So we fished out a piece of cardboard and huddled it and the third match lit it. And we stayed huddled until it was well burning, then Serena lowered it into the bin. At the last minute she panicked and dropped it, but it stayed lighting in one corner. And then it started to burn and then there was a whoosh and the petrol caught. We got back fast enough. But I could smell burnt hair. We high-fived twice. We were laughing. The petrol was burned out now, but the cardboard was up and some plastic water bottles and bits of twigs were beginning to light. And smoke was starting, black horrible smoke. And the whole circa two hundred acres/circa eighty hectares was going to fill up with our polluted poison smoke. Suddenly I just thought this was a bad idea from the start, how did I ever go along with it?

I backed away but Serena stayed. She was standing sideways to me. Her face was the same as that morning I woke up and she was asleep beside me in her dinosaur onesie. Now I knew the word for it: serene. She was serene and the flames glowed in her eyes. Serena Serene, Serene Serena. It was beautiful. Maybe like something from Clash of the Titans. I took a shot of her standing like that but the flash is off and when I looked at it afterwards all you could see was a red glow from the bin and something like the ghost of Serena on the edge.

Serena, Serena, I whispered. We need to stop.

She looked at me. She was out of it. The fire idk took hold of her or something. She was in an altered state.

We need to go, I said, we’ll get caught getting back. And they might see the fire.

She grinned. Then she turned and ran at the window. She sort of just totally threw herself at it. She actually broke it but it didn’t shatter. A lightning down the middle. I could see it. She was probably expecting double-glazing but it must have been strong glass anyway. Old guys’ houses like this never have double-glazing. And a bell started to ring. Like a totally old bell, like something from a film about an old prison. I shouted to Serena and I ran. When I got to the trees she wasn’t with me. I looked back at the fire but she wasn’t there either. There was a light in the room with the broken window and I could see the old guy and someone else behind, maybe the housekeeper. The bin was melting and losing shape. It was slowly turning into a blob. The smoke was terrible. The wind was blowing in my direction and I could feel my throat closing against it. A light was on in an upstairs room.

Fuck you, Serena, I said.

I couldn’t see her.