This One Is Boring

Zak flicked the switch of the lighter over and over. It made the tell-tale rough sound that lighters always make when their flint is spent, but Zak was too drunk to observe this. He turned up the gas on the stove and kept flicking the lighter. The pot full of water for his ramen noodles waited on the counter. His stomach grumbled. He turned the gas up flicked the lighter some more.

Due to his incapacitated nature, he was unaware of the passage of time. Nearly a minute passed with gas pouring from the stove, invisibly filling to room. Zak's bleary eyes were focused on the lighter, and all his energy was dedicated to continuing to flick it near the stove top.

Inside the lighter, a last grain of rough flint was finally shaken lose. It fell to where the metal of the striking wheel was repeatedly scraping. It was caught and dragged along, and, upon being crushed into powder, released a single yellow spark.

The spark met the over-abundance of fuel in the air, and it's heat transferred and spread from molecule to molecule, like white-hot dominoes falling onto each other. The air of the room erupted into blue-green flames. Zak stumbled back, howling, instinctively attempting to avoid the flames swirling about him.

The gas in the air was consumed in half a second, but now every flammable substance in the room had been set alight, including Zak’s clothes. He dumbly rubbed his hands along his burning shirt sleeves and pant legs, scrambling around the apartment, surrounded by smoke, blind for the brightness of the fire. He collapsed on the carpet, howling and flailing.

Moments later, his clothing was but crumpled black tatters and his mind was dizzy from the smoke. But he found that he was otherwise untouched. The flames licked about his body but did not find fuel there. The heat did not harm him. The flames did not burn him. Despite the alcohol in his stomach and the smoke in his lungs, he smiled to himself.

Then the ceiling caved in.

Zak lost his right hand and the deposit for his apartment on that day, but he gained a superpower and learned a valuable lesson: just because you're fire-proof doesn't mean you're invincible.