wildfire

You can still see the fire from the refugee camps. It's a constant glow on the horizon, and of course there's smoke. I didn't think that much smoke was possible.

I guess I should probably be upset that everything I own was destroyed. I packed a little bag of things before I escaped, but it's not much. Just whatever I could grab. The property damage and loss of life is incredible. Sometimes I'll be awake when a fireman comes back into the camp, and he says he doesn't think the fire's ever going to stop. It'll just keep burning and burning.

But there's something really pretty about it all, and I was feeling so alone in that town. It's probably just ash and cinders now. I'm not alone here. They like me here at the camp because I have a dark sense of humor and I don't get discouraged by the reports we keep hearing. I make them smile. And there's a girl whose whole life got destroyed who talks to me about it. About how she used to have problems, and now they're gone, and she's not sure what to think.

Tonight, before she went to sleep, she said that she felt hopeful because of me. The fires are still burning and everything I've ever known or loved is gone, but tonight I'm actually smiling. I don't remember the last time I really smiled.