Page 11 of Set My Soul Ablaze

“Boy, it’s almost dinnertime,” she responded with a gentle laugh.

Denise Gilliam was a firecracker of a woman, with a head as hard as a rock. She didn’t listen to me or the doctors who told her to prioritize her health, which led to her losing half her foot to diabetes. She still got around good, but some days, that stump gave her the blues with phantom pains.

“I’m right on time then.” I grabbed a water bottle out of the refrigerator and gulped it all down within a few seconds. Then, I turned my body and threw the empty bottle at my sister, Alana’s, head.

“What was that for?” she asked as she picked up the bottle and swatted me with it.

“You sent thing one and thing two to my room when you know I just came off a shift.”

“They wanted to play.” She lifted her shoulders into a shrug.

“It’s shit like this?—”

“Ooo! Uncle Tez cussed!” Jadyn exclaimed.

“Ten dollars in the swear jar, Uncle Tez!” Jordyn shouted.

I nodded. “Y’all got me. Alana gon’ put it in the jar for me since my wallet is still upstairs.”

“Wait. What?” Alana asked with furrowed brows.

“It’s the least you can do for orchestrating my sleep interruption.”

“Fine.” Alana rolled her eyes.

I chuckled. “Alright, kids. Let’s get some fresh air before dinner. Go put on your shoes, and we’ll head to the park to play a little basketball or something.”

The twins cheered in unison before they ran out of the room to grab their shoes. I shook my head. My nephews were like my kids. I was the father figure in their life since the nigga who got my sister pregnant wanted nothing to do with them. I’d worn the man of the house label for most of my life, and it extended to the kids my sister had as well. I wasn’t perfect, but I did what I needed to do in order to give my family everything they needed.

The sirens blared through the neighborhood as we approached a wildfire that engulfed a lone house at the back of a cul-de-sac community. The wind blew, and Captain was afraid neighboring houses were in danger of catching on fire.

After several off days, I was back for another twenty-four-hour shift. The morning half of the shift had gone by in a blur. I almost thought we’d be free of a fire call today, but I was, unfortunately, wrong. The call came in from a neighbor reporting smoke. Upon investigating, they saw the flames spread throughout the house.

“Dispatch, we need all hands on deck. Can you send at least two more available rigs to help isolate this fire so it doesn’tspread to any of the surrounding homes?” Captain spoke into the communication system built into our suits.

Graves parked the truck, and we all hopped out to assess the fire. At the sight of the fire and our truck, many nosy neighbors emerged from their homes. Everyone always lets their curiosity win in situations like this.

“I can smell the gas used to start this fire from here. Let’s avoid the water. Instead, I want to hook the hose up to the foam to fight this monster. If my suspicions are correct, the foam should handle it,” Captain commented. Once he’d delegated all the roles, I jumped into action. Captain ordered me, Graves, and Cramer to clear the home. He tasked Charles with crowd control. Juliet was on triage with the paramedics. We breached the front door as the second team connected the hose to attack the fire with the foam from the opposite side. The living room and kitchen were up in flames. Cramer held an extinguisher in his hand and fought off the flames as we cleared each room one by one. Once we cleared the first level, we moved up to the second floor.

“Help! Someone help me, please!”

From down the hall, a voice cried out to us. In full gear, I cautiously walked down the hall engulfed in thick smoke and roaring flames to find the location of the owner of the voice. There was only one door left to check, and the sounds of her cries confirmed the uncontrolled fire trapped her in the room.

“Cade’s Cove Fire Department! Ma’am, please step away from the door,” I called out from the other side.

“O-ok.” She let out a fit of coughs.

Cramer and Graves helped break down the door and contained the fire with the foam. I retrieved the woman by scooping her into my arms.

“T-thank you,” she mustered out in a low, gravelly tone.

“It’s no problem, ma’am.” I moved with haste to carry her out of the home. She held on to me like her life depended on it, with her lungs burning from the smoke inhalation.

When we made it out to the ambulance waiting for her, I finally got a good look at her. She had a robe tied around her body with a purple silk bonnet on her head and black bear-paw slippers on her feet. She was cute as hell, even with the soot covering her skin. I deduced she had been asleep when the fire began.

“These lovely paramedics will make sure there’s no damage done,” I explained softly as I put her gently onto her feet.

She inhaled a deep breath of fresh air, then coughed. One cough turned into three. On the fourth cough, she clutched her chest and sobbed. The sound came deep from her gut as her face contorted into pure pain and anguish. She cried and clung to my uniform. I held her, allowing her to release the emotions, now that she was no longer in imminent danger. My chest tightened at the sound of her cries. I knew the pain all too well, losing your home in a fire and not knowing what to do next. It was a tough situation. Despite how unprofessional my actions may have been, I couldn’t leave her side while she shared her most vulnerable moment with me.