Forty-six

Many, many years ago.....

°

All she ever loved was destroyed in the fire.

It was a miracle that she survived. Only twelve years old, her childhood had ended on that night. She could still see the flashing gold flames that leaped into the sky, licking at a sparkling backdrop of stars; she had been thrown on her back by the blast, tumbling across wet grass to skid to a halt at the base of a wooden fence. Tears stung her eyes and her hands shook, red and burned by the flash of heat.