352[Fire...]

So the lizard was a match, it burned down to his fingers and he dropped it on the carpet in pain. Then the fire spread all over the room and set off the fire alarm.

That was just so damn cool. I would not have been able to guess in a million years.

I think the dropped match did a bit more than just set off the fire alarm

This goes a long way towards explaining why the kid doesn't realise he - and the rest of his family - are dead. Smoke inhalation, died in his sleep, and he thinks the worst is his parents giving him hell over the mess and noise.

Go explain this one to him, Annie!

The revelation on this page surprised me; I'd assumed all this time that the accident that killed the ghost-boy's family was a car crash on the road (it's what I usually think of when I hear of a family dying in an accident). But instead, it seems now that the accident was their house burning down - with the suggestion that the boy caused it by playing with fire.

Everything is now falling into place. The screaming from the creature's mouth is the smoke alarm going off. And the seemingly withered arm that Annie gave the ghost-boy (or revealed) when she touched him was really a burnt arm, caused by damage from the fire.

I like it when a revelation takes you by surprise, and yet fits in perfectly with all the information that came before - only you didn't realize it until then.

It's interesting that we're seeing Annie's thought process (via thought bubbles) leading up to her realization. Tom doesn't directly show the characters' thoughts very much.

And that fire thing is certainly a surprise. Well played, Tom.

I think the illusion is reacting to the thoughts of the people...err sentient beings, inside it. Annie realization acted like auto suggestion. Both she and the boy are influencing the illusion. I imagine if she hadnt thought about the alarm she would probably have never seen the fire.

its like two people driving in a giant pinball machine inside a bumber car with a driving wheel which constantly changes its directional orientation and theres no breaks just an accelerator stuck to the bottom of the floor.

lucky annie was there...cause it would have taken me a lot of time to figure out the fire thing, althoug maybe the alarm thing helped her.

So, yeah, most likely kid was playing with fire, drop it, started a fire, and failed to inmediatly tell his parents 'cause he was afraid they'll be mad... and then it was too late.

Man, that's so sad

I bet the kid was showing the lighter to his sister. And when the memory replayed, Annie stepped into the sister's role.

Or maybe it was annie who did that. He probably still saw it as a match while she was still attuning to the illusion he had set up. So while being unable to see everything for what it actually was [to the boy] she saw the closest relation to it.

anyway lets see.

Giant spreading branches/crust instead of fire, giant screaming mouth instead of alarm, salamander instead of match and biting instead of match fire lick.

Coyoty was the one who first proposed that the boy had died from fire.

Nobody had suggested that the boy started the fire though.
Now there's a recursive idea.

A flashback within a flashback within a flashback.

It goes like this:
Annie, is telling the story of her time at Gunnerkrigg (the story is told in first person -- see chapter 1). Within that, Annie is recounting what happened at Good hope to Kat. Within that, the boy is reliving his previous death.

You know, there's an Anime about a vampire (can't recall the name) in which one of the stories was the tale of two twin sister that burn they're home, parents and one of the twins faces playing with fire... I think one convinced the other to light their birthday cake candles

Almost sure that it is Nightwalker (the anime name)....