It Came From the Ashes (excerpt)
Every window was broken after the fire burned so hot it shattered and then melted the glass. The crumpled bones of the home nestled in piles of carbon ash and half burned furniture. Blackened soot clung to every surface and swirled in minuscule eddies around the bygone kitchen. Only the appliances stood barely charred in the mostly carbonized remains of the cabinetry. The crumbled ceiling no longer bore the burden of the roof, and with relief a beam of yellow enlightened the folded countertop. In the halo, a ripe purple flower sprouted verdant from wetted ashes.
In the living room, the aged sectional and carpets burned to atomized hydrogen cyanide within a few moments. Only to be set free and dissipated to harmless density by the shattered windows. The empty skeletons of picture frames, a disintegrated coffee table, and the bones of a now bubbled and disfigured television. The subfloor collapsed into the crawl space. Enough time was passed to allow the minerals from the destruction to seep into the soil, past the collapsed underlayment and support beams. Enriched, the soil bred supple green flowers and plump beetles, which now skittered with vigor through the remains of the hallway.
A large area of exposed soil, wet with rain, rippled with movement. The soil roiled slow from beneath, uprooting young plants with weak roots. Translucent white mycelia snapped under the shudder, redirecting minuscule electric pulses and chemicals to other fungal limbs with their death rattle. Warning signals to the system brain. Other insects on the network turned away, leaving heightened pheromones along their path. The moving soil grew, widening to in size to occupy the whole bedroom.
With a heave, the soil collapsed. Ash and furniture and flooring swallowed into the abyss of empty space steadily growing to consume the entire structure.
To be continued….