The Regulator (Complete First Draft)

Chapter 28: Seth - Sheep

It was late, almost sunset. This was one of Seth’s favorite times of the day. After the boys had played all their games and were just about to go to dinner, Seth would take just a little time for himself, do whatever he wanted. Today he had decided he would just try and build a fire in the fire pit outside the cabin. He had never made one before, but he had seen a couple cartoons and had a feeling that he could figure it out.

Seth carried a bunch of sticks over to the fire pit and dropped them in it. He then sat down, reached in, grabbed to sticks, and began furiously rubbing them together, trying to get a spark. He rubbed as hard as he could for about a minute, but nothing happened. There wasn’t even a little smoke. Seth sighed, but then tried again, this time even harder. So hard, he didn’t notice the footsteps walking up behind him.

Suddenly, several dry leaves and pine needles fell over Seth’s head and into the fire pit. “Hey!” Seth cried out, turning around expecting to see Anthony or Danny or someone. Instead he saw a man. A large man, covered in dirt and grime. He was wearing a suit jacket with no shirt under it, dress pants, and some kind of garment over the jacket. He was also barefoot. Seth jumped back, initially thinking the man was undead, but it was soon pretty clear the man was alive. The man stared down at Seth, and Seth looked at him. The man was scary. He wasn’t acting threatening or doing anything scary, but his sudden presence and appearance were frightening Seth. The man leaned down towards the fire pit, and began to organize the sticks, leaves, and needles in an orderly fashion. He then took one stick, stuck it on top of one more, and quickly twisted back and forth in between his hands. Soon enough there was smoke, then heat, then a small fire had formed in the pit. Seth watched with awe and interest as the man wordlessly worked. The man began blowing on the fire, making it larger and larger until it had engulfed the entire structure he had created and was now burning in full force. The man stood up and looked at Seth again.

“Were it so easy, so fragile, sheep?” The man said rather suddenly, looking at Seth. Seth was startled as the man now gave him an interested look, as if he was waiting for a response. Seth turned and looked at the fire, watching one of the sticks break after burning too much, he then looked back at the man. The man opened his mouth once more, but closed it without saying anything. He turned and walked slowly, calmly, back into the woods.