What Burns Beneath

What Burns Beneath by Steph Lay

Longlisted for the 2025 Fish Publishing Flash Fiction Competition

The coal still burns underground, deep in the disused mines beneath this abandoned town. Hidden heat has buckled the main road, pushing its tarmac up into impassable ridges and humps. At night, a crimson glow pulses up through the cracks. Ash drifts out on windy days and floats down to blanket every surface. It’s quite a sight, but these days I’m its only witness, paid by the city to be the lone custodian of those subterranean flames.

Every morning I patrol these deserted streets. Yesterday’s ash fall was particularly heavy, limiting visibility and muffling all familiar sounds. Half-blinded and nearly deaf, I was already unsettled when I sensed something—small, stealthy and moving close behind me. I glanced back, looking along my own heavy footprints to see a line of smaller prints appearing one-by-one beside mine.

Child sized, bare footprints.

Breathing hard, I turned in a slow circle. More acrid ashes drifted down in the gaunt silence but I was completely alone. The trail of tiny footprints circled my own, delicate dark impressions in the drifts.

No-one knows how long the fires are going to burn down there. We’ve tried everything to put them out, but nothing has worked. The blaze is deep inside the coal seam, way down where we can’t get to it. The only question is how much is left to burn.

All day, the footprints tracked mine as I did my rounds, unclogged vents and checked that the locks on the lonely houses were still secure. Back at my trailer last night, they followed me up my steps and came right inside.

I signed my contract. I knew I was in this for life, to be here until the fires died or I did. I never expected to find a companion in the ashes.

© Steph Lay, February 2025

You can download a copy of What Burns Beneath here, or listen to me reading it below.

About this story

I’ve been fascinated by the ghost town of Centralia for years, ever since I came across a blog post about it back in the Livejournal days. If you’ve not heard of it, it’s in Pennsylvania, and is the site of a coal-mine fire that started back in 1962 and has been burning ever since. The fire went deep into the coal seam, and despite a lot of attempts, it’s not been possible to put it out. Of course, having a fire raging under your town is not good news, and once sinkholes started opening up and swallowing small children, the road started to warp, and the gasoline in the fuel station reached 78°C, something had to give. Over time, the town was pretty much abandoned, and last time I checked, there were only a handful of residents still holding out there in what has become be a seriously creepy place. If you’ve played Silent Hill, you’ll know its eerie streets—that foggy, derelict, ominous setting is taken straight from Centralia.

Years ago, I remember watching a haunting documentary about the town’s last remaining homeowners and it’s stayed with me ever since—it’s at the top of my list of “spooky places to visit one day.” It’s inspired several short stories, and I’ve got a half-written non-fiction article about all the paranormal things that are reported to happen there, but it’s this tiny little 300 word story that’s done rather well in a way that I still can’t quite believe has happened.

So, what’s the big deal about the Fish Publishing competition? To be perfectly honest, I’d forgotten all about entering it until I met up with some writer friends for lunch. We were talking about our different projects, and one of them suddenly said “Oh, congratulations on the Fish long-listing, that’s amazing!” My face must have been a picture, a proper wait-what?! moment. You see, I’d seen the results email about a week ago, skimmed through the winners and the shortlist, and never even clicked through to the longlist, just thinking oh well, it was a long shot, never mind. Of course, she immediately checked, and there I am. Wow.

Fish Publishing is one of those proper ‘literary’ presses, and I’d only entered in the first place because I’m a huge fan of Tania Hershman who was judging this year. (It’s also a competition where you can pay a bit extra for feedback, and I’m still only a baby/fledgling/newbie writer, so feedback is extremely valuable!) Now, you’re probably thinking only the longlist? That’s a bit crap but it’s really is a big deal… They get thousands of entries, it’s highly competitive, and to make it to the top 113 (100 longlist, 10 shortlist, 3 winners!) is something of a big deal—and way more than I’d hoped for.

I haven’t stopped smiling all day. Thank you, spooky Centralia. Maybe one day I’ll come and walk those fire-buckled roads myself, and see if anything follows me home through the ashes.