New story! :D My life has been crazy busy and I haven't had a spare minute to write anything thanks to working full time, buying a house and working on my masters degree, but I really missed publishing fan fic, so I dug up a story I started and figured why not publish it and get some opinions? I WILL finish The Secret I Tried To Tell You in time, but I've had some writer's block and lack of time, so it is taking longer then I want to update it...Until then I hope somebody reads this and enjoys it...I wanted to branch outside the wrestling world and after watching Chicago Fire I got this idea, so I hope you enjoy!
Katie walked into the living room of her small apartment feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Despite working for the last eight hours, she still had a solid six in front of her before she could finally crawl back into bed and do it all over again tomorrow. Life of a teacher, she thought as she dropped her bag on the couch, happy to be greeted by her only trusting companion Pete. The golden retriever stood at her feet wagging his tail as she bent down to pet him.
"How's my buddy? Mommy missed you today." After accepting a few licks to the face, Katie kissed the top of his head before heading into the kitchen and grabbing leftover lomaine noodles from the fridge not even bothering to reheat it. She finished them off and took a deep breath before turning on the TV and sitting down in front of her laptop; cracking her nuckles and her neck, she settled in for a long night of work.
Somewhere between the late night news and Jay Leno, Katie had drifted off into a heavy, much needed sleep. Any other night Katie would've slept through the night only to groan when her 5AM alarm went off, but tonight was not like any other night.
Katie was startled awake to the sound of Pete barking knowing something was wrong. As she stood up, she noticed the smoke pouring in from under the door, the faint sound of the fire alarm beeping. Running for the door she opened it, but couldn't see anything as the smoke was much thicker in the hallway. Trying not to panic, Katie took off her sweater using it to cover her mouth from inhaling the dark, black fog before her, but as she began to cough she knew the clock was ticking and time was against her.
Katie got as low to the ground as she could, Pete running ahead of her, and blindly started down the stairs. The smoke was getting thicker, Katie's cough getting worse as she inhaled more smoke. Panic began to take over as the feelings of doubt set in with the low oxygen flow to her brain; it was then she heard her sole chance of survival call out.
"Firefighter, call out..." Katie tried to yell, but all she could do was cough as more of the smoke invaded her lungs; sinking the rest of the way to the ground she closed her eyes thinking this was the end, but just then she heard the faint sound of Pete barking as the fireman yelled out again.
Katie woke up in the hospital blinking a few times as she tried to adjust to the harsh lighting. She was confused at first wondering if she'd died in that stairwell, but the sound of monitors beeping and her mother's face coming into view before she threw herself on top of her reassured her that was not the case.
"Oh thank God you're alright! The doctors weren't sure if you were going to make it, but the fireman pulled you out just in time." Katie reluctantly hugged her mother back; she wasn't big into mushy moments, but a near death experience called for one.
"What happened?" Her mother looked at her appearing to be beside herself and fearing the worst.
"You don't remember the fire?"
"Of course I remember mom, granted parts are blurry, but I know what happened; what I want to know is how it happened."
"The police and fire department are investigating now, it's unclear." Katie wasn't surprised to hear this, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She remembered her last moments of conciousness faintly hearing Pete bark before hearing the fireman call out and tears came to her eyes. Katie expected the worst; her only companion, the one that waited patiently for her to return home wouldn't be there anymore. "Sweetie what's wrong? I know you're upset you've lost everything, but they're just things."
"I don't care about the stuff, but I need to know about Pete; he saved me. His barking got the firemans attention, he never left my side."
"Honey there's no reason to be upset. Pete is safe; he's actually staying at the fire house. It appears that after Fire fighter Brooks found you he carried you out and made sure Pete was safe too. I don't know what it is with that dog, but everyone takes to him."
Three days after the mysterious fire on 54th street, Katie was released from the hospital though she didn't feel any better. With her living situation up in the air, she was being forced to move back home, a move she desperately didn't want to make. She didn't have much choice though, it was move home or be homeless. Letting out a sigh, she got off the D train and started heading towards Wicker Park to visit an old friend.
It took less then two seconds after Katie rang the doorbell for Merra to answer and immediately embrace her dear friend in a hug. Katie, not one for hugging, let it slide once again; between the fire, Merra's grandmother passing and the loss of her bakery, Merra needed some extra love. Merra pulled back politely shoving her friend in the shoulder.
"Where the hell have you been? I haven't seen or heard from you since the funeral, which was almost two months ago. That's far too long for me not to talk to you!" Katie felt guilty, but she hadn't been ignoring her friend on purpose, just a case of life getting in the way.
"I'm sorry Mer, I really am, but work has been crazy. There's no need to miss me too much though because with this fire mess, I've been granted a leave from work. Granted I figured I'd need it to move to another place, but I have next to nothing left and my other place is my mother's house." Merra's face dropped; she knew Katie loved her mom, but no adult wanted to move back home, especially not with Merra's mom. She was a lovely woman, but exceptionally clingy and even though Katie was pushing 30, moving back home meant her mom would constantly be calling her wanting to know where she was and when she'd be home.
"Oh Christ that does not seem like a good situation." Katie shrugged her shoulders as she walked through the doorway trying to shrug it off, but deep down she knew Merra was right; things were not going to end well.
"There's not much else I can do; it's that or be homeless. At this point they can't even tell me if my building is being condemned or not and even though I filed my insurance claims as soon as I could, it could take several weeks to get a check. I currently own the outfit I'm wearing and some ugly sweater sets my mom bought me for Christmas last year that I conveniently left at her house. I don't know what I'm going to do Mer; I just want to wake up tomorrow and hope that this is all some nightmare and not my life." Merra could see the tears before they started flowing and once again pulled Katie in for a hug, one she desperately needed. She felt bad for her friend; her life was a downward spiral at the moment, but she had an idea that could hopefully turn things around.
"Okay, so I know you're okay with living with your mom temporarily, but what do you think about moving in here? I have the extra room and if you stay here you're only a train ride away from work where your mom's place is like three train rides." Katie looked at her friend, surprised by the offer, but incredibly relieved at the same time.
"Are you serious? I didn't come here looking for a handout."
"Yes; we've been friends since freshman year of college, over ten years now. This is what friends do for each other." Katie let go of the tears she'd been holding back, but found that for the first time in three days they were happy tears.
"Seriously Mer I don't know what I would do without you. I'm going to find a way to pay you back, I swear I'll make this right some how."
"Oh please, your company will be more then enough. It gets lonely around here and I can only resort to baking every once in a while." Katie smiled biting her lip; she knew deep down Merra loved baking, but she'd tried to avoid it since the bakery closed.
"Speaking of baking, I know it's not your favorite thing to do, but I was hoping you'd be willing to help me throw together a thank you gift for the firemen who saved me."
Merra raised her eyebrows, a mischievious smile spreading across her lips, "I wouldn't make my famous snickerdoodles and chocolate chip scones for just anyone, but you mentioned firemen, so I'm in."