This is a short story I wrote for Tuesday Tales. I have put the link to them at the bottom. I hope you enjoy. Till next time.
Fire for the Holidays
The night was anything but perfect,
so thought Amber as she pulled into the driveway of her home. She just got back
from the third blind date she was set up on this week. The night started out
like any ordinary night does for a single mom, trying to raise a daughter, but
the blind date made it a bad night. She was seriously getting tired of being
set up. She pulled herself up the steps to her door. She checked her watch and
smiled, she just had enough time for a bath before she had to go to work. She
didn’t like working the night shift, but she would do anything to support her
little girl. Amber started the water for her bath, and then went to check on
her daughter who was sleeping like an angel in her room.
She slid
herself into the calming warm water and let out a relaxing sigh,”Oh yeah this
is exactly what I needed tonight. She closed her eyes and just let the water
wash away all the stress from the day. An hour later, she got out of the bath
and dressed in her scrubs, and left for work. She drove the 15 minutes to the
hospital where she worked in the burn unit. She was getting a new patient
tonight. She walks into the burn unit and waves at the nurse behind the desk,
“Good evening Charli, how are ya tonight?”
“Hey there
Amber, I am pretty good thanks, how are you?”
“I’m as
good as can be expected seeing how my night began. What do we have going on
tonight?”
Charli gets
up from where she is sitting and handed Amber a folder, “Well, we have a new
patient in room 4. A white male, age twenty five, was severely burned in a
house fire, trying to save his son. He has third degree burns on his face and
hands. He was admitted earlier today. Here are his charts.” Amber looked over
the files as she entered the man’s room. “Hello, I’m Amber, how are you doing
today? “
“Look at
what happened to me, how do you think I am doing?” he said with a sharp sting
in his voice.
“At least
your son is safe.” Hoping that will improve his attitude. “And besides, it’s
the holidays. You have your family.”
“They
aren’t going to want to see me like this. I will be lucky if they even love me
anymore.” He touched the bandages wrapped around his head and face then took a
deep breath. “No one will ever want to see me like this, I am a freak now.”
An overwhelming sadness overcame
her and a tear escaped and slowly made its way down her cheek. “It will get
better, I promise.”
“Your
promises don’t mean much to me; in fact they mean nothing to me. Now just leave
me alone.”
Amber
pauses a moment longer, then leaves the room. George sat in the hospital bed
wondering what he was going to do now. His family had tried to visit him, but
he wouldn’t allow them to. He just couldn’t face them, knowing what he knew
about how the fire started. As he laid there thinking, his past, and the
reasons the fire started come flooding back to him.
8 hours earlier
Goren Albert
came down from his bedroom and kissed his wife good morning. “Good morning
sweetheart.”
“Good
morning, do you have time for breakfast?”
“Not this
morning, I have a big meeting at work today.” He glanced down at his watch,
“And I am already late.” He kissed her again and ran out the door. His wife
started to tell him something, but he just put his hand up telling her he
couldn’t talk right then.
A short
while later their son came down ready for school, “Did dad remember he was
taking me to school today?” The boy saw the crestfallen look of his mother and
knew the answer before she said it. “He’s already left huh?” His mother nodded
and the boy grabbed his lunch and with sadness in his eyes, he kissed her on
the cheek and left to catch the bus.
***
Goren stopped at his secretary’s
desk on his way to his office, as he did every morning, “Good morning Alice.
Are there any messages for me?”
“Good morning sir. No messages, but
there is a gentleman in your office, said he had an appointment with you this
morning. He didn’t give him name, but said he was an old friend of yours. He
seemed ok, so I let him wait in your office.”
“Alright, thank you Alice.” He
looked in the window to his office and see a man in a trench coat and hat. He
instantly recognized him. “One more thing Alice, please hold all my calls, I
don’t want to be disturbed.”
She looked at him strangely and
nods, “Yes sir.”
He slowly opened the door to his
office and stepped in. “What the heck are you doing here? I told you never to
come to where I work.”
The man patiently waited till Goren
sat down at his desk before speaking. “You don’t call, you don’t write, how
else am I supposed to get in touch with you?”
“I told you I was done helping
you.”
The figure just laughed, “You were
told when you started that I am the one who says when you’re done.”
Goren tried to swallow the anger
and the fear so the figure wouldn’t see it in his eyes. “What can I do for you
then?”
“See, now isn’t that better. So
much hostility is never a good thing Goren. Now my friend, what I want from you
is very simple.” A wicked smile made its way up to the figures face and Goren
swallowed hard. “I need you to make a fire bomb and then deliver it to a
designated place.” Goren’s eyes went huge as the figure continued, “The
instructions for making it and the directions to the drop off point will be
sent to you by encrypted email. Do this and I will consider our debt paid in
full.”
Goren slumped down in his chair and
nodded his head. The figure stood and left his office. Shortly after the figure
left, his computer chimed telling him that he had a new email message. He
turned toward his computer, reached over with a trembling hand, and opened the
encrypted email.
He receives instructions on what
materials he will need in order to make the bomb. He is instructed to leave
work and make sure no one finds out what he is doing. He will be email more
instructions when he needs them. He puts his coat back on and headed out to get
the stuff he needs.
“Alice, I am leaving for the day,
I’ll see ya tomorrow.” Before she had time to ask any questions, he rushed out
the door, and headed to his car. He gets into his car and starts it. He went to
start it and hesitated for a few moments as the reality of what he was about to
do start to sink in.
Goren was
suddenly brought back to the here and now by the ringing of his phone. He
looked at the caller ID on his phone and saw that it was a private number. He
accepted the call and heard a dark voice on the other end, “What are you doing
Goren? You need to get going if you are going to meet your deadline.”
“What
deadline are you talking about?”
“The deadline you have to make the
bomb and deliver it. If you miss the deadline… well let’s just say it won’t be
good. How is your family anyway Goren?”
He started his car and headed home.
He arrived there to find a note stating that she had gone to the store and that
Tommy was up in his room playing. He went out to his car, opened the garage
door, took the supplies to his work table, and got to work. Something went
wrong with what he was doing, some unforeseen circumstance that he could have
never known about, let alone combat.
He added the last component which
was the timer and all of a sudden, the timer turned on and started a count down
from 4 minutes. He started to panic not quite knowing what to do. It was then
that he remembered his sweet little boy was playing in the house. He raced into
the house, knowing he needed to get to his son before it was too late. He
grabbed his son and headed out the front door. His son yelled that the dog was
in his room on the other side of his bed. Goren rushes back toward the home and
just before he gets to the door the whole home explodes in a great ball of
fire.
***
A knock at the door brought Goren
out of his thoughts and to his surprise, it was his grandfather, who he was
named after. His grandfather smiled when he saw the shock on his grandson’s
eyes. “I take it you are surprised to see me.” All he could do is nod his head,
the shock at seeing his grandfather still in his eyes. “Are you just going to
stare at me or are you going to say something?”
“Hi…” He looked down, not able to
look at his hero in his eyes. A tear gently fell from his eye as his
grandfather moved over to sit beside him. His grandfather looks him in the eyes
and speaks softly, but sternly, “So what is this I hear you won’t let your wife
and son visit?”
“I… It’s my fault… I just can’t
face them because of what I have done. If she knew, she would leave me and I
can’t live without her.”
“Okay Goren, you say it’s your fault.
What happened?”
Goren explains to his grandfather,
everything that had happened that day up to when the house exploded. His
grandfather sat at his bedside and listened intently as the story is told. As
he finished the story, his grandfather looked at him with sympathy in his eyes.
The old man took his grandson’s hand and smiles at him. “If what you tell me is
true, you were just doing what you thought you needed to. I am sure you lovely
wife and son will understand. Before I go get them, there is one more thing I
need to tell you. “
“Okay granddad, I am listening.”
“Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
and what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in
prayer. Go to Him in prayer and he can take the pain you bear away. Only then
can you go on with your life.”
With that said, the old man leaves
the room, and then returned with Goren’s wife and son. They all hug and then
pray to God for the pain to be taken. A warm loving feeling that is present at
the holidays is felt by everyone in the room and the pain slips away.
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