ball of fire.

I opened a can and ran up the stairs, draining the kerosene as I went. I stopped on the landing in front of the mirror to arrogantly pour a pool of liquid there. The eyes stared at me with flesh-creeping intensity. "Ah, now you know what I'm doing, and you can't stop me! I'll burn you from inside out! From core to skin!" I screamed. The Lyceum shrieked a thunderous roar of flaming fury as the lobby erupted in fire.

I raced up the steps and down the hall and into Room 6 pouring the kerosene as I went. "This is where your dark soul resides. You killed my brother and father in this room because this is where you live."

A loud crash from the lobby and the sound of breaking glass interrupted my thought. The street lamp outside went out. My pen light stabbed at the dark as I soaked the old mattress and furniture with kerosene. Before I left the room, I looked in the cracked mirror above the old dresser. Ghoulish eyes, as bright as a laser, stared back at me. I laughed aloud and poured more kerosene on the dresser. I mockingly put the empty can there in front of the mirror.

"I've got you now. There's nothing you can do to keep me from killing you. Burn and go to hell. Did you think you could get away with it?" I remembered a quotation from somebody and derisively shouted, 'Since I was born, your death began its walk.' You thought you killed the family, but you didn't count on me, did you? Now you'll see how wrong you were. I'll burn your insides out and destroy your very structure. You'll die."

As if in answer, the broken room door slammed shut and was barred by a floating dark shape. The face of my father appeared alongside the dark presence. Then he was joined by another -- the face of my brother. Both slowly turned from me and stared into the dark shape. They all merged into one twisting, shapeless form whirling around in the blackness of the room.

I jumped for the door, jerked it open, and leapt out as part of the floor collapsed. The room filled with flame and smoke. I ran for the upstairs exit trailing kerosene after me. "Nice try, but you're too slow. My whole adult life I've planned your destruction, and I'll make it as painful as possible. I'm ready for you!" I shrieked.

I saturated the hall splashing kerosene on the walls and carpet, laughing at the sounds of exploding glass, from the raging fire downstairs. Smoke seeped through the threadbare carpet like steam in a sauna. I couldn't wait until the fire totally engulfed the upstairs.

Throwing the nearly empty can back in the hallway I put my hand on the knob to open the door. It didn't turn. There was no key in the lock. The ear-rending roar of the holocaust was intense. Fingers of flame were appearing between the cracks in the hall floor, and a curtain of fire was at the top of the landing licking out in all directions. Then a scorching holocaust of flaming destruction exploded out of Room 6 and rolled and boiled towards me with the sound of a freight train.

The horrific noise almost deafened me. I hit the old door with all my strength and felt the frame crack, but the door didn't open. The walls alongside of me burst into flame. Any second my clothes would start to burn. In a frenzy, I smashed through the door and plunged out into the night air.

But I hadn't escaped the clutches of the Lyceum. I still had to descend the metal steps to the ground, and the Lyceum had one last chance to get me. There was an unbroken first floor window on the side of the building alongside of the stairs. If I were across from it when it exploded, I would be lacerated by a myriad of glass slivers that would cut through clothes and flesh. That's what the evil hotel wanted. The Lyceum could still kill me.

A ghastly noise from the inside signaled the collapse of the second floor. I looked up and saw flames dancing on the roof. It would go soon, and when it did the outside walls would collapse. I was immersed in thick, choking smoke and had trouble keeping my eyes open.

I had three choices. I could stay where I was and hope the wall and attached metal steps would remain standing when the roof collapsed. I could jump to the ground from the second floor and hope I wouldn't break anything because I'd still have to get away from the stone wall if it collapsed. Or I could try to race down the steps past the window before it exploded with its shiny slivers of flying death.

Another thunderous crash shook the metal steps violently. The fire burned itself through the roof. Volcanic flame erupted at least thirty feet high into the black night as the consuming fire ate out the wooden