Chapter 2: Smoldering Silently

This is the second installment in an ongoing fictional storyline. The first installment can be found at Born of Smoke and Flame.

There must be order in chaos, even when we can’t see it. I pull my scarf and the collar of my coat more tightly around my neck as I watch the clumps of snow fall between the thin curtain of sleety rain. A few days of above-freezing temperatures have spoiled Green Bay with the insincere promise of Spring, and now we’re left feeling like fools.

There are no fluffy flakes today, no shimmering blanket of white dust to cover the ground. This snow, where and when it falls, falls in what can best be described as “glops”. There is a seemingly random quality to the frequency of the glops, but in another way, it doesn’t seem random at all. It’s as if there’s a bigger plan for them that I’m just not able to see quite yet.

My face is cold, but I threw my balaclava away after the fire. I couldn’t risk that any of my clothing from that night would be found. I’ve not been able to bring myself to buy a new one.

Word of the fire won’t seem to die here in Navarino, and I’ve even begun hearing it around other parts of Green Bay. Sometimes…