Blazing Fire

\"Okibi wake up. We have work to do.\" The woman, who looked to old for her age, called to her son. Sha had long greasy brown hair that was streeked with grey that was tied up ina bun. She was short and to skinny. Her cloths were like every one elses in the village, they where ragged and you couldn\'t tell the true color of them any more beacues they where so patched up.

Okibi slowl crawled out of his bed, that was little more then old ragged rugs on straw. Okibi\'s hair was a dark red brown color, under his bangs his emerald eyes could bearly be seen. His rags were in no better shape then his mothers. He was rather short for his age of twelve.

Okibi pulled on the rest of his ragged clothing, for it was very cold out side, so cold it was snowing. He slowly went outside and got the water bucket filling it up slowly. He was careful not to spill any water on his feet. They were cold enough as it was, even with the old shoes he was wearing.

He brought the bucket in putting it by the fire place. He got one of the clay mugs from near by and filled it with water. He drank from it slowly as he found an old apple for breakfast. He hate eating all this old food. The rich people who only lived a few streets away had every thing new. He was envious but he was also happy the way he was. He wasn\'t spoiled like the rich people were. He actually knew what the word \'work\' ment, unlike them who had their servants do the work for them.

\"Okibi, I need you to go get some Fire wood in the woods, we are running out. Please go before it really starts to snow hard, I don\'t want you to catch a cold.\" His mother told him as she set to work mending cloths that had been ripped, even though there was no point in saving them.

Okibi sighed and made his way to the door. He hated going out for fire wood, but he new that he had to it was important to keep warm. He made his way down the street, He had to pass threw the rich neighborhood to get to the forest. All the rich peoples children where bundled up in nice jackets and were warm and happy. They ran around with out a care in the world.

No body noticed Okibi, it was as if he didn\'t even exist. No one ever noticed the poor that begged and walked threw this area, And if they did notice they tried to chase you off.

Okibi made it to the woods and started his hunt for fire wood, He would have to make several trips before he could get enough fire wood to last them a few days. He sighed and slowly started to pick up all the wood he could find.
Better get started before I get to cold to carry anything.. He thought to himself.




After about five loads of wood he desided that one more would be enough to hold them off for a few days. He went back to the woods for his last load. He knew that once this was done he would be able to rest for a little while before he was sent to do other things, like go to market and visit the shrine. He hated visiting the shrine, it was always dull.

He walked deeper into the forest, since he had collected all the rest of the wood. He didn\'t notice that every thing was quiet. If it had been any other day he would probably have been paying attention but it was two days to christmas.

Just as he walked over a bunch of leaves a bear trap snapped onto his ankle, digging into the flesh. He screamed in pain and fell forward. After a few minutes of struggling, trying to open the trap he passed out. When He came to, he was some place unexpected..