The Mysterious Green Flame

CW: language

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling and it was almost dark. Angelina’s auburn hair sparkled as she paced in what little moonlight we had. Luna sat on the ground trying to start a fire, but was only getting sparks. Harry was setting up a tent in between some trees. The tent was small, but just enough for four people.

“I can’t believe we’re stuck here.”

“Well, technically, we’re not stuck we’re-”

“No offense Luna, but shut up.”

“Sorry.”

Luna could be great, smart and funny, but sometimes, she didn’t know when to be quiet. Her blonde-silver hair fluttered in the cool midnight breeze.

“I got a fire.”

“Good job, but it’s a little too far away from the tent.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just carry it.”

“Won’t you burn yourself?”

“It’ll be fine.”

I picked up the twigs with the flame in the middle. It wasn’t too hot. The flame was a light orange and created a glow around my face. The twigs began to burn and soon I would just be holding the flame. I hurried to the tent. I looked for a clear spot to set it down.

I looked up at Luna. “Can you get some more sticks?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, Mattheo, the flame.” Harry pointed to the fire.

I looked down. The flame was green. And the twigs were almost completely burnt, and I would soon be holding the green flame in my bare hands.

“Oh shit. Um.”

“What does it mean?”

The snow began to swirl around us, suffocating us in white.

“I don’t know what it means, but we need to get Luna and Angelina back here. Luna can’t be that far, but I think I saw Angelina walk away.”

“Yeah, I’ll go try and find them.”

“I’ll finish working on the tent.”

Harry went off and I was left alone with the green fire. My sweatshirt would probably end up smelling like smoke after this.

The tent was half set up and there was no floor. I looked for our backpack that held a tarp and blankets, but I couldn’t find it. The snow was starting to lay now, and Harry wasn’t back. I spotted a lump on the ground. It was the backpack. I dug through it and found the tarp. It was green and fluffy on one side, and the other side looked and felt like a normal tarp. It was half blanket, half tarp.

I laid the tarp down, fluffy side up and pinned down the sides using some nails in the bag. Then, I made sure there weren’t any holes in the tent. Harry and the girls still weren’t back.

This is why I should’ve gone to get them.

“Mattheo?” Luna's voice was muffled by the wind and snow.

“Luna? Is that you?”

“Yes. Where are you?” She sounded worried.

“Um, at the tent.”

I heard sticks cracking and Luna emerged from the trees beside me.

“Where’s Harry and Angelina?”

“I thought they were with you. I was collecting sticks. Here, by the way.” She showed me a large handful of sticks.

“Dump them on the fire.”

“It’s green.”

“I know. But we need heat.”

“Don’t you know what that means?”

“No, but I’ve gotta find Harry and Angelina.”

“Oh.”

“You can tell me when I get back. Stay here.”

“Ok.”

I grabbed a flashlight from the backpack and started off in the direction Harry went. The snow got thicker. It became harder to see.

“Harry? Angelina?”

“Mattheo… that… you… here…”

“I can’t understand you.”

I shined the flashlight around me.

“Say ‘here’ and move if you can hear me.”

“Here.” It sounded more muffled than before. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I shined the flashlight in that direction.

“Ow. What the hell! Not the eyes.”

“Sorry.”

Angelina and Harry came into view.

“Let’s get back before Luna worries her mind off. Besides, she said she knows what the green fire means.”

“Not surprising. She’s basically a genius.”

“How come you didn’t come back?”

“We couldn’t find Luna.”

“Oh. She came back a little bit ago.” They both stayed silent the rest of the walk back. The snow had gotten slower and wasn’t as blinding, but it was still hard to see. It was midnight and there was white everywhere. And, there was only a sliver of the moon to provide light. An hour ago, it was still a tiny bit light and the moon was directly above us. But now, it was somewhere behind us and the sky was pitch-black.

We got back to camp and we all sat down near the fire and waited for Luna to tell us about the green fire.

“So. What does the green fire mean?” Harry asked.

“Well, about 200 years ago, there was a man who believed in magic. He thought that people without it just couldn’t see it. So, he tried to invent ways to tell if there was magic near him. He created multiple ways, but none of them seemed to work. Until he came across an oddly colored fire. He was taking a walk in a forest near his house, and found a pre-lit fire with yellowish green flames. He started to call out and ask if any magical creatures were there. Nothing responded. He thought it meant whatever magical thing was there, had left. He then started to make fires and watch and record the colors.”

“So the fire means something magical is around us?”

“Maybe, Angelina. But there's something else you should know. When he died, 34 years later, he was outside testing one of his fires. His wife was at home, inside, and when she came out, she said she didn’t even know he was dead. She said he looked peaceful.”

“How did she find out he was dead, then?”

“I’m getting there, Harry. She said after an hour, he’d usually come in, but he didn’t. She went out to check on him and realized he was dead. She had known what the fires were for and was afraid some magical spirit killed him for trying to find out about them. She immediately burned his notebooks and diaries with any information in them about the fires. Then she moved to a different country, here actually, and that was the end of the fires.”

“So something magical is here?”

“I think so.”

“Great. We’re stuck here and something might want to kill us.”

“Not necessarily, Mattheo. Maybe it’s trying to communicate with us.”

“Yeah and tell us that it wants to kill us.”

Harry slapped my arm. “Shut up.”

“You shut up. I’m concerned that we’re all gonna die.”

“Guys, can we just go to bed?”

“Yes, please. Let’s go to bed.” Luna tugged on my sleeve.

“Um, guys. The fire.”

All of us looked at the fire and saw that it had risen at least two feet and was now a brighter green than before.

“Let’s just go to sleep.”

“Yeah.”

We climbed into the tent and tried not to think about the fire. It wasn’t a problem for me. My mind kept wandering to how we got here. 

Luna, Angelina, Harry and I had been talking in the forest near my house, getting ready to camp, and suddenly, everything went black and we all found ourselves here. Luna thinks it was magic, which the fire is now helping her case. I’m starting to believe it, myself.

~

I woke up first, naturally, and to my surprise the fire was back to normal. I usually didn’t sleep much. Luna was second, then Angelina. Harry slept in at least half an hour later than the rest of us. We all sat near the fire and debated on what to eat. The backpack had energy bars, water bottles, and some fruit. We had intended to eat a real breakfast at my house, not in an unknown forest.

“Luna, how do you know about that fire stuff?”

“Speaking of fire, it’s back to normal.” No one seemed to hear Angelina but me.

“Well Harry, that man happened to be my great uncle.”

“You’re related to him?! That’s probably why the fires green and that’s why we’re here and-”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. You’re just hungry and it’s getting to your head.”

“It does make sense,” Angelina pointed out.

“I guess.”

“So what are we gonna eat?”

“Probably the energy bars. That way they can last a little while and give us more energy.”

“No, we should eat the fruit. They’ll go bad first.”

“But that’s barely anything.”

“If I would’ve known we were gonna be stuck in a random forest, I would've brought more.”

“You should’ve been prepared, just in case.”

“How was I supposed to know or even think about, ‘Oh what if we’re all “teleported” to a random place and we don’t have enough food. I better pack extra.’ Do you think I would’ve thought of that? No.”

“Well, you could’ve packed more than granola bars and strawberries.”

“I thought we would be eating inside, in a house, not a fucking forest!”

“Watch the language.”

“Shut up, will you?”

“Guys-”

“Don’t you dare tell me to shut up.”

“Guys-”

“Harry, shut up.”

“GUYS!”

“What?”

“The fire.”

We all looked towards the fire. It had changed color, again. This time, it was blue.