The Ghosts of Blackwall's past
*A reboot of London's Burning set in modern day Blackwall*
Watch Commander Hallam would soon be promoted to Station Officer in a matter of days; he couldn't wait to tell Sandra the news. His best friend on the watch, Bayleaf was ecstatic for him, as was Sicknote. The watch celebrated long into the night, playing party games and drinking from beer bongs. But despite the radical games that went on that night, Hallam couldn't sleep a wink. He downed his coffee in the mess and since he was awake, he decided to finish Bayleaf's washing up to return the favour of the party, do some BA bookings in the watch room and to do some safety checks on Blackwall's newly acquired Mercedes Atego appliances, something which George hadn't really got round to doing. He didn't mind clearing up after others; he just cared about being gratified for his actions. He sat in the rickety plastic chair in the watch room, hoping not to wake up young Colin, who slept like a log and wasn't disturbed by even the slightest decibel.
Suddenly the air grew colder. Hallam felt this and he shivered. He curled up into a ball like a lazy teenager sat at their desk with their laptop on it. But along with the cold air, the vast wooden doors flew open with a loud "BANG!" Poor Colin was awoken. "Argggh!" he screamed. John almost leapt out of his seat. Then, the open doors let in a loud gust which echoed through Blackwall's ancient walls. Colin hid under his duvet in a juvenile manner, poking his eyes out just a smidge so Hallam wasn't out of his sight. Hallam reluctantly went to investigate. He felt a tad nervous, because tonight, there were no stars in the sky, or moon for matter. "Hello?" he barked. "Is there anyone there?" The deafening silence made a barbarous atmosphere. Suddenly, footsteps of somebody limping could be heard. Hallam called again; "Hello?!" To his shock and horror, a skeleton in a firefighter's uniform came limping out of the darkness. His leggings, boots, helmet and tunic were drenched, as if it had just drowned. Hallam was petrified. "Vas…?" he was stunned. The skeleton didn't respond, but instead, pointed at the Blackwall head board above the station. Hallam started back, "Colin! Get the doors!" Colin got up from his bed and helped Hallam close the doors. Hallam panted frantically as the doors were closed and he was safe from whatever was out there. "Sub?" Colin asked, shaken from the events, "What was that?"
"That?" Hallam pointed at the door with his thumb. "Is your predecessor." He said, failing to mention the apparition's identity.
"It can't be, he drowned!" Hallam ranted to no one in particular.
"Who did?" Colin was becoming questioning.
"If you must know;" Hallam began, "Roland 'Vaseline' Cartwright did. It was, what, 12 years ago? A rescue mission under water went horribly wrong and claimed the lives of two firefighters and five civilians." He bit his lip anxiously and opened the doors to check he wasn't there, when he vanished. Hallam looked around to check for no ghost, Vaseline's or not. He then proceeded to close the door.