Bones

Her hands tremble as she gives up on her search, lighting the second match in order to see her lantern, laying sideways and dejected just a few feet to her right. She scrambles over to it, her pace once again causing her to make a mistake. Aidan holds the match sideways, gasping and dropping it as the flames lick her fingers.

As she plunges into darkness once more, she grabs the saving grace she had been so close to lighting. The lantern feels familiar under her palms, and tears of relief burn at the back of her throat as she sets it on its base.

Aidan steadies her hands as she takes the last match in between her thumb and forefinger. With a practiced flourish, she strikes it and—

It didn’t light.

Photo by Allyson Arnold 15