I woke to the ringer on my phone going crazy. I noticed Jt not next to me so I picked up the phone.
"Liberty turn on the news, Manny's apartment is on fire." I got up and searched for Jt I noticed that all his stuff was gone and knew he was at the fire.
"Emma, Jt is at the fire please say it isn't bad." I began to get nervous it always scared me but he loved saving lives.
"Just look for your self." I fumbled with the remote till I got to channel three the local news station.
Fire rages on as building collapses trapping two firefighters inside. Read the head lines. I sat there numb.
"Please say Jt isn't one of them."
"I don't know Liberty they haven't released the names." I hung up and just watched the TV for the developments. Hour went by and no new development went on. No one could get to the trapped firefighters due to they thought the area would explode I was so afraid. I went to his parents house down the road and let his Grandmother sleep knowing that since shes began to slow she didn't need to be worried. I banged on the door of their house and they came to the door in robes.
"Turn your TV on." They ushered me in and I turned it on to the local new station. A broadcaster was speaking.
"Fire down on Maple lane turns deadly as the building collapses trapping two firefighters inside, The names of the firefighter's trapped were just released. A probie James Yorke and another rookie Mack Thompson. They have been in the building for over an hour and the situation doesn't look good. Their oxygen supply is on its last leg turning into the fourth hour they have been battling this fire. It broke out hours ago at a party went wrong. Three college guys are being held for questioning on how the fire started. It broke out around 2 am this morning. We keep you updated on this what could be tragedy." I turned to his parents and they have tears down their eyes like I do. I have lost my Jt again only a miracle could save him now. We just sat there and waited for them to have more news but we got tired of waiting and turned away knowing all hope was lost.
I was trapped with a fellow firefighter against me. The building around us has gone down and I can't see and escape route. I have no way to put out the raging inferno in front of me. I try to find a way to crawl out trying not to disturb anything so it doesn't completely fall on me, killing me. I know that I have been trapped for an hour and soon my oxygen would run out. My tank got stuck on another beam as I crawled along pulling Mack behind me. I can't even tell if my fellow fighter is alive all I know is we have to get out of here because this pressure and fire this close to the tanks could explode this place from the ground up at any minute. I ripped off my tank braving the harsh smoke as I tried to find a route out. I saw an opening and light come from one of the spots ahead. By the time I have reached the hole I have gone twenty minutes without clean oxygen and know I can't inhale much more smoke. I shove my buddy up through and then pull my self up. We are at the back of the building I pull him away to an open field as I set him down the building I was in explodes. I try to wake Mack but he is still out cold.
"Captain" My voice thick and barely able to speak I cough and notice blood comes up.
"Yorke where are you!"
"Behind, safe, Mack." Is all I could get out before I collapsed in the cool grass.
I woke in the back of an ambulance, an oxygen mask was on my face and I felt the burns on my face and arms. I was admitted to the hospital with multiple burns and scarring in my lungs from over exposure to smoke. The had a breathing tube in my nose to regulate the amount of air to my lungs to make sure I didn't tear them till they healed. I dozed off a few hours later once they administered some pain medication before they started healing my burns.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
When I woke I woke to a tear stained face of liberty's.
"Libby." I croaked.
"God Jt I thought I lost you again. Don't ever do that to me again." Her face showed that she was trying not to cry. I opened my arms and held her close she sobbed into my chest and that was when the reality hit me that I may of never seen her again, my beautiful Liberty. I just held her close as both of our bodies shook with the sobs we didn't bother hiding. I looked at my face in a mirror a few hours later and saw I had some second degree burns on my cheeks and my lips were burnt. I had a few cuts that were stripped up from when the building fell. It wasn't until two days later that I found out Mack didn't make it, he died of smoke poisoning a few hours after we got out of the blaze. He left behind his wife and child. I walked out the front doors of the hospital and went to my car where my Family waited.
"Finally back son?" I nodded I wasn't in the mood to be cheered. I had trained with Mack and he was only 26. I got in the back seat and held Liberty's hand. We arrived and hour later at my grams house.
"How is she doing?" I asked knowing my gram hadn't been doing well lately.
"She's ok, a bit miffed at you. We all thought we lost you till they said they found both of you collapsed behind the building."
"I pulled him out just as it exploded." I walked to my grams bedroom and noticed her up and about cleaning.
"Hey grams." I smiled at her as I leaned against the door frame.
"James. You just love to scare an old lady like me."
"I don't try." I walked over to her and gave her a hug.
"You sure scared Liberty."
"I know I have a dangerous job." She smiled and patted my hand before she went to go sit in the living room, I went up stairs and threw my equipment in the corner before I collapsed on my bed.
I woke to Liberty in a very thin nightie, holding a plate of food. I just could help but stare at her. I wanted her but the food smelled so good. She had a small smirk on her face.
"What fireman can't decide what you want?" I smiled.
"I'm not sure how I am supposed to when my fiance comes in here in a nightie." I gave her my crooked smirk that always melts her heart. She just chuckles and hands me the food before she lays next to me.
"So you ready to see Sam next week?" She rests her head on my shoulder.
"Yah, no more fires till we get back?" I looked down at her. Her big brown eyes filled with help.
"No not unless we have the whole town explode I won't be working." She smiles and drifts off to sleep. I place the plate on my bedside table before I snuggle farther under the blankets and fall asleep...
I woke to the memorial on the news on Mack. It was my fault I should of helped more something. It was a bad situation gone array. It made me wonder how many times I would be lucky to escape death. How many second chances I would have to live. It made me think of the fireman's prayer we had on the wall and I hoped that god is extending a hand to his daughter and wife. I was in a somber mood as I woke and dressed in the blue uniform that was given to me for this occasion. Tobes arrived to drive me to the firehouse so us boys could hang before the funeral. My short glasses ridden friend arrived at the door.
"Man Jt I never thought I'd see you dressed up. Not even for your wedding do I expect you dressed up. I thought you'd wear baggy cargo's and a button up." He always got me to smile when I was down.
"Well dragon lady might breathe fire so I decided to maybe dress for my wedding. Some thing along the lines of my family wouldn't like to see you in your boxers. I mean I'd wear the nice ones with the hearts I thought that be ok but she put her foot down. So much for creativity." I shrugged my shoulders before I got in. He drove me to the firehouse where I walked in to see them all sitting around in various states of dress. I pulled the hat off before I walked in and slung the jacket over the back of my chair.
"Boys, Kendra." I nodded as I sat and had a glass of whiskey passed my way. I sipped on the drink that burned going down. Captain came up to me.
"Put these on Yorke, you proved your no longer a probie." I looked down at the badge they gave, a few medals.
"I don't deserve these medals." They were of heroics and to me I was no hero. In the few months I have fully been a firefighter I've seen little children die from smoke inhalation and it makes me drive harder to get everyone alive. To see that little soot covered face and never know the spark in their eyes is the worst. As I sat around I remember a saying Mack used to say. A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of men. He's a man who saves lives because he has seen too much death.
He's a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control. It made me think back to the last party Liberty had a Emma's the feud between two schools then the violence spinning out of control and ending with me getting stabbed. I looked down at the medals and just pinned them to my coat. The sirens rang as the Engines started and we drove to the cemetery where we put two of our ladders up and hung the flag from the ladders. It represented something more then a flag in the sky the two raised ladders meant that when we buried our fellow fighter his spirit would be able to climb the white ladders on the shiny red trucks for the last time and finally be done with battling fires. We finished setting up and another engine brought us to the main street where his precision would be held. We all sat back in the truck.
"Yorke." I looked to the captain breaking out of my train of thought.
"We want you to carry Mack's helmet in front of the trucks to the church." I sat there stunned.
"Why me?"
"You and Mack were close he took you in as a brother as we all just gave you shit. You helped him out alive and he would want this." I nodded and took a look at the soot covered hat. You could make out the 14 on the side and Mack on the other side. I hid the tear that spilled from my eye. We stepped out at the church and a lot of people were gathered around. We walked to the back of the truck and gently lifted Mack down and carried him into a church full of people. I saw his daughter and Wife in the front. His daughter was only five she wouldn't understand why daddy was never to come home. I looked away not able to see the tear stained faces. My boys and I placed him down with our flag covering the wood casket. I saw Liberty standing in the back and I went to her and just held her hand with the white glove I was forced to wear. A preacher who knew Mack spoke of his selfless act firefighting and said a few prayers. The speaking was over and My boys walked to the front again and I took his folded uniform and helmet and held it as we walked out of the church to those who stood to watch Mack's last trek on this world. I walked ahead of the fire truck holding his stuff trying to hold the tears that threatened to spill. How I wished Liberty was here with me now. We finally reached the cemetery and the casket was lowered from the truck and into the ground along with his things. A firefighter to the end. I lowered my hat as a final prayer was said. Captain stood and began to speak.
"Mack was a rookie who knew what he was doing. He might of not been with our ladder long but he had the true spirit of a fighter. What happened was a freak accident, sometimes not all of us are lucky. I believe Yorke has something to say." I looked at captain with narrowed eyes but I stood up front.
"I was with Mack when the building fell. I helped drag him out, We were on the second floor when the building fell around us. Mack was unconscious after and explosion on the eighth floor. I tried to save him. We collapsed in the grass when the building exploded. Mack was always there when I started out being a Probie and all he showed me the way, he was like a brother to me. A brother I will never forget." I looked down in the cold hard ground and just walked away. I found Liberty and held her close seeking comfort I desperately needed. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned but still held Liberty close. It was Macks wife.
"Thank you Jt, Mack spoke well of you. You were like the little brother he never had. He wanted me to give you these. There accounts of all the fires hes been in, the people he saved and lost. He told me to give it to you right before he died." I nodded taking the beaten brown leather book and sliding it in my Jacket.
"I'm sorry, I tried all I could to save him. I'm just glad I got him out alive before the building exploded." I hugged her and saw her little girl holding her daddy's fire hat clutching it. I bent down to her level.
"You daddy loved you, Jasmine. He spoke of you constantly to me, how proud he was of your accomplishments. Your daddy loved you very much." The girl began to cry and flung her little arms around me I held her close and comforted her.
"Never forget your daddy loved you." I let the little girl go and looked directly into Mack's wife eyes.
"Any time you need me my door is always open." She nodded before she dragged her little girl away. I turned to liberty.
"Lets go to the dot. I need some comfort food." I slung my arm around her and we went off to my jetta. I drove slowly to the dot just trying to put this all behind me.
"You were so nice to that little girl." She placed her hand on mine and it calmed me a bit.
"She just lost her dad and I can't help but feel responsible. If I never went up we could of gotten out safe or if I closed the door we would have had a few more seconds that could of changed everything." She sighed.
"JT a change and I could of lost you two things happen for a reason. It isn't your fault you followed procedure, Mack wouldn't want you beating your self up. Wondering the what ifs is only going to drive you crazy."
"I know it, just sucks I keep beating death now twice. I should of died not him." I stopped in a parking space and Liberty snapped my head to look at her.
"Never wish your self dead. God is just giving you a second chance to live and that exactly what were going to do. We have a wedding to plan." I smiled and caressed her lips with mine. She always knew exactly what to say.