Phoenix

“Burn the witch! Burn the witch!”

“January! January!”

“Esme-”

“January!”

“Es-”

Choking on the smoke, January flailed uselessly, jangling the manacles above their head that held them to the stake. “Es-Esme-” Chin dropping down onto their chest, they coughed weakly. Dizzyingly, January’s head spun and their eyelids drooped, stinging with smoke. Uncontrollable tears rolled down their face from the pain, and their face felt numb from all the coughing. Their ears rang, and all the noise around them blurred together into one, messy flow of sound. “Esm-” a hacking cough shuddered through January’s body, and they went limp.

Cheers erupted through the crowd as the blaze caught onto the hem of January’s filthy, battered smock that had once been the rich colour of cream, but had deteriorated into a smudged, greyish brown colour from age. Because they had been soaked in oil prior to being chained to the stake, the flames spread quickly. A sharp, all-consuming pain overcame every sensation in January’s body. They opened their mouth, but their throat was already too raw from smoke inhalation for them to be able to do much more than croak and gasp in more of the acrid black smog. As burning, white-hot flames licked their chin, January managed to just barely lift their face and look the town mayor dead in the eye, the fight not yet completely gone from their eyes. “Damn you.”

Wordlessly, the mayor tossed another torch into the fire. Mustering up all the strength left in them, January spat in his general direction. They had neither the energy or proximity to actually be able to hit him, but they were fine with just the symbolism of the gesture. As their vision blinked out, January drew a shuddering breath, choked yet again on the smoke, and didn’t move any more. The crowd watched on as January burned, and Esme stared, devastated. There were other friends of January’s at the back of the crowd, who stared slack-jawed at the flames climbing their way up the stake.

Then their hand twitched.

Before anyone realised what was going on, January had torn themself from the chain, and was completely unscathed. Even the marks of the beatings the other townspeople had inflicted on them were miraculously gone without a trace. Stumbling forward, they collapsed onto their knees in the dirt. People gasped and murmured, taking terrified steps back. January looked up at Esme, who hadn’t backed away with the rest of the crowd, smiled, then got to their feet, turning to the other townspeople. “You wanted a witch?” they spread their arms, laughing almost incredulously.

“Here’s your witch.”