[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
“A Hero’s Heart”



**~I can be your hero baby. I can kiss away the pain- “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias



**~Chapter Fourteen- The Beginning of the End



-September 6th 2001. 8:05 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 25th street. Fire company Twelve Adolescence section.



Yawning, she ruffles through piles of clothing her mother has sent her through the mail yesterday. Her soft ocean blue eyes gaze at the dreaded plaid pants her mother thought she would look good in, lying on her full size bed. A giggle was heard from her roommate who is staring at Rose with pity in her eyes.



“You know I heard plaid was coming back in style.” Her roommate answered, her blue green eyes shining brightly.



Rose glares at her friend and flings the pants on the floor. “She has to be bugging if she thinks I’m gonna wear this. I’ll be the laughing stock of this company.”



Her friend Anita stands up from the chair she was reclining and picks up the pants: its grey lines disturbing the forest green color of the pants. “Man, the colors on these pants are awful. I really feel bad for you now, you know.”



Rose runs her fingers down her golden locks in frustration, “She’s trying to help, my poor mom needs to get fashion advice before pulling this off.”



Anita smirks and runs her light chocolate fingers through her jet black braided hair. “Sorry to hear that. She’ll learn one day. Just give her time.”



Rose laughs and collapses on the bed along side Anita, both in fits of giggles as they struggle to compose themselves.



Anita leans on her elbow and rolls her on side staring at Rose’s face, “So, you never told me what you think of the guys at station twelve.”



Rose smirks, “The guys in this station?”



Anita smiles, her red lips widen on her light chocolate face, “Let me rephrase that question, I’m talking the men at station twelve.”



Rose blushes, “Oh the men! Now we’re talking. The blond man with the blue eyes is so sweet. You know, Nick. He’s great. He bought me a bouquet of sunflowers and said it reminded him of me.”



Anita’s mouth drops open, “No way, the guys is like in his twenties and he’s hitting on you! He’s so fine for a white boy that is. No way, why can’t I have that luck?”



Rose giggles and rolls her eyes at her friend, “I guess I’m just lucky.”



Anita sticks out her lower lip and smiles, “Too lucky for some. I’m envying you right now Rain.”



Rose giggles and rolls on her stomach on the bed, “Well envy away girl, cause I think I might have found me a man. No boys for me, I got a man!”



Anita laughs at the statement, “Well let’s not bring up our hopes now, shall we? I think you might have some competition. I heard that intern that’s working there could be the eye candy for your dear Nick.”



Rose smiles, “Jalisa’s cool. I ain’t worried about her, she can play with him but I’ll have his heart in the end.”



Anita gets off the bed and laughs, “Girl you’re too much for me, let’s go. I heard Chief Sandy Rollin is wanting to talk with our company about some problem we should get prepared to do.”



Rose nods and follows Anita out the door but before closing the door, she turns back to stare at the heinous pants that lied crumpled on the floor near her soft plush rug. ‘I gotta get rid of that. I don’t think I’ll sleep with that at the foot of my bed tonight. It might come and attack me while I’m sleeping.’ She thinks to herself and disappears down the hallway following Anita.

~*~



-September 6th 2001. 8:15 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve.



He opens one blue eye slowly and gazes at the bright colors of the news. He mutes it and stares at the screen, his eyes on the news but his mind is elsewhere. He twists his wedding band on his finger nervously: his mind seems too unfocused since the last meeting. Since last week’s first meetings, the conferences have gotten longer and more frequently. He feels edgy and recalls the first meeting about reports that a possible threat could hurt the society and pertain to some form of terrorism. Nothing made much sense since then. Police have been tracking and reporting unusual suspects learning and taking driving courses somewhere in Florida. But nothing was certain and no new real information could be used.



“Brian, you ok?” His cousin’s deep voice interrupts his thoughts.



“Not really.” Brian sighs and pats the empty space next to him on the worn dark sofa in the lounge room.



“Wanna talk about it?” Kevin asks quietly, grabbing the remote and shutting off the television.



“I don’t know. I’m confused; I’m not sure what I’m feeling.” Brian states, eyeing his wedding ring.



Kevin gulps and nods his head, “I know. We should have nothing to fear. We live in a country that’s strong and powerful, we’re protected…I think.” Kevin whispers the last words.



“Something serious is gonna happen right, you can feel it, can you?” Brian whispers, he runs his fingers through his sandy blonde hair anxiously.



Kevin smirks, “I’m not sure what I’m feeling, but we’ll be ok. That I know.”



Brian nods his head and leans back on the sofa whispering, “I’m not so sure things will ever be the same.”

~*~



-September 6th 2001. 8:24 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve Station.



He turns over on his bed and yawns. He opens one eye slowly as the cool white cotton sheets lie tangled at his feet. He is greeted by a masked face of a gorilla. He could feel his heart leap into his throat for that second as he struggles to jump out of bed and points to the gorilla masked man.



“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Howie yells, the surprise in his voice.



Laughter is his response from behind the gorilla mask. “Dude relax, it looked like you were gonna piss on yourself.” Nick states as he yanks off the mask and points to Howie laughing.



Howie smiles and joins in the laughter, “Aight, you got me good. But I won’t take this lying down.” Howie states as he stumbles off the edge of the bed and trips on the tangled sheets wrapped around his ankles. He lands on his stomach and gazes embarrassed at Nick who is now in hysterics.



“Yo D, by the looks of it, it looks like you might have to take this down after all.” Nick states in between giggles.



Howie rolls his eyes and stands up rubbing his stomach, heads for the bathroom.



“Whoa, wait, D. Hold up. Where you going?” Nick asks still in the middle of his laughter.



“To piss in the toilet and when I’m done, I’ll finish spraying the rest on you.” Howie states smiling as Nick makes a disgusted face.



“Well, when you’re done. We have to train the teenagers in the other station to prepare them for anything. Oh and by the way, wash your hands when you’re done.” Nick states smirking and leaves the room.



Howie sighs and closes the bathroom door knowing today will be a long day for him. And Nick better watch his back cause revenge will be sweet will it comes.

~*~



-September 6th 2001. 8:30 am. New York City, New York. Central Park West, 23rd street. Fire Company Twelve Station.



He stares at the liqueur bottle in the small fridge in his room. He opened the small box like fridge to stare at the clear Barcardi bottle sitting there unused. It was tempting to drown his sorrows in the bottle and possibly forget his troubles. Since Adam’s funeral, the constant conferences, the company is suddenly having, it would be quick to solve the dilemma with a nice cool drink of the strong liquid. He loved the burning feeling his throat would sense when bathed in the liquid but today: today it was too early to drink and the other guys would later meet the young teen firefighters in the station two blocks down. And him being drunk would only cause more problems than anything. He runs his tan colored fingers down his right arm and stares at one of the Chinese symbols on his arm. One of them, marked peace seems to perplex him now. “Peace, yeah right. Peace is the last thing I felt since two weeks ago or since the beginning of the month.” He sighs and closes the small fridge loudly and stands up to go wash his face at the bathroom sink.



“A.J. Yo, A.J. You in here?” He hears Nick enter the room.



“Yeah, in the bathroom, what is it?” A.J. shouts as he greets Nick in the bathroom doorway.



Nick smirks and his eyes glittering in glee, states that Howie fell for the joke. “J, man you should have seen his face when he woke up it was to die for.”



A.J. laughs and wipes the dripping water off his face with a small towel on the bathroom railing. “Oh man I missed it. His face! Uh, you took a picture of it right? I would love to see that reaction again.”



Nick shakes his head a mist his laughter, “Sorry but you missed out. I told you to wake up so we can do this but you mumbled something in your sleep about ‘Honey not now, little Alex isn’t ready to party yet.’ So I assumed you weren’t interested.” Nick states with joy in his voice as he watches an embarrassed A.J. blush to a bright red.



Brian opens the door and tells the two to head downstairs to get something to eat, they’ll met with the younger firefighters at the fancy breakfast hall they rented out recently. As they head out, Brian, smiling turns to A.J., “I didn’t know you blush. I guess Nick must have found something about you and I wanna know.”



A.J. sighs and sucks his teeth, “Yeah well it’s a long story and you’re not gonna find out.”



Brian grins and holds up a tape recorder, “Or am I?” He chuckles as he pushes the play button on the small tape recorder in his hands.



A.J could feel his eyes open wide as Nick pats his shoulder, “See even the best can be caught screwing up, oops did I say that.” Nick states, laughing at his irony and playing with the words.



“Oh God give me patience so I won’t kill Nick today. I’ll need all the strength cause right now, they’re going down. Amen.” A.J. mutters under his breath and chases down the hallway after the two who are laughing their heads off.

~**~



**~To Be Continued…~**