This is a one-shot, based on one child's memories of being saved from the fire at the church on Jay Mountain.
This is my very first song/fanfic. Please let me know what you think. Even if you don't have anything constructive to say, i don't mind getting reviews that read simply: 'i loved it', or 'i hated it'. But on the same note, i do like reviews that give me helpful hints and tips.
Juvenile Delinquents Turn Hero
//Think about the love inside the strength of heart,
Think about the heroes saving life in the dark,
Climbing higher through the fire,
Time was running out,
Never knowing you weren't coming down alive//
I was six years old. I was going on my very first school trip. We were going to have a picnic on the top of Jay Mountain by the old church. I was really excited.
When we got there, our teacher told us not to play in the church, but curiousity over-powed me and a few of my friends.
As soon as the teacher turned her back, we slipped away from the group and into the church.
It looked like someome had been living there. There was food, cards and cigarettes scattered around the place. There was even a book - i remember the title, 'Gone With The Wind'.
One of my friends found some matches and began striking them and watching them burn. We were fascinated by the fire.
We pushed a few playing cards and cigarettes together and set light to the small pile. We watched in amazement as the little flame devoured the pile and got bigger.
Soon our fascination turned to worry as the fire began to spread rapidly. It was a really old church and caught fire quickly.
We were all scared and didn't know what to do. The fire cut off our escape route. We ran into another room and huddled together in a corner.
The flames rose and soon the whole church was ablaze. That's when i realized there was another group of kids in there. I began to cry and shout for help - scared for my friends and myself.
Then, suddenly, two men emerged from the flames and pulled the wood away from a window. They began lifting my friends and passing them through the window to another man outside.
I remember looking at them and trying to see their faces clearly. The church was filled with smoke and i started to cough and my eyes were stinging.
I thought they were angels, but from what i could see of them, they were kind of scarey looking.
The one outside the window was the scariest. He looked really mean.
"Get them and get out!" I heard the man outside yell.
//But you still came back for me,
You were strong and you believed//
They had gotten all my friends and only i was left.
For a second, it looked as though they hadn't seen me, then one of the men quickly grabbed me and passed me through the window.
A few seconds later, the church began to collapse.
One of the men lay on the ground outside, unconscious - the man that had been outside had hit him hard, then jumped through the window into the church.
At first, i thought he was trying to kill the two men, but when he emerged from the church, dragging the other man with him, i realized he was trying to save them.
//Everything's gonna be alright,
Everything's gonna be alright,
Everything's gonna be alright,
Be storng, believe//
The ambulances came and took the three men away. Our parents came and hugged us and cried. Some of the parents took their kids to the hospital to thank the men for saving them. My parents took me home. I wanted to go to the hospital and say thank-you, but they wouldn't let me.
//Think about the chance i never had to say,
Thank you for giving up your life that day,
never fearing only hearing voices calling out,
let it all go the life that you know,
just to bring them down alive//
I was at the local store the day after the fire and i saw a newspaper with the heading "Juvenile Delinquents Turn Hero". I picked it up and began reading it, realizing it was about the three men that had saved me. I stared at their pictures for a while. They didn't look quite as scarey in black and white. Two of them looked familiar. I bought the paper and raced home.
I found the newspaper from a few days ago and on the front page was a story about two 'greasers' killing a football player. I looked at the pictures.
The murderers were my saviors.
In that moment i knew there must have been something wrong with the first story.
How could two cold-blooded murderers care enough to risk their lives for a bunch of kids?
The day after that, i was walking by the same local store when the newspaper caught my eye.
There was a picture of one of the men that rescued me and the man that was outside the window.
I picked it up and began reading, curious what they had done now.
If i'd bothered to have read the headline, the contents of the article wouldn't have shocked me as much as it did.
It said one of the men - his name was Johnny Cade - had broken his back while trying to save the kids from the burning church. He had died the next day.
The second man's name was Dallas Winston. The newspaper said he had robbed a store at gunpoint, tried to run from the police, then aimed his gun at them. The police had shot him in defense.
I couldn't believe what i was reading.
Two of my heroes were dead.
And i never got to thank them.
//Everything's gonna be alright,
Everything's gonna be alright,
Everything's gonna be alright,
Be strong, believe//
I kept the newspaper articles and i found one about the trial for the murder - Johnny was innocent, he had acted in self-defense. I knew there was something wrong with the first story.
It's been twenty-five years since the day i was saved from the burning church and now i stand in the graveyard by your tombstones.
The same ones i visited every year for the past twenty years.
I thank you everytime i visit.
For being brave. For saving me. For giving up your lives for someone you didn't even know.
//Wanna hold my wife when i get home,
Wanna tell the kids they'll never know,
How much i love to see them smile,
Wanna make a change right here right now,
Wanna live a life like you somehow,
Wanna make your sacrifice worthwhile//
Thanks to you, i was able to graduate school and college. I became a fireman, got married and had kids.
I named them after you - Johnny and Dallas.
If it wasn't for you i wouldn't have had the chance to experience all of this.
Now that i look at your gravestones, i realize you weren't as old as i had thought. At six, everyone seems old. But now i realize you were just kids, barely out of high-school.
You never got the chance to experience half of what i have experienced.
Never really got the chance to live.
But i still look up to you and admire you.
You're still my heroes.
//Think about the love inside the strength of heart,
Think about the heroes saving life in the dark,
Think about the chance i never had to say,
Thank you for giving up your life that day//
quote:
Steve: What i like is the 'turn' bit. Y'all were heroes from the start, you didn't just 'turn'.