The smell of burning filled the air.
The smoke was faint but the stench was overwhelming.

Crackle, crackle.

The sound of embers burning reached my ears,
a familiar noise like that of burning firewood.

I murmured as I watched.

"How anticlimactic."

Pat, pat.

I brushed my clothes, and something black smeared onto my hand.
How bothersome.

It didn’t matter anyway, so I wiped it off carelessly.
With the tip of my foot, I nudged what lay on the ground.

The body that had struggled so much had finally grown still over time.
The screams that …