Burn Me Anthology

by Shantel Tessier

  “One that lost his appetite when he had to witness that pathetic thing you call a demonstration of affection.”

  By the time Vince and I climbed inside the truck, the garage doors were already open, and one of the trucks, I assumed the chief’s, was already rolling out of the lot.

  “Couldn’t have been that bad if you lost your appetite over it,” I retorted laughing. I had a feeling he’d be watching, but to be fair, he’s the one who submitted himself to the torture, and I had, against my deepest wishes, stopped his sister from taking things too far. “Besides, you should be thankful I kept it clean because your sister was a real tease tonight. And just so we’re clear, you need to get used to it, bro, your sister and I will be making magical love for the rest of our lives.”

  “Magical love?” he mocked, cocking a brow.

  I smirked. “I figured if I said I’d be fucking her pretty little ass every night for the rest of our lives you might want to throat punch me.” I pointed out. Reviewing the address on my GPS, my eyebrows furrowed together.

  “Dude––” he stopped talking, noticing the worried expression on my face. “What’s up?”

  “This is two streets down from your sister’s apartment complex.”

  “So?”

  I rolled out from the fire station’s driveway, and turned left, neglecting to follow the outlined route, and took the shortcut to Aubrey’s place. “I don’t know. I just don’t like the thought of having her there when we’re working. It could be dangerous.”

  He snickered. “Trust me, if she knows what’s good for her, she won’t show up there.”

  Chapter 5

  Micah

  Present

  Attention. This is Lambert from Engine three, calling in to let you know we’re rolling onto Moore’s drive, heading towards twenty-six-thirteen. We’re two houses away. Over.”

  “Ten four, Engine three. This is Chief Jackson from Engine one, station of command, can you describe the scene for me please. Over.” There was an edge to his tone, and knowing my boss there was a high chance he was going to shit on our heads for not taking the route outlined by the GPS, but I was ready to take the hit once we’d cross that bridge.

  Vince grabbed the CB radio as I parked the truck at a safe distance. The sound of glass windows shattering under the pressure of the heat of the fiery flames was the first thing we heard as we opened our doors. My best friend and I had the same expression on our faces as we simultaneously jumped out of the engine.

  Months of training, weekly drills, hours of working out; every time, they seemed useless. I could still remember how no matter what class we were in, or who we had as a teacher, their speech always started the same way. ‘Never underestimate fire. Every incident is different. Even though houses and buildings seem similar, they are not the same. Smoke is your worst enemy and finally, and most importantly, no flames are alike. They are hypocritical; always treat them as your worst enemy.’

  In my case, fire had been my enemy for longer than I could remember.

  “This is Bankes from Engine three. The household seems to be a split-level home with a separate garage. Flames are blazing through the east side windows and heavy smoke is coming out the back. Over.”

  The first thing I was supposed to do was to grab the tip of the pipe while my partner hooked the other to the nearest fire hydrant, but my attention got briefly derailed from my task as it fell on the woman running out from the back door with a baby in her arms. The sound of the child’s cries as he or she clutched at his mother’s chest was a sight of relief.

  Covered in soot from head to toe, her piercing eyes met mine. “I––I––I couldn’t find him.”

  Before I had any time to react, her baby was being pulled out from her arms by one of the paramedics I hadn’t noticed was there. She kept clutching at him, afraid to see him go, and her desperate cries kept growing louder. As the EMT’s tried to tend to her state of shock, she kept fighting against them witnessing the flames that ravaged her home. I could hear my name being called out in the distance, but I couldn’t look away from her. Regardless of the noise around us, the sound of her sobs were the only thing I could focus on. There was just something about her that had me frozen in place.

  Motionless, I tried to give her the courage to just let us do our job. My eyes vowed that everything was going to be okay, but the longer I stared at her the more I came to the understanding that it wasn’t that she didn’t entrust her child’s life or her own to us, she was trying to tell us something that she was unable to put into logical words.

  Those eyes––scared, petrified––I knew them all too well.

  A loud splintering sound seemed to have drawn the both of us out of our transfixion. Both our heads shifted to see the blaze growing stronger, and another desperate cry ruptured out of her. Without giving it a second thought she leaped towards the burning house.

  Dropping everything I had in my hands, I did the first thing that came to mind; I lunged at her, trying to hold her back and preventing her from getting back inside.

  “Let me go.” She fought back. “He’s going to die.”

  Her words sliced through my heart.

  “Engine three, this is Engine one. We’re about three minutes out. Dispatch has just been informed by a close neighbor that a family of three lives in the house. Can either one of you confirm their presence outside? Over.”

  “Negative, chief.” Bankes confirmed, but he was wrong. I assumed since he was still on the other side of the truck, he hadn’t seen the two people that had made it out.

  “Where?” I yelled into her ear. “Where is his room?”

  “Downstairs––back door,” she uttered. Her legs collapsed under my hold and I didn’t even take the time to call out a paramedic before leaping towards her house. My name was being called out, and it was the last thing I heard before braving the flames.

  Intense heat penetrated through my gear was I stepped inside the house, and what I saw scared the fuck out of me. The fire was rabidly destroying what I presumed was the living room and quickly spreading towards the kitchen. As I started heading down the steps, the density of the black smoke indicated that somewhere in the front of the house, the flames had started piercing through the wooden floor and lighting up the ceiling over my head.

  “Micah?” Vince shouted from the top floor.

  A tinge of frustration coursed through me. He and I weren’t supposed to go head first into a fire. I couldn’t understand why he’d followed me. “What the fuck are you doing here? Get out.”

  “Really?” he shouted back. Irritation and mockery transpired in his words.

  For some reason I was expecting the kid to be near the stairs. Since he wasn’t, I took my time and carefully made my way deeper inside the basement searching for the little boy.

  “Quit being stupid and get out before something happens. You aren’t supposed to be following me. I got this,” I grumbled through the radio.

  “Don’t you dare lecture me on what is right and wrong, asshole, you’re in here and you’re not supposed to be either.”

  “At this point, you both are in big trouble right now,” Jackson’s disapproving voice resonated through the CB transmitter.

  “Don’t I know it,” I mumbled back.

  “Okay, Probies, since you’re already I’m going to rely my trust on your training while we control this from the outside and the front of the house.” His voice showed anger. We hadn’t followed protocol and put ourselves in danger, but he also sounded proud that we had taken the lead to save the missing child. “Talk to each other. Find the kid, and get the fuck out. Do you copy?”

  “I copy,” Vincent and I responded at the same time, grinning at each other.

  As we ventured deeper into the basement, I saw his small frame lying unconscious on the floor next to his bedroom window.

  Terror struck me, stopping me from moving past the door.

  ***

  Twelve years old

  “Micah––
Micah,” my sister complained. “I can’t reach.”

  I couldn’t blame her. The window opening was so small, and there wasn’t much room for a good grip. Unless a person had the exact right angle, it was merely impossible to climb out. I tried to lift her five-year-old frame higher, but all I got as a response was a frustrated groan filled with worry.

  “You’re almost there, Lillie. Just a little more.”

  Her small hands slipped and she clutched at my neck, crying. “It’s not working, Micah. What do we do?”

  I placed her back on the floor and tried to figure another way out. The hard maple wood furniture my sister had inherited from our grand-mother was too heavy for me to lift and it wasn’t from lack of trying.

  As I scanned the room, I spotted the black dense smoke making its way under the closed door where I’d put some of Lillie’s clothing to stop it from spreading. I expected it would hold some of it back, at least until we could get out, unfortunately it wasn’t working as well as I would have hoped. Studying my lack of options, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing I could move that would allow us to get out. The only plan I had left was the one I didn’t want to take in the first place. Even if it was just for half a minute, I didn’t want to leave my sister in that room alone, but if I wanted to save us both, I had no other choice.

  Pushing her long blonde locks out of her face, I lowered myself and kneeled on the ground to her level. “Lillie, I’m going to go out the window first okay?”

  “How?” she coughed.

  “I’m going to lift myself up and push the window to get out like daddy showed me.”

  “But it’s so high.” She coughed again, but this time choking on her air.

  I hurried over to her dresser and grabbed her inhaler. She hadn’t used it in weeks since her lung infection had been a resolved issue, but my mom decided to keep it just case she’d have another unexplained asthma attack.

  “Are you doubting your big brother’s muscles?” I teased. I was in no mood to make jokes; I was freaking out on the inside. But taking care of my baby sister was my job, so I buried my fear as far down as possible. Being able to see Lillie’s smile as she breathed through her spacer ended up being the best reward I could ever ask for. “I’m going to climb up there and as soon as I get out, I’ll pull you up, okay?”

  She was unsure. Either it was because she didn’t trust I could make it, or either it was because she was afraid of being stuck alone in her smoldering room; she wouldn’t say. Unfortunately, for the both of us, if we wanted to survive I had to at least try. The smoke was thickening up and I was all out of ideas.

  Her wet eyes met mine and I kissed the top of her head. “I’ll get us out of here, Lillie. I promise.”

  It took me at least three attempts before managing a good grip. In addition to the smoke, the room was heating up, and it was hard to keep a hold onto the thin window frame with my sweaty hands.

  “Micah?” Lillie cried out, stifling on the limited oxygen. “Micah, I can’t breathe. I’m feeling dizzy.”

  I lowered my head trying to think of something and remembered that she had brought a glass of water downstairs before going to bed. Mom was against it because the cat was always knocking it over and making a big mess for her to clean up in the morning, but since I was babysitting and didn’t feel like putting up a fight with my sister, I pretty much let her do whatever she wanted. “Did you drink all your water?”

  “What?”

  “Is there water left in the glass you brought down before coming to bed?”

  She cocked a confused eyebrow at me. “Yes.”

  “Grab one of your tank tops and soak it up with the water, then put it up to your face and breathe in it. It’ll help.”

  She left my side and did as she was told. By the time she came back I’d managed to push the window open. All that was left was to pull myself up one last time, and get out. My muscles burned as I tried to pull my extended body up.

  With my feet dangling in the air, I could feel my hands slipping from off the frame. My strength was running thin and I doubted that I’d be able to give it another shot if I failed again.

  If I could just reach a little higher to grab the exterior lower railing…

  “Lillie? Lillie, push on my feet, I’m almost there.” I felt her small hands push under me. She was so much stronger than I would have ever believed her to be. With her boost I managed to snake my entire body through the small hole.

  “Mi-mi, you made it.”

  After catching my breath, I turned around to see her grinning proudly at me. “I did, and I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Before giving her a play-by-play of what we were about to do, I inspected the darkness behind her. There was a black cloud hovering over her head and I could see the shadows of the flames as they danced through the cracks of her bedroom door. Struck by panic, I fought back my tears. The fire had spread out to our part of the basement. I tried to swallow my worry, show her that we were going to be okay, but I failed. She read me like a book and glanced back. “Micah!”

  “Lillie, look at me.”

  “But––I can’t. It’s coming for me,” her voice shrieked louder.

  I swallowed down my own fear. There was no way I was going to let anything happen to her. In the far distance, I could hear the faint sound of sirens. I reckon I was supposed to be relieved...I wasn’t. The tip of the flames were burning through the walls as if they were attracted to us.

  “Look at me.” I urged. Her crystal eyes swam in tears, reflecting my own. “I’m getting you out of there, Lillie, but I need you to listen to me, okay? I’m going to pull you up, but you’re going to have to stand on the tip of your toes and try to jump to grab my hands.”

  Even as the words tumbled out of my mouth it sounded like a horrible plan, but I wasn’t going to let it get to me.

  “Wait.” She disappeared

  “LILLIE!” I popped my head through the window and saw her reach for her bed pillow and Madam Unicorn. “We don’t have time for your stupid stuffed animals,” I barked. I sounded harsh but truly didn’t give a flying fuck.

  “I’m not trying to save her. She’s going to help save me,” she replied, petrified and hurt. She stacked her unicorn over the pillow and stepped on them; it was unstable, but it would have to do. “Everything is going to be okay, Micah. I’ll be okay, trust me.”

  Extending her hands, she leaped towards me. Confidence radiated through her and when I managed to grab the tip of her fingers, her whole face lit up. I had no clue how the hell she could be smiling at a time like this, but she was and I couldn’t have been more proud of her.

  I winced at what I was going to do next, the last thing I wanted to do was to pull too hard and dislocate her shoulder. “It’s going to hurt a little, okay? But you need to promise me you won’t let go.”

  “I promise.”

  I tried...I tried so damn hard, but our sweaty palms rubbed together. Lillie was slipping away from my hold. Terrified, I dug my nails into her hands, gripping her as best as I could. I felt the heat as it seared rapidly towards us. My name was being called out, but I was so afraid to let my eyes waver that I refused to let my attention falter and focused all my energy on what I was trying to do. The fire had burned down the door, unremittingly seeking for its next victim, and refusing to let us get away.

  Her strong hold weakened, and as her empty blue eyes stared into mine, I could see the two specs of light fading with her sad smile.

  I felt her hands slip before I realized what was happening.

  “Lillie,” I wailed in a dire broken cry. Someone gripped me from behind, forcing against me as tried to go back down the window to save my sister.

  I couldn’t breathe, stifling on my own tears…they dragged me away

  I broke my promise.

  ***

  Present

  “Micah?” his voice sounded distant. “Micah?”

  I felt a rough nudge against my shoulder, snapping me bac
k to reality. By the time I realized what was going on, my best friend was on the ground grabbing the unconscious frame under his arms and knees. I felt like an asshole.

  Straightening his spine, Vincent looked back and met my gaze. I wanted to apologize for checking out, I felt like I needed to–– but he just shook his head, forgiving my moment of absence before I could say anything. “Glad to have you back. Now get us the fuck out of here.”

  With a curt nod, I stepped aside clearing a safe path for him. Relief hit me when I saw the kid’s lashes flutter.

  “Good boy,” I rubbed my hand over his head. “Now all we need is to get you out of this place and into your mother’s arms.”

  As we cautiously started to retrace our steps, I stumbled and knocked my knee on what I assumed was a pool table. It was dark, I couldn’t see much, but it was so sturdy that it couldn’t have been anything else.

  “Are you okay?” Vince asked me with a light smirk in his words.

  I was about to growl as a response––actually that’s a lie, I was about to tell him to fuck off, but as I started standing up, a bright spark followed by a loud explosion interrupted me.

  Chapter 6

  Micah

  Present

  What the fuck was that?

  “Vince?” I coughed out.

  Silence.

  Something had fallen from the ceiling, but I was unsure what it was. With my stomach laying flat on the floor, I tried to figure out what had happened. Through the thick smoke, I scanned the room searching for the other two. Everything around us was dripping wet, I could feel the heat of the fire through my gear, and it was hard to focus on anything else but the ringing in my ears. Things were getting worse by the second and we needed to get the hell out of there.

  “Vince?”

  “What’s going on in there? We just heard some sort of backfire.” I heard in my ear.