Song: “Witness” by McLachlan, Sarah from Surfacing

From his window, on clear nights, late, he could see the fire. He did not know where it came from. Probably a car disposal lot or maybe a tent city. It doesn’t matter to him, he only knows it is beautiful.

He burned the city for her, burned so many of those who did not appreciate her. Wiped them from existence with the hot red-orange tongues of his vengeance. He did it all for her, all for her perfection. But, of course, they had to punish him for it. They mocked his mission, his purpose, because they knew it gave him strength and they were jealous of his commitment to her and how, inevitably, she would honor him for what he did.

They do not let her visit. He knows this. He knows she must want to see him as much as he wants to see her because she understands why he did what he did. He knows they are keeping them apart. It makes him weep sometimes, imagining her desperately trying to get to him, to feel him, to confirm their connection.

It is all nearly too much.

But then there are the clear nights. Where he can see the fire. Then he closes his eyes and he can almost hear it, crackling, consuming, and smell it, and feel its heat. And he knows. He knows for sure then. Soon.