oblivion [warning: character death]

watching you shine bright
i'll wave goodbye tonight...

The moment the knife left his hand, Caleb felt dread wash over him in a painful wave. He could feel his clothes getting drenched with sweat. The fire golem was relentless, spreading flames everywhere, and its heat could be enough to vaporize him if he was near enough the source. With the growing fire, Caleb held a sweaty palm up to cover his mouth and nose from the toxic smoke. But at what the creature did next, he need not have bothered. The golem shot a stream of red-hot fire at Cabin 12's remaining wall. Through his fogged up glasses, Caleb saw the once solid object burn and crack against the fire. Flaming pieces of stone broke free and collapsed on the sea of fleeing and screaming campers. Caleb was not among those who screamed. His eyes only widened as it rained fire.

Caleb managed to avoid the first rock but barely. He grew vaguely aware of the growing fire on the sleeve of his shirt. The flames had singed it, but before Caleb could do anything to quench the fire, he had to keep his gaze directed upward at the seemingly vermilion sky. Fire was everywhere. Fire was falling.

The heat of it all consumed him in a rush. A hoarse shriek ripped his throat as he fell on all fours on the dry ground, hacking coughs wracking his body, and before long he felt sudden pain as something hard and heavy hit his side. The collision made him roll over to his back, his body facing skyward. Through his half-closed and teary eyes he saw more rocks fall. The pain was still there, it burned so painfully that he couldn't help the screams escaping his lips. Everything was burning and rocks were pinning him to the ground and slowly it was robbing him of everything - movement, consciousness, air... life.

And Caleb saw his life flash before his eyes. He saw the faint image of his mother's smiling face from a distance, felt the desperate urge to reach out but his arm felt like lead under a flaming stone which had just fallen. The pain was fading into some sort of numbness now, a dull ache that Caleb could still feel but he could no longer get his voice to scream. His throat burned, parched as if deprived of water, yet that sensation was slowly fading too. Caleb helplessly watched the orange fire-tinged sky blacken with the rockfall. Yet, even in the void, his mind's eye found comfort in his mother's smile... then suddenly it was someone else smiling... June. She looked the same, dark curls framing her face, deep brown eyes staring back at him. Her smile glowed, seemingly giving way to a new light, and for a fleeting second Caleb realized what was happening.

I'm sorry...

Gasping for air, he forced the corner of his bloody lips upwards for the final time. His vision was dimming...

No more chances...

June's smiling face still filled his mind but was quickly slipping away like everything else. Caleb struggled to hold on to it. He needed to talk to June for one last time. Tell her one last thing. He tried to force his eyes open but his sight was already black. A tear squeezed out of the corner of his eye, cascading down his cut cheek.

I lo -

But Caleb's last tear was buried deep, his last thought cut off by the sharp knife of a short life.