Kree slowly sat down, still pale as if she had seen a ghost.
Chris, Kree's father, came out into the kitchen, "What's going on?" he looked at Kree with concern and knelt down in front of her, "Are you okay? Are you ill?"
Kree slowly shook her head, and Chris looked up at his wife for an answer, who also still looked concerned. She turned away as she continued making dinner, "Kree just saw a house that spooked her. I don't really agree with Kree having a job that keeps her out until 7 pm, because it starts getting dark."
Chris sighed as he stood up, "I told you that it teaches her responsibility," then her turned to his daughter, "I'm sure that everything will become familiar to you soon, sweetheart. This is all just so new that you're giving yourself the creeps."
Lily gave Chris a dirty look and sat a plate in in front of Kree, "Eat. You are probably tired from all the running."
Chris sighed again as he sat down and started eating his own dinner. He noticed that Kree was just stirring her food around her plate, and Lily was slamming stuff down on the table.
No one had agreed to the move, but after being laid off from his job, he had nowhere else to go. This was the only job opportunity that took him.
Kree finally put her fork down, "Can I go to bed now?" her voice was quiet, too quiet. It sounded like she wanted to talk, wanted to be able to trust someone, but knew she couldn't. It broke Chris' heart.
Lily only nodded. Lily was too quiet, too. What was happening to his family?

Chapter 1

Year 2013

The night was cold and dark as she stumbled on the dirt road. "Just a few more blocks to go." she told herself.
Kree continued walking. There were no stars tonight, and it was somewhat hard for her to find her way.
The road was deserted, and she gasped as she noticed the house on her right. The lights had suddenly come on. Kree walked slowly towards the house, but the closer she walked, the less of a house it looked. Instead, it looked like an old, dilapidated prison facility. It gave Kree the creeps.
A cold shiver ran down her spine, and sweat started forming on her brow, "I've never noticed this before." she whispered under her breath. The chills were no longer from the cold as she continued to stare at the building.
Finally, she turned around and ran. Her mom looked up with a start when Kree slammed the door to their home.
Kree stood against the door, panting. Her heart was still pounding in fear.
Lily raced to her daughter and put her hand to her daughter's forehead, "Kree...are you okay? What's wrong?"
Kree didn't seem to hear her at first, but then she looked up as she started calming down, "There was this...house. I have never seen it before. It was so creepy." Kree shivered once again as she remembered the barred windows. She could have sworn she had seen a shadow behind one of them.
Lily looked at Kree worriedly for a minute and then led her to the table, "Sit down. Dinner is almost ready."

Walking On Fire

Prologue

Year 1922

"Yep, he's going away for a long time." the guard said and cackled. He held a ring of keys in his hands and whistled as he walked down the long hallway.
The young man who was with him hustled to keep up to the guard. His heart was pounding as he kept looking behind him. Why did he feel like this man was not truly behind a bullet proof cage?
The nutty laughter of the insane echoed down the hallway, sending shivers down the spines of those who are not used to it. However, there was laughter from one man whose laughter made it sound like he was right behind you.
Jeremy looked behind himself constantly, but the old guard walked on confidently, whistling to himself, unaware of Jeremy's hesitation.
Finally, John turned around, "What's wrong?" he waited a second for a response before laughing, "You're not afraid, are you? Stop being a pussy. He can't get out."
He was wrong. Dead wrong. Sure, the body would be locked up forever. The soul was a different story. The soul can escape. The next thing Jeremy saw was a ghostly figure racing past him. He heard John's loud screams as the figure ate him from the inside out within a second.
Jeremy didn't have time to think, let alone run for his very life before the figure turned towards him. Blood sprayed on the walls as his screams echoed down the halls of the insane.
The soul of Kiran Kragen was free, and there was no escape...

Epilogue

There are no words to describe how I felt. The depression cut deep into my heart like daggers. This was not something I was going to recover quickly from.

That is what I thought on the plane ride home. That is what I thought when I was finally able to go back to work. That is what I thought when Jessica walked up to me and told me that I returned looking like a zombie. She knew that not even she could fix this pain of actually seeing death for the first time. 

Life does not last long, death does. With death comes emptiness, loneliness, and the heartbreak. Maybe one day there will be hope, but it's not today....

The End

Jewel looked at Jacob with pleading doggy eyes. It almost made me sick. "You don't want to do this, brother."
"It's for our own good." he pulled out the ring. His hand was visibly shaking.
Shawn stood up, and his face paled even more, "No!" he stood up and ran towards Jacob.
"Jacob, move!" I screamed out.
But I was too late. Shawn hit Jacob at full force, trying to get the ring. It didn't work. All three of them-Jacob, Shawn, and the ring (Jewel) fell into the lava. The screaming did not last long...

But something else caught my eye. I turned to see Jewel standing right beside us, sighing in exasperation, "Shawn, I'm right here, and not inside that ring."
Shawn gasped and looked up. He prostrated himself on the ground. It was actually quite pathetic. "My queen...what do you mean?"
"Jacob didn't give her the real ring, you idiot!"
I looked at Jacob in shock, "What?"
Jacob looked away. His jaw tensed, "No offense, but I didn't trust you...or him." he glared at Shawn.
Shawn was just now realizing what was going on. He angrily threw the ring into the lava and slowly stood up, "Give me the ring." he said in an ominous tone that sent chills up and down my spine.
I, however, was still not done with Jacob, "Well, why the hell should I trust you with the ring? She is your sister after all."
Right after I said that, I could see the doubt written in his own eyes. I could see how hard it was on him. I almost felt bad-almost. "She is my sister," he said quietly, "And always will be." His voice caught on a sob, "But I have to do this."
Realizing that Shawn was useless, Jewel turned her attention to her brother, "Jacob...please don't do this. Remember when we were children, you said you would always be there to protect me..."
"I am protecting you from yourself." Jacob's jaw tensed. He knew that there was no other way, and he was intent on his mission.

Jacob didn't waste any time in climbing down the rock face into the volcano. I was hesitant. Apparently, I valued my life more than he valued his.
I gulped down my fear as I started to climb down. A rock fell and bounced, landing in the middle of the lake of lava. This was not comforting to me, and I squealed in fear.
"I am right below you. I will catch you if you fall." he said gently.
That had the calming effect that I desperately needed. I was able to make it down to the bottom safely. Jacob stood there, and I took the ring out of my pocket that he had given me, but all of a sudden, it was taken from me.
I stared at my empty hand and then looked up. Shawn was standing by the lava, his greedy hands all over the ring, "My Jewel, my precious Jewel."

When we reached the top, it was a relief, and I sunk to the ground, feeling that the mission was truly over, and I could be back on an airplane in a couple of hours. Needless to say, it was not that simple.
First, I got to find out the true reason of why it looked to be an erupting volcano. The lava was closer to the surface than Jacob had realized. What was worse-we had to get closer to it to make sure that the ring actually got destroyed.
I gulped as I envisioned hot flames devouring me hungrily. As you can imagine, it was not a pretty picture, and I was not looking forward to what lied ahead...

Chapter 4

Jacob had me lean on him for support as we walked up the mountain. My leg was starting to heal, however, so I wasn't complaining half as much as before.
It took us half a day to reach the top of the mountain. We had to take several breaks along the way, because my body was still not as fit as it should have been.

Finally, Jacob stopped dead in his tracks, and I almost ran into him. He pointed to a mountain in the distance.
I took this moment to stop and put my hands on my knees to breathe while I looked at where he was pointing. Fire was coming out of the mountain, and it look like an..."Erupting volcano!" my voice squeaked.
"It's not erupting," there was laughter in Jacob's voice, and my face face flushed with embarrassment, "It just looks that way to scare off people."
"Oh." I looked at the mountain again as I slowly stood up to my full height.
Shawn was quiet as always, but I was no longer feeling alarmed. He was just an obsessive idiot.
Jacob started walking again. Of course, me and Shawn followed him. It wasn't until we got to the foot of the mountain that I noticed that I noticed that Shawn was gone. "Where is Shawn?" I asked, looking around us.
Jacob looked around also, but then he shrugged his shoulders, "Could be he got tired of following us around like a lost puppy, or maybe he got lost. We will keep an eye out for him.
I will always wish that we hadn't underestimated Shawn the way that we had...

The next day, we had to start early. For some reason, Jacob decided that he was going to carry me part of the way.
I laid my head against his chest and forced myself to relax. Jacob, however, was tense and would not relax until he set me down on my own two feet. "It's best if you try to walk on your own for awhile."
I nodded as I winced against the pain and started walking slowly. It didn't hurt as bad as it did before, so i was able to walk a little bit faster. I could even keep up better.
The only thing that was really difficult was going uphill.

Jacob looked back at me, and I felt my heart hammering against my will. Jacob took out his pocket knife once again. He started building a fire and made Shawn put what he had gathered into the fire. 

He put his pocket knife over the fire. He looked at me, and for the first time, I saw genuine concern in his eyes, "This is going to hurt a lot."

He put the edge of the knife against my wound, and I screamed. Jacob winced, and Shawn almost looked like he was bored. 

Finally, Jacob took the knife away and placed me next to the fire as he took off his shirt and wrapped it around my leg. 

"It's going to heal now." Jacob said as he prepared camp. 

I started shivering until I finally fell asleep...

However, after walking a few more miles, it was getting harder and harder not to complain. "How many more miles?" I tired to sound nonchalant.
"Oh about fifteen."
"FIFTEEN?!" I wanted to scream, but I knew that it was not going to get us there any faster.
Yeah, sure. Fifteen miles didn't sound like a whole lot, but try walking that distance, along with a swollen calf.
Shawn was definitely not willing to help in any way, shape, or form. Jacob suddenly stopped and turned around, his jaw tense, "You must carry the ring now. However, under no circumstances should you put it on. Do you understand?"
I slowly nodded, in awe that I was allowed to be the actual ring bearer once again. Shawn was watching as Jacob handed me the ring, and I put it in my pocket. His eyes seemed to get darker, and a shiver ran down my spine.
I started limping as quickly as possible, trying to ignore the pain as best as I could. We walked a whole 'nother mile before we stopped to make camp. By then, my leg really felt like giving out on me, and I collapsed onto the ground.
Jacob knelt beside me and looked at my leg, "Damn! It's infected."
"What?!" I started hyperventilating.
Jacob ignored me and looked at Shawn, "You, go get some stuff for a fire."
Shawn hesitated and glared at Jacob before doing what he was told.