigger. I thought of the gun still tucked in my waistband hidden by my shirt. Did I have time to pull it? Could I beat his reactions? More importantly, was I prepared to shoot it? My thoughts were broken by voices rising from the Citadel entrance. I looked left, as around the corner came a dozen or so citizens arriving to help. Some carried blankets; others labored with tubs of water carried between many people. The guard lowered the gun and turned to them. “You’re not allowed here.” “We’ve come to help,” responded a woman carrying a bucket. “We can help.” “Turn back,” the guard shouted. “Turn back, or...” I could see his arm twitch, as he thought about raising the gun on them. “Don’t,” I warned him. “They can’t be here.” “But they are. It’s over. You can’t protect the Citadel anymore.” The citizens continued their march up the path, helping each other carry the buckets and supplies through the entranceway. “You’ve ruined everything. You don’t understand.” The guard was shaking. “Do you know what they are going to do to us when they find out? Do you know what will happen? They’re going to kill me, my family...” “You aren’t the enemy. Not anymore,” I said. The guard shook his head. He looked to the crowd of people walking past him, paying him no mind as they headed to save the Citadel. He turned the pistol it in his hand, inspecting it. His shoulders slumped, and he threw his gun away from him as far as he could. The guard fell back, landing in a seated position, before turning to watch the citizens walk up the path. “Just go,” he said. I didn’t say another word. I simply grabbed my bag and ran for the entrance. There were a number of bikes by the entrance, propped up against the wall by those coming to rescue the Citadel. I grabbed the first one I saw, and began my ride back home. With the Citadel on fire, and myself heading towards the sea, I began to relax. Sunrise had arrived, and the cool Winter air felt invigorating rather than bitter. At the Citadel people would be panicking, but out here was peace. I parked the bike back at my old house. I stepped inside and grabbed a few essentials - a few changes of clothes, what money I had, and of course most importantly paper and pencils. When I stepped outside again, the sun was casting long thin shadows across the ground, and people were busy starting their day. I began walking down the road outside my house, hanging my head low, trying not to draw attention to my disheveled appearance. My eyes were fixed on the small square meter of ground in front of me, and in my restricted vision, I failed to realize who I was walking towards. “Ferdinand? Is that you?” I looked up. There, staring at me, trying to reach my eyes was Thomas. “How are you? I haven’t seen you in weeks.” He went to walk up to me, but after a couple of paces, he seemed to take in my appearance - the ill-fitting clothes, the weak muscles, the loose pale skin. Seeing it seemed to instinctively repulse him, and he stopped where he was. “What happened to you?” he asked. “They told me you were promoted and moved to the Citadel. I tried to reach out, but didn’t hear anything.” I opened my mouth to speak. But I wasn’t quite sure what to say. How could I summarize everything that had happened? The Citadel was a lie, the dream we had been working for was a farce. I had been imprisoned for discovering the lie, and I had near-killed myself escaping. Right now, words weren’t a priority. My silence was interrupted by a large thunderous roar from the citadel. The fire must have spread and caught another propane tank, maybe even the storage area. I looked over Thomas’s shoulder to the sky. Thick black smoke was billowing out from the direction of the Citadel, the fringes of the fire visible as pale light reaching above the trees. People turned to look. Many held their hands to their mouths or gasped as they realized the smoke’s origin. A few people even began to walk in the direction of the Citadel, feeling the call to help. Thomas caught my gaze and turned too, and like others was entranced by the blanket of black covering the blue sky. I took my chance at his distraction and fled, running down a small gap between two buildings. I weaved my way between the homes until I came across a thin pebbly beach, and an old rowing boat lying on the sand. I grabbed the boat and dragged it into the sea until I could feel it begin to float on the surface. The icy waters grabbed at my ankles, as I lifted myself and my bag into the boat. As I rowed out to sea, my back facing the horizon, I looked in front of me at the Kadear Coalfields. I had never seen the island from here before. Seeing the island as its full width, it suddenly seemed so small, so insignificant. At the centre of the island the flames were still burning and creeping over the tops of the trees. That thick tube of burning gas and wood continued to ring out like a bell, beckoning people to come its way and find out the truth. Whatever was to become of the Kadear Coalfieilds was for other people to decide. My island may have gone, but there were a hundred others like it to explore. I didn’t have a house anymore, no place to live. Yet, now that everything had passed I was out on the sea, living my long-hoped-for dream. Whatever happened, I was closer to home than I had ever been.