Page 4 of Burned By Fire

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EMBER

Tuesday, May 3rd

Turning the page of the calendar in the breakroom, I come face-to-face with Mr. May, Solomon Fox. He’s been my unattainable crush ever since I was eighteen and I met him on a training day at the academy. Little did I know he’d be at the firehouse I was assigned to. Unfortunately, the closest I’ve gotten to kissing him is puckering up to this glossy paper. Three years later and he’s still my favorite firefighter, even if he’s been forced to retire due to injury.

“Stop drooling over Mr. May and get some work done,” my friend Liam, a volunteer firefighter, says as I jump out of my skin.

I’m so busted. “I’m just grabbing some water before my workout.”

“Sure you are.” He winks at me before opening the fridge. He passes me a bottle and gets himself one before leaving me staring at Sol.

“You’ll find your place, big guy,” I say to the picture.

The flames aren’t our friends, and Sol taught me to make every day count while I’m part of the service. Sol might not feel like a hero, but he is to me and many residents of Armstrong.

The treadmill is vacant when I reach the gym. After a few warm-up stretches, I start running hard. I need to let off some steam so I can focus on something more than Sol. But my thoughts easily drift back to him. I wish I could help him or that he’d let someone else help him.

Liam joins me on an incline setting.

“Race you to the top?” I say. I switch a few settings on the machine to increase the gradient.

“You’re on.”

We race fast, and by the time I’m approaching the end of my program, I’m sweating hard. Using the fresh towel from my locker, I pat down my face, then guzzle down my water. I walk out my aching muscles before moving to the weights.

“You only won because you had a head start,” Liam says, shrugging off my victory.

“Don’t be a sore loser. Do you want to team up for the other equipment?” I ask, tightening my hair tie.

“Sure.”

We lift some weights before doing a cool down. “I’ll catch you at the daily meeting,” I say before hitting the showers.

Once I’m dressed and ready to start the cleaning tasks, I make my way to the assembly point. The chief’s already there, and I stand next to Liam, waiting for today’s brief.

“Morning, guys,” Dylan Cooper, the fire chief, says. He’s only been with us since January, but he’s a good boss.

“Morning,” I say brightly, followed by a few grumbles from the others. It’s still early and the start of a long shift.

“I’ve set out a weekly rota which I’ll clip to the board, but I wanted to talk to you about the annual trip to Armstrong Elementary School. I’m looking for two volunteers to do this year’s fire safety talk.”

I promptly put my hand up. “I’d love to go.” This would’ve been my mentor’s job, and it’ll be sad to go without him. We only worked together for less than a year, but we went to the school together last time.

“Anyone else?” Dylan asks. Everyone’s silent for a few seconds.

“I’ll go with Ember,” Liam says, and I raise my hand so we can fist bump.

“Great. Now that’s settled, let’s get Firehouse 13 clean and ready to go.”

I check the rota for my tasks and smile when I see I’m washing the fire truck. I fill up a bucket with soap and hot water, then I grab a cloth and get to work on methodically washing the truck until the paint sparkles.

The alarm sounds, making me jump into action. First, I press the button to open the doors, then I quickly change into my boots, jacket, and helmet before climbing into the vehicle.

“What’s the situation?” I ask when Dylan gets into the driver’s seat.

“The old Majestic Theatre in Prescott is on fire and the local firehouse has asked for assistance. The damage is currently unclear, but it can’t be good.”

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