by Rod Lee
She grabbed her toast and ate a few bites, trying to get full from the little bit of food. She had to make sure her weight never fluctuated much, people didn’t enjoy looking at models who were fat. She rarely ate a full meal ever to make sure her weight stayed in the proportions needed to get the jobs to pay her bills.
It was one of the toughest things about this field but she also didn’t have a lot of food in her house. The lack of money did come in handy when she needed to keep her small frame for her job.
She ran out of the building to catch a cab downtown.
“Hey Kitty, where you going?” One of her neighbors called out as she passed them in the hall.
“I got a photo shoot, I’m hoping this will be the one!” She said to the old lady.
“Good luck dear!”
“Thank you, Ms. Simmons.” She smiled at the old lady.
She thought it was sad that she got more support from one of her neighbors than her parents had even shown her but she appreciated having at least one person on her side.
Chapter 5
Kitty barely got to the photo shoot on time. The cab driver had almost gotten into an accident rushing across town to get her there. When she walked into the room she got a few looks and then the make-up artist approached her, “It would have been nice if you were earlier. Francis will not be happy starting late.” She said.
“I’m sorry, the cab I took was almost in an accident.” Kitty responded.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. But you know Francis really won’t care.”
Kitty was not happy that Francis was the photographer. While most photographers would make her look amazing, Francis often made her look bad. She knew why but she couldn’t do anything about it, he was the photographer the company had hired.
If she would have known that turning someone down for a date could affect her so much in this field she might have agreed to go out with him at least one time.
But the truth was he was creepy and she didn’t like the way he would constantly stare at her. She had caught him more than once peeking when she was changing clothes. She didn’t like the look he had on his face at those times.
Moreover, she honestly had thought that if she had said yes to the date he would have seen it as an agreement to have sex with him. She shuddered at the thought of the slimy little man touching her in anyway. Hell, she had to hold back her revulsion the times he would move her body to get the perfect pose.
“Kitty it’s about time you got here. With this kind of attitude, it’s easy to see how you haven’t cracked into the top of the field yet.” Francis approached from behind her. His snobbish voice holding a great deal of contempt.
“Sorry my cab was almost in an accident.” Kitty responded.
“Hmm, well perhaps you should hire a driver to take you to these shoots, that way you’ll never be late.” Francis said sticking his nose up in the air. “Personally, I wouldn’t take a cab if my life depended on it.”
Kitty knew that he was aware that she didn’t have a lot of money and he liked rubbing it in. She wanted to tell him to take good pictures but knew he would say it wasn’t his ability but her looks that made these shoots less productive. She knew it was a bunch of bullshit but she just wanted to get this over with and get back home.
A nice long soak in a bath full of bubbles seemed to be a great answer. Now just to get through the next seven or eight hours of grueling pictures and this man with his attitude.
She pasted on a fake smile and said, “I’ll look into a driver sometime soon.” She lied.
“Good, because if you are late again, I’ll cancel the shoot, and imagine how bad that will look on you.” Francis threatened and walked away.
“Boy, you must have really pissed him off somehow. I’ve seen him be rude to other people but never like that.” The make-up artist said.
“I told him I didn’t want to date him, even if he was the last man on the face of the Earth.” Kitty commented.
The make-up artist laughed out loud, “Oh my goodness, you must have really hurt his pride.” She whispered, “You know that might not have been smart he is one of the most hired photographers and could really help out your career.”
“I know but would you date him just to help your career?” Kitty asked seriously.
“How do you think I got this gig?” The artist smiled slightly.
“Oh, well, he’s not my type at all but to each their own.” Kitty said.
“He’s not a bad guy when you go out with him. He’s really sweet and doesn’t mind spending a lot of money either.” The woman said.
Kitty could see the stars in her eyes. “You like him a lot, don’t you?” She asked.
“Yeah but he’s not the kind that will settle down with just a make-up artist. He thinks he should be dating the top models and not just one of them either.” She admitted sadly.
“Maybe one day he’ll see that you really care about him and he’ll change.” Kitty patted the woman s arm.
“I doubt it but you never know I guess.” The woman smiled at Kitty. “I know he would have loved to go out with you. You are beautiful Kitty and don’t let his comments about your looks get to you. He knows how beautiful you are but since you turned him down it all makes more sense now.”
“I know but hopefully he’ll still take some great pictures and this will get me out of these little shoots and into the big time.”
“Hopefully! Okay you’re ready, knock them dead!” The woman announced and moved so Kitty could get up.
“Thanks Melissa. You know the perfect way to make my eyes pop!” Kitty stared at herself in the mirror, she looked like another person even to herself.
“Oh, it’s easy to do, you have such natural beauty.”
Chapter 6
By the time she got home that night Kitty was more than ready to relax. The day had been grueling and full of harassment by Francis. He had taken every opportunity he could to caress her and move her into position. She wanted nothing more than to wash away the feeling of his hands on her skin.
His touch was truly disgusting to her. Once he had even pressed his arm against her breasts. She had looked at him with a warning in her eyes and he had moved slowly away smirking at her, knowing it had made her uncomfortable.
She sighed, turning on the warm water and filled up the bathtub with bubbles and the lilac scent soon filled up the bathroom. She could feel her body already relaxing with just the wonderful smell.
Taking off her clothes, she melted down into the tub and let the scent take her off to another world. In this dream world, she was one of the top models in the world. It was a fantasy that she liked to indulge in.
She hoped that one day it would soon be real and she would no longer have to put up with people like Francis putting their hands all over her. If she was a bigger name she might be able to tell companies who she wanted to photograph her.
Then she would never have to put up with someone like Francis. Oh, how she hoped her dream would soon become real.
She drifted down into the tub and scrubbed herself well, before she felt her eyes closing and let herself catch a little cat nap.
Kitty came awake quickly as she heard noises in the building. She figured it was just some of her neighbors fighting. It was normal occurrence in the building and she didn’t think much of it. The water had grown cold so she got out and walked to her bedroom. Kitty rarely slept with clothes on at night. She didn’t have air conditioning and her apartment got hot on these long summer nights.
She could still hear the yelling and didn’t know if she would be able to block it out to get to sleep, so she turned on her stereo and turned it up enough to drown out the noises.
Falling into bed she was exhausted and only wished she could fall asleep and get back to her fantasies.
Chapter 7
The alarms went off at the station and Chase threw on his uniform as he made his way to the truck.
“What’s up?” He asked one of the other men.
Chase prepared himself, this was likely to be one of the most dangerous calls he’d been on in some time, and it came just a few minutes before their shift was over.
The truck sped to the scene and he saw the building was fully engulfed in flames. There were crowds of people standing outside watching their homes go up in flames.
“How many people are still inside?” He asked once they stopped.
“Not sure yet man.” He heard someone say.
The recovery group made their way into the building, bringing out dozens of survivors. One of the other men went around the group to see if they knew of anyone else who might be in the building.
An old lady spoke up, “Does anyone know if Kitty came home yet?”
“Who’s Kitty?” He asked.
“She’s the lady who lives beside me on the 7th floor. I don’t know if she was home or not. But the fire alarms don’t work in the building, so if she is home, she may not know what is going on.” The woman said.
“I think I saw her come back a little bit ago.” Another person commented.
“We have to go back in, they think there is someone left on the 7th floor.” Chase told his Captain.
The Captain looked at the building. “It’s going to collapse soon, I don’t think it is safe to send you guys back in right now.” He said truthfully.
“I’ll go, we can’t just take the chance that she’s in there and leave her to die.” Chase commented.
“I don’t know how much time you have left though. I can hear the building shifting.” The Captain said.
“I’ll go as quickly as I can. Can we raise the ladder up so I can go in through the window?” He asked.
“Sure, but be quick, I don’t want to lose one of my men.” The Captain yelled for the ladder to be raised up to the 7th floor as Chase prepared himself for some quick thinking.
The heat from the building made him sweat under his uniform. He could feel it dripping into his eyes and knew there was no way to wipe his face. He breathed deeply and told himself, “You can do this Chase.”
Breaking the window, he made his way into an apartment on the seventh floor. Using the directions, he worked through the flames to find her door.
Breaking through the door, he saw that most of the apartment was on fire. “Kitty are you in here?” He called out but heard nothing right away. Maybe the old lady had been wrong and she hadn’t come home yet.
He started to search the apartment, calling out for the woman as often as he could. “Kitty?”
He heard a faint response and made his way to the bedroom. He found her curled up on the floor by her bedside, seemingly disorientated by the smoke that filled the room. “Kitty, come on we have to get out of here now.” He helped her up and began guiding her out of the firestorm that had surrounded them quickly. “Why were you hiding?” He asked her.
“I was scared and I couldn’t see through the smoke. I had no idea of what to do.”
He grabbed the fire blanket and threw it over her shoulders. “Cover up with this, it will help out a bit. We have to crawl out, you can’t breathe in all this smoke.” Chase explained.
They were half way out when the beam above them broke and fell towards them. The beam grazed him and landed on her, trapping her beneath it. She screamed loudly as her bones shattered, the tears streaming down her face Chase hit the flames on the beam and then put out the fire that had caught in her hair.
She looked up at him, pain and fear apparent in her eyes. “Don’t worry I’ll get you out of here. We just have to make it to the ladder and we’ll climb down it.” He explained.
. He moved the beam and tried to help her stand. “I can’t stand on my leg, I think it broke.” She told him.
Chase picked her up and carried her with ease, covering her head up again with the blanket. She had a huge welt from the burn on her face and half of her hair had been singed off when the beam had fallen down.
But he was determined to get her out without any more injuries. He could feel the fire below his feet and knew the floor was weakening with every second.
His real hope was that as he was making his way to the ladder the floor wouldn’t collapse and drop them several floors. He had no idea how far the fall might be and if they would survive.
Thankfully, she was as light as a feather in his arms and soon he made it to the window. “Okay I need you to climb out first.” He told her.
“I can’t, I’m scared of heights.” She cried.
Chase reluctantly went out first and held his arms out to her. “Come to me, I won’t let you fall.”
The woman looked at him, the fear very apparent in her eyes. She looked back at the fire that was closing in around her.
“You have to come now, the floor will fall any second and then you’ll plummet into the fire, there will be no way we can save you then.” Chase told her bluntly.
She moved slowly but he grabbed her and had her on the ladder. The operator of the ladder moved it down and away from the building. Seconds after she had come into his arms, he heard the building begin to crumble.
Chase hoped she had been the only one left in the building. He hated having anyone die on his watch. The woman was clinging to him as they made their way down the ladder.
“Shhh it’s okay, you’ll go to the hospital and they’ll take care of your burns, you’re safe now.” He held her close to him to calm her shaking body.
“Thank you so much. I had fallen asleep and didn’t even know the building was on fire. When I woke up the flames were all over the place, I was too scared to move.” The woman said.
“It’s okay Kitty, you can thank the old lady who lives beside you; she told us you might be home.” Chase commented.
“Ms. Simmons is such a sweet little lady, I’ll have to thank her.” Kitty smiled shakily.
Chapter 8
Chase carried Kitty off the ladder and towards the ambulance. The old lady was standing nearby and made her way over to see Kitty. She looked down at the woman and covered her mouth in shock. Chase shook his head motioning to her not to say anything.
It was clear to him that Kitty was in shock and didn’t know much about her injuries yet. The old lady grabbed him and pulled him to the side.
“She’s going to be devastated if that scar is permanent. She’s a model and her skin used to be so perfect.” The old lady said referring to the nasty burn that was on Kitty’s cheek. “Her hair will grow back but she won’t be able to get any jobs if that turns into a bad scar.” She reiterated.
“It’s a burn so they can do grafts and try and fix it.” Chase commented. “But most likely it will still be a scar for the rest of her life.” Chase admitted.
The old lady shook her head and looked at Kitty sadly. “Well at least her parents will be happy.”
Chase looked at her shocked, “Why in the world would they be happy that her daughter was injured?”
The lady whispered lowly, “They never supported her in becoming a model. Now she won’t be able to do it and have to get a job doing something else.”
Chase looked sadly at Kitty and knew that the old lady was right. There would be no more photo shoots for this woman lying on the stretcher, her beauty was now marred by a possibly permanent imperfection. “It could have been worse. But I suspect you are right she won’t see it that way.”
His heart went out to the woman knowing how it felt for dream to be crushed and taken from you so quickly. He had felt that gut wrenching tear when Jen had died during child birth. He had planned to grow old with her and have many other children but in the matter of a few moments it had been gone.
Chase had been busy raising Veronica, so he hadn’t grieved as much as he might have if it had been just him. From the sounds of it Kitty really didn’t have many people to help her through this time. He made a note in his mind to stop by and see her in the hospital from time to time, and offer his
support.
The ambulance took her off and he made his way back to the fire station. He had to go and pick up Veronica from his mother’s house now, so thoughts of Kitty took the back seat but never really left his mind.
He could only imagine just how beautiful she had been before the burn, she must have been amazing. Chase knew that beauty was only skin deep but for someone trying to be a model it was everything.
Chapter 9
He took a quick shower at the station and called his mom to let her know he was on his way. She made a comment about him being late and asked “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah we just had a huge fire on 52nd we got called out too.”
“Are you okay?” His mother asked quickly.
“Of course, mom, I’ll be there in a few minutes, I’ll talk to you then.” He hung up the phone.
The danger he had been in had never crossed his mind much while he was rescuing Kitty. But now that his adrenaline was dying down as he realized he might have died today if the circumstances had gone differently. The beam could have landed on him and basically trapped them both in the raging fire. He was sure Kitty would have curled up in a ball and waited to die but maybe she would have been able to drag him out. However, he doubted it recalling how frail she had felt in his arms. She was small and he was quiet a large man, she would have failed at getting him out of the building.
He got to his mom’s house and hugged Veronica to him.
“Grandma said you were fighting a fire today, that’s awesome.” Veronica stated in her innocence.
His mom looked over at him and breathed a sigh of relief he was unharmed. “So, what happened?” She asked.
“They are not sure what started the fire, they will do an investigation to find out but the owner of the building is going to get a huge fine. It seems that many of the fire alarms in the building were not in working order.” Chase explained.
“Oh, that’s horrible. Did you lose anyone?”
“No. Thankfully there was one lady who knew about one more person in the building and I was able to save her.”