The Matches

(You come across a pack of matches that sets off a series of uncanny events. Start your story with “My mother always told me not to play with fire.” End it with “And that’s how I ended up in the middle of nowhere—naked.”)

My mom always told me to never play with fire. But when I saw the pack of matches sitting by the pilot's seat of my plane, I picked them up. How did these get here?

I put the plane in autopilot so I could examine the box further. Maybe someone had slipped a little present in the box and left it for me to find? I opened it up, and my heart sank when I saw that it was just full of matches. I pulled one out and lit it.

"Ow!" I hissed, and dropped the lit match. As I shook my stinging hand, the match lit the carpet of the plane on fire. I tried stomping the flames out, but the fire spread faster than I could stomp. Within moments, the cockpit was engulfed in flames. Like all good pilots, I always made sure I had a fire extinguisher on board, but the flames were between me and it.

It was obvious I had to abandon ship. I pulled the parachute from it's storage spot behind the cockpit and quickly strapped myself in. Opening the hatch, I looked out and saw I was still flying over Death Valley. I had a feeling this was not going to end well.

My stomach churned as I fell. When I hit the ground, I threw the box of matches to the ground and stomped on them. But somehow they caught fire, and soon my pants were in flames. I rolled over a bunch of times, but it just seemed to spread the flames. When I finally got the fire out, my shoes, socks, pants, and underwear were gone. And it was extremely hot. I took off my shirt to cool off. I walked around looking for anything that I recognized. When I came back to my landing spot, my shirt was gone.

And that's how I ended up in the middle of nowhere, naked.