*Burns?*

She'd always been cold...so cold. And now, she felt as though something was awakening within her, something which made her wonder what exactly the beautiful thing was. Perhaps it could help her, as impossible as it sounded, because it was so much more special that she could ever hope to be. Wild, free, unrestrained...beautiful.

She was right in front of it now, watching as it almost beckoned her with the many fingers it had. Should she touch it? Perhaps it would make her warmer still. She was tired of being cold.

She reached out hesitantly, and then- she cried out in pain, staring at the burn on her fingers. What had it done to her? What she had touched was no benevolent plaything that wanted to warm her. It was something dangerous, something cruel.

But she still stared at it, unable to tear herself away. It seemed to be beckoning to her again. Had it made a mistake, perhaps? Maybe it was trying to apologise. Surely something that called out to her so much wouldn't be deliberately harmful. She ought to try again.

She reached out, again, and this time she almost screamed, tears falling down her eyes as she stared at the burnt flesh. It hurt more than it had the first time, because this time she had expected it to be nice to her.
"Why are you doing this?" she said softly. "I didn't do anything to you."

The flames crackled away, jumping and falling, without giving any sign that it could hear her. But still, she stared at it in morbid fascination. Hesitantly, she held out her hand again to it, begging it not to hurt her. When it burnt again, she didn't scream. Tears fell from her eyes, but she never said anything more it, as she cradled her burnt hand, pushing it to her chest.

And she realized that the longer time she spent staring at the beautiful - dangerous- thing, she would lose her resolve and touch it again, and it would hurt. It would always hurt, and there would be no answer, no explanations given.

So she moved away. She moved away, back to her cold corner. She missed the warmth and she missed the fire, but she didn't want to go back there. It just wasn't worth it, trusting something that had burnt her even after she had begged it not to. And she didn't want that burn again.