Ninja Doorman

Chapter 1

Dying hurts. Not only that, it could also happen so fast. You just never know when your world is going to start crumbling around you.

In my case it was the apartment building I lived in crumbling around me. I remembered feeling the heat of the flames all around. Yelling was heard along with sirens outside. I had already made it out, but when the panicking woman next to me screamed her son was still inside I just acted.

I knew the lady and her family. They lived a few doors down from me. At times I would even babysit for them.

So I managed to get back up to the fourth floor, narrowly avoiding flames and debris on the way. I held the front of my shirt over my mouth as my squinting eyes stung from the smoke around me.

The next few moments just swam by in a haze. I was just barely able to recall that I had broken the door down with my shoulder.

"Conner!" I yelled as my other hand shielded my eyes from a sudden blast of heat.

"Pete!" a small voice screamed from the other side of the apartment.

I spun around and ran through a small hallway to the boy's room. When I got there I saw that part of an apartment above me had crashed down from the ceiling. The flames from a chunk of debris covered half of Conner's door.

"Pete!" the boy screamed again.

Squinting really hard, I could almost make out the figure of the six year old huddled up in a corner on the side of his bed.

"It's going to be alright!" I yelled over the roaring flames. "Stay right there!"

My hands went through my hair as I looked around my surroundings. The fire in the doorway took up a few feet of space. And what was left of the debris, looks like part of a cabinet, made it imposable to jump over.

I was big, sure, but even if I could jump over it I would get roasted. And there was no way I could make a return trip with the kid.

"I'll be right back!" was what I said before turning around and running back into the burning living room.

I needed to do something. Maybe place something over the fire so I could climb over.

My eyes stopped on the couch. When I saw a folded comforter on the back I got an idea. I grabbed the large blanket, only to drop it when I realized a corner was on fire. I tried again and shook the large blanket and ran into the kitchen. When I saw the sink I bundled up the comforter and threw it in.

Thankfully the pipes were still working. With not a lot of time, I was only able to make the blanket a bit damp before I ran back.

The fire had grown in my absence, and I could see Conner crying where I last saw him. I threw the large blanket over the fire and instantly saw some steam, but the flames just looked like they were delayed.

When I started climbing my hands burned and I could feel the comforter quickly drying out.

"Conner! Come on!" I shouted as I held my hands out from on top of the debris.

He was hesitant, but after I repeated myself he ran over. I grabbed his hands and pulled him up. With the boy in my arms I jumped off the burning blanket and ran as fast as I could after telling him to close his eyes.

I managed to get out of the apartment just as a crunch was heard. Turning down the hall, I saw that the floor had gave out and collapsed.

"Shit!" as soon as my curse left my mouth I heard crunching above me.

I didn't even bother to look up. My feet just started running by themselves. By the way it sounded; everything above me was coming down.

Suddenly something fell in front of me and I was unable to jump over it. I tripped, the momentum sending Conner through the air and me into the carpet.

Before I could respond a bunch of wood fell on my legs.

This stuff was on fire to. I could say I didn't scream, but I don't like to lie. My legs were burning and stuff was falling all around me.

In seconds I was under a pile of burning debris. The added fire on my body made my screaming go even louder. Tears ran down my face.

My vision stung from both the smoke and dust. So I kept them closed.

"I see a kid!" a voice yelled, cutting through my screams.

My eyes snapped open to see four firemen running down the hall. The first one to Conner placed a mask on him as he picked him up.

Conner was a mess. He was crying his lungs out and covered in soot from the fall.

"Help Pete!" Conner screamed at the top of his little lungs when he realized he was being carried away.

My screaming never stopped. Kind of hard to not scream when you are being burned alive.

The other three ran over to me with their extinguishers, and were about to put out the flames until another section of the ceiling collapsed in front of them.

"It's unstable!" yelled one of them.

"I'm sorry." A fireman said to me remorsefully.

My voice had cracked by this point. So I couldn't say anything that could have been heard from the distance and over the roaring flames.

What was there to say? The building is coming down. I'm pinned.

I just rested my head on the carpet.

I could tell they were running due to Conner's screams and the heavy footsteps.

It was around there that it all hit me.

I was going to die.

This was not really a way I wanted to go. I always thought I would die in an accident. Something interesting would have been nice. Like a toilet seat fell from a plane and hit me like a meteor.

Now that would get people's attention, like I went out with a last joke or something.

But I guess this will have to do.

My body was numb from the pain by this point. I accepted the numbness. It was better than the fire.

And my vision went dark… and then bright again.

I was suddenly freezing. What happened to the fire? Why is everything so bright?!

I refused to open my eyes. You would think my attitude would have spun around now that I was out of the frying pan.

Wrong.

I wailed like a banshee at the top of my lungs. I didn't hear my screams. My voice box was most likely shredded, but I could hear a baby.

My body felt sluggish, but I still suddenly became aware of something big touching me.

Was that I hand?

…

That is a Huge Hand!

I suddenly heard gibberish around me as I was moved around. Suddenly I was hung upside down by my legs as the voices around me started to go even louder.

One was a man's voice. He sounded calm and calculative to me. The other sounded like a woman whose voice grew more angry and panicked as she spoke.

And with one final word the woman went quit.

Just like that.

I don't know who that lady was, but the way she just suddenly stopped talking deeply disturbed me.

And the crying baby got even louder and it was when I took a deep breath that I realized something.

That was me.

I am a baby.

That explained everything. My fingers felt pudgy, I couldn't move anything. And most of all I felt small.

You know what I did when I realized this?

I screamed my little head off.

I felt a pinch in my arm that made me try to move away.

Even if I was a baby, didn't that mean the guy holding me was a doctor? He was not holding me delicately at all. And on top of that I think he just jabbed a needle in me.

Someone report his ass!

Whatever he put in me was working fast. I could feel my new body going numb again, along with my insides warming up. My heartbeat was beating rapidly in my ears and was now starting to slow down.

Before I blacked out I couldn't help but feel like the situation was wrong. So wrong in so many ways.

If I was reincarnated, why the hell do I still remember my past life? Shouldn't I be a blank slate? An empty canvas? A new start?

And that was not all. Where I was… I don't know. It just didn't feel right.

I was placed on something both soft and rough while something closed above me.

Shouldn't I be with my mo… I mean, my new mother?

I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my chest and weakly screamed with my small lungs. The smell of something burning reached my nose, making it hard to breath. This was not right! I should not be here!

The pain went down a little, but it still burns.

Fear, anger, pain, shock. All of these feelings and emotions were going through me as my eyes slowly closed.

The next time I cracked my eyes open it was because I was cold. I was wet, but not in a diaper way.

For some reason I was soaked. I inhaled so I could whine and scream, and was just able to detect new smells.

This body was unfamiliar with such things. The newborn part of me was panicking and crying, while the adult side of me identified what I had smelled.

Dirt, water, salt.

I didn't know why I smelled salt, but I quickly found out I was outside and in the rain.

I was shocked again when my noise triggered something to happen. That was when I realized I was being held. But this time whoever it is holding me was being gentle. My sounds made the arms cradling me hold on tightly.

Everything was so blurry. The only thing I could really make out was a dark purplish color looking down at me.

When the person talked I found out I was being held by a young girl. Her voice sounded shaky and pained, almost broken, but I could tell she was trying to sooth me. She held me close to her as she continued to talk. It was only when I found out the stuttering words rhymed that I realized she was actually singing to me.

Or at least she was trying to. Her words were so quiet and kept shaking. It was like it hurt her to talk.

When she pulled me close, I actually started to feel warm. My crying died down a little as my head nestled something soft.

For the first time since my reincarnation neither part of me, adult or infant, felt afraid.

I felt like nothing could get me, like I was under some kind of divine protection.

In the arms of this person… this stranger, I actually felt safe.

I was so comfortable I fell asleep.