I crawled around on my hands and knees. I was gasping for air and couldn't see six inches around me. I had to keep going though. There was a kid trapped somewhere in this house and I had to find him. I was not leaving until I did so. I hear a sudden cracking above my head and look up just in time to watch a beam fall on me.

I'm scared. It's hot, it's dark and I'm all alone. I heard daddy yelling fire. My door was too hot though, I couldn't go out of it. The rope ladder leading out of my second story window is gone. I can't get out. I crawled into my closet. I'm crying, just praying that someone will find me. I feel tired. I'm giving up hope. I just want to go to sleep. I know I'm not suppose to. I don't see the point though. I don't think anybody will ever find me. I start to close my eyes and go to sleep. Suddenly I hear my name being called. I want to call out. To tell them that I'm here. I can't seem to get my energy though. Suddenly the closet door is opened and I'm being picked up and carried out. I reach the outside and I'm placed on a bed with wheels. I hear voices above me, though they are muffled. I can only, just barely, make out one voice. It's a mans voice. "It's okay Brian. You're okay. Everything is okay." I don't recognize the voice, but I believe it.

"Brian, come on man, it's time to wake up." I recognize that voice, so I use all my strength to open my eyes. I look beside me and see the source of the voice. It is my partner Sean.

"Hey man welcome back to the land of the living."

"What happened?" I ask him.

"You got knocked out man. A ceiling beam fell smack on your head. Lieu kept calling you, but you didn't answer your radio so he sent me to look for you."

Suddenly it all came flooding back to me. The fire, the beam, and the darkness that overcame me. Suddenly, it hit me, the reason I was there in the first place.

"The kid," I ask Sean, "what happened to the kid?"

"They found him." He tells me, "He was in the bathroom. He's okay."

That statement brought me a lot of relief. I wasn't able to get the kid out, but someone did. Then I remembered what I had remembered when I was out of it. That day, that incident was a defining life moment. That day was why I became a fireman in the first place. If it wasn't for Mike, the guy that saved me, I wouldn't be alive.

I thought about the fact that once again, I almost died today. I'm obviously glad that I didn't, but as long as the kid was okay, that had been the important thing.