Love and the Fire on Burberry St. (excerpt)

His sparkly chain danced back and forth against his crisp t-shirt as he walked swiftly towards one of the victims. He halted and stood still there next to the frantic woman. I squinted my eyes in the direction of his sunglasses combined with the rim of his hat, trying to make out the eyes behind them. I couldn’t see them but I knew he was looking at me. The slight grin at the corners of his lips gave him away. Tragedy was all around us and the fire was growing and traveling through rooms, memories and to the houses on either side of it. But only as I peered into the darkness of his sunglasses could I feel a single spark.

Even with all the chaos, I still couldn’t take my eyes off him. I followed his moves as he went to each person asking how he could help, grabbing their things and helping them to safety. I wondered what his name was and why he was there. I felt the guilt of being human wash over me. People were losing their homes right in front of my eyes and all I could focus on was my attraction.

The fire was wild and insatiable now. It started on the third floor of the three-family house moving its way down to devour the two floors below it. But it wasn’t satisfied with that, it grew rapidly and out of control expanding from its center and attaching itself to the houses to the left and right of it. The blazes followed the power lines across the street to another home. I felt panic inside of me. I looked back to where my car was parked. It felt as though it could travel all the way down the street and burst at my toes.

The sirens were deafening as the second and third firetrucks pulled up. I’ve never seen humans move as fast as those firemen moved. I watched them disappear one by one into the smoke, losing count of how many there were after eight. They scattered to the houses attempting to contain the beastly fire. It was like watching someone enter a portal to another world. They were lost somewhere behind that smoke, on another plane of existence. I hoped they would make it back out on the other side, back to the world where I was standing.

There were people everywhere in the street, searching for a calm in the disarray. I wanted to sprint down the street, through the smoke to the other side of the neighborhood and make it to my apartment. My heart sank at the sight of a young teenage boy sitting on the curb. He clutched a laptop to his chest with tears streaming down his face. An older man and woman stood behind him. All three of them just stared in the direction of their burning home wearing expressions of disbelief. I stopped wanting to sprint but instead wished my arms were three feet long so I could hold them in for comfort. I moved my feet in their direction. I wanted to ask them if they were okay. I wanted to ask what they needed. I wanted to give that teenage boy and his family everything I owned. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the man with the sparkly chain. He smiled at me as if to say, “I got this” and made his way over to the young man and his family. He sat down on the curb next to him. I felt my sadness release. There was something so comforting about this man.