Mark decided it would be a learning experience, although he still wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to learn from watching the apartment complex burn.

The crowd had expanded from just the building residents to include curious neighbors and passers-by. A rather informal gathering, but it looked like the building manager had finally made it over and she was starting to bring order to the chaos. He sighed; the chaos had been rather entertaining.

It was just far enough into summer that the night air was comfortable for someone clad in boxers and a t-shirt, but the realization that the rest of his clothing was quickly becoming ash didn’t sit well. The firefighters will still trying to contain the blaze, but they had shifted focus to the adjoining complexes. So far all he had learned was that he didn’t like being awake at three in the morning and that he really didn’t like watching a lifetime of accumulated clutter go to the big trashbin in the sky.

Once this assignment was over, he was taking a long vacation. No matter what Bella claimed, humanity was highly overrated.