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“A Hero’s Heart”

**~A Hero can live right next door~**

**~Chapter Twelve- A Day to Remember~**

-August 22nd, 2001. 9:15 AM. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company twelve station.

He pulls on the black tie and straightens it out as he gazes at the dresser mirror. He feels the lump in his throat rising as he blinks back tears. Today was supposed to be a joyful day for him. A day for him to go out and celebrate his birthday but instead he’s mourning over the lost of a good friend and close companion to the company. The small bathroom door opens and Brian steps out of it: his eyes red and swollen from crying, gazes at his friend Howie who’s standing in front of the dresser.

“Happy birthday D.” Brian hoarsely whispers and manages a small smile. His deep ocean blue eyes stare at Howie. There was pain behind those blue orbs, Howie could tell. He earlier had woken up to hear Brian crying in the bathroom. It was as if he didn’t want Howie to see him crying. Maybe that was how he handled the pain. As for him, he seemed numbed by the whole thing. Not that he was trying to avoid the shocking pain but it just seemed so deep in his body that he wasn’t responding.

Howie grins and does a quick nod, “Thanks. I’m getting old huh?”

Brian smiles passing his hand through his dirty blond locks, “Na, when you’re thirty then we’re talking.”

Howie chuckles and sniffs softly the cool morning breeze that enters through the open window. Howie could tell this was gonna be another hot day from the sticky humidity that entered through the window. He could feel himself already beginning to sweat, but that was the least of his problems. The door to the room opens as Nick steps in all dressed in black like the others.

Nick gulps and gently closes the door behind him. Clearing his throat, he looks at Howie and smiles. “I just wanted to come in and wish you a happy birthday D.” He states quietly, standing uncomfortably in the black attire: a black blouse and pants. His blonde locks are spiky today as he gazes at his friends.

Howie grins, “Thank you. I guess we should go now. We don’t wanna be late today now do we?”

Nick shakes his head and opens the door letting Brian out first. “Hey Brian, how you feeling today?” He asks concerned.

Brian manages a small smile, “I’m dealing, if that’s what you wanna know.”

Nick shakes his head and gulps, “Ok.” He could feel death is something that affects everyone in a different way and he understood how Brian was responding.

Howie closes the door and they head down the carpeted hallway and down the stairs in the fire station to meet the others.
~*~

A.J glances up from the sofa to see Jalisa stick her head through the doorway. “Hey Alex, there you are. I was looking for you” She whispers gently afraid to upset the man before her. She passes her peach colored hands down her black skirt and black blouse. “I just wanted to know if there is anything I can do.” She states, her light chocolate eyes eyeing the man on the worn black sofa. Her dark medium brown locks were tied in a low ponytail as she takes a deep breath.

A.J. stares at the black screen of the television which is off and twiddles his fingers together. He sniffs and passes his tan colored hands over his goatee. Mumbling, he stares at the black screen, “Can you bring him back?”

Jalisa sighs and shakes her head, ‘You know I can’t do that.”

A.J. nods his head softly, whispering, “Then you can’t help.” And with that closes his eyes and places his black shades over his teary swollen eyes.

“It’s time to go Alejandro. We have to get there by ten.” Jalisa whispers.

A.J. nods his head and follows her out the lounge room.
~*~

He runs his fingers through his black spikes and stares at the reflection of himself in front of dresser mirror. He sits down on the wooden chair and sighs. He was a mess. He was supposed to be downstairs now to meet the guys but he didn’t know if he could walk. It just seemed like this passing week went by in slow motion and each day just seems to suck the breath out of him more. The day of Adam’s death, he was responsible for calling his family and informing them of the man’s death. It was hard enough for him to speak and to be the bearer of bad news didn’t help either. His family would be coming into New York today to go to the wake that will be held this morning and following that, the funeral will take place. Kevin didn’t know if he could handle all this sorrow. His heart ache too much and it felt like there was a shocking numbness to the whole ordeal. He had to convince himself that it was real and that his friend did pass away. He grabs a pad and scribbles down something, anything that would be help him get away or at least express his mixed emotions. On the pad, he jots down these words,

Life goes on as it never ends.
Eyes of stone observe the trends
They never say forever gaze.

He jolts in surprise when his door opens by Darrel who sticks his head in, “Hey there you are. Come on Kevin, we have to get going. We’ll be running late if we don’t leave in ten minutes.” His light brown hair lies straight as his light brown eyes glitter in the soft morning sun light. Kevin closes the writing pad and throws it in a small trash basket besides the dresser. And with that he follows Darrel out the door.
~*~

He stares at the large group of people that had gathered for Adam. Many people there were the people Adam saved. The rest was firefighters from all over the city as well as his family. He feels a little hand tug on his black sleeve and he gazes down to see the big hazel eyes of Samantha. Her pretty eyes clouded in tears.

“Is it ok if I can stop being brave now?” Samantha asks, her caramel complexion glittered softly in the bright sunlight. Her brown locks were tied in a braided ponytail as her black simple dress covered her small body. Her eight year old eyes held unshed tears.

Nick nods and squats down on his knees to her height. He stares at her as he feels her small arms being thrown around his neck. “Why did daddy have to go now? Why couldn’t he stay with me? Mommy misses him and she hasn’t sleep since it happened. Everyone is sad.” She states and silently cries, the tears splashing down on her precious face.

Nick began getting choked up and didn’t know what to say to her. What could he say that will bring happiness back into her life? Nothing. And that is exactly what he does, nothing as he watches Samantha crawl into his arms. He squats there letting little Samantha bury her soft head in the crook of his neck as she cries her eyes out. He rubs her back gently and closes his eyes. This is the job he wanted, so why was he beginning to regret signing up as a firefighter? He worked too hard for him to give up and walk away. Like A.J. had said, death is part of this job. He would have to learn to deal with the pain and continue working.

“Nick.” A small voice answered. Nick looks down to see Samantha staring back at him. “I’m sorry I made you sad.”

Nick flinches at her words and shakes his head, “Don’t worry about it. It’s ok to be sad. You’re dad was a great guy.”

Samantha smiles and clutches her small arms around Nick’s neck. “I know he is. Mommy told me that he did a lot of great things and that he helped a lot of people. Like that old lady over there.” She points to an elderly dark colored woman sitting in one of the pews of the funeral home. “Mommy said that lady’s house was burning real bad and the woman couldn’t hear her fire alarm go off cause she lost her hearing a while back. But daddy came in and carried that lady out before the fire touched her. That was brave cause everyone else was too afraid to go in the burning apartment.” She states with a bit of pride and sadness in her voice.

Nick nods his head, “Yup, your dad was great.”

Samantha smiles and climbs off Nick. Standing up she cups her hand around a small heart necklace she is wearing. “Daddy was gonna give me this for my birthday next week, but mommy said I can open it now.” She says softly and opens the golden heart jewel to expose the picture of her and her father in an embrace.

Nick’s eyes water as he looks at the picture. He traces the tiny jewelry with his finger and smiles, “It’s beautiful.”

Samantha smiles and bats her wet hazel eyes at him, “I know.”

“Nick, it’s about to begin.” Chief Lawrence states as he holds a red rose in his hand. Nick nods and holding onto Samantha’s hand walk over to the large crowd as the wake begins.
~*~

Howie sighs as he looks at how depressed A.J was sitting in the pews. The wake finished over an hour ago and they were the only two left in the funeral home. “J, we can’t stay here. We have to go to the funeral now.” He whispers softly gazing at his broken hearted friend.

A.J. looks over at Howie slowly and sighs, his wet eyes glimmer his deep chocolate eyes. “I can’t do this D. I mean I shouldn’t be here at the funeral home. He should have lived. He had a family.”

“Alex, stop blaming yourself for this. You had nothing to do with this.” Howie gently whispers.

“I know that D. But if I had taken the time to stop by and visited him earlier, I could have at least saved him from going back in there. I could have talked to him and change what could have happened.” A.J. states grimly.

Howie gulps and stands up, “Look, I’m going with Darrel. If you see Kevin tell him that we’re at the Roosevelt Island, next to the bay.” And with that Howie exits the funeral home with his heart troubled in sadness.

A.J. stands up, “Wait! D, hold up.”

Howie stops at the entrance and turns around confused, “What, what happened?” He asks concerned.

“Happy birthday buddy.” A.J. whispers.

Howie smiles and nods his head, “Thanks, some birthday huh?”

A.J. nods his head, “Yeah.” He sighs and they both head out.
~*~

-August 22nd, 2001. 10:30 am. Roosevelt Island, Queens. New York.

Kevin stares around at the beautiful ocean, his emerald eyes reflecting the colors of the ocean. He sighs and closes his eyes. He cried himself out, there were no more tears left in him and to a point he felt free, free from the pain and sadness that held it’s strong embrace for the past week. A large crowd had already gathered at the bay. Under the wife’s permission, Adam was cremated and she would throw his ashes into the ocean. She told Kevin, Adam was fond of the water, no wonder he became a firefighter. Kevin watches as Nick, Brian, Howie and A.J. make their way to him. Kevin smiles as the guys approach him. From the corner of his eyes he could see Summer and Skye watching from a distance. “Tell the girls to come in. They knew who Adam was.” He tells one of the firefighters from Adam’s company.

Brian reaches Kevin and sighs as Kevin leans towards his smaller cousin. “This wasn’t suppose to be.” He hears Brian muttering.

“I know but what can we do?” Kevin asks softly as the crowd gathered to begin the ceremony.

“Live.” Nick states, his ocean blue eyes a shade lighter today as the tears had cleared away. Summer and Skye enters the area and sadly gazes at the men.

“I heard and I couldn’t believe it.” Skye states quietly, her beautiful green eyes glitter with unshed tears. The golden specks in her eyes reflect with the touch of the sunlight. Her freckles lie scattered gently across her pale face. Summer, stares at the ocean and sniffs, her little hands clutch onto Kevin’s hand, “I miss Adam, he used to baby sit me and Samantha. Now he left and I didn’t say bye.” She states sadly, her blonde locks blow gently in the soft wind as the trumpets began blowing a sad melody.

The firefighters in Adam’s company were dressed in uniforms: a deep blue blazer type jacket with golden buttons all down in a row. All are wearing a white what seemed like a police officers hat with a black and golden trimming in the front of the cap. There are about ten marching as two of them are blowing trumpets. The three women firefighters of that company walk in the center with the wife of Adam in front of them. The three women are dressed in white flowing dresses, laced up in a halter up. They are throwing white petals as Adam’s wife walks in the center. Her grey eyes sparkle with tears, her soft caramel complexion glowed brightly in the morning sunlight. In her hands she held a clear glass vase with the ashes of her deceased husband. When she reaches the end of the pier, she leans near the edge of pier and gently tilts the glass vase, letting Adam’s ashes tumble on the water’s surface. The ashes drift away as a small current carries Adam’s ashes away toward the horizon. A priest begins reading from the Bible as Adam’s wife clutches onto her little daughter tightly.

Howie watches all this and the pain throbbing in his chest unleashes the cries he held in for a while. Tears stream down his face as he watches the others there, grieve and cry. Howie gulps and closes his eyes. Whispering, he says softly, “Happy birthday to me.”
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**