Chapter 2

“Fire…” I softly whispered to myself. Realizing the gravity of the situation, I said it a bit louder, “Fire.”

Then as if I heard myself speak for the first time, I went into a full blown panic and instantly shot up from my bed. I ran past a sleeping Charles and left the hotel room as fast as my legs could carry me. I jumped down the stairs, afraid of using the elevator due to the fire right next door. Soon after, I arrived in the lobby. I sprinted outside getting a weird glance from the main desk worker.

I looked around frantically for the direction of the fire. I spun, searching for even a sign leading to the bright orange glow. I finally saw it towards the right of the hotel and sprinted even faster towards it. When I reached it, I almost ran away scared for my life.

The fire was monstrous. So monstrous, that the edges seemed to lick at the stars above, as if tasting them. It almost distracted me from what the fire was actually consuming. It was eating at the orchard Charles and I passed on the way into town, half of it consumed by the flame the other half being lapped at by the now growing fire.

I mentally slapped myself and got to action. I ran closer towards the orchard entrance, which unfortunately was on the half with the fire. I then slowed and inched as close as possible to the entrance without being close enough to accidentally burn myself. Finally, I cupped my hands to my mouth and yelled into the inferno, “IS ANYONE IN THERE?”

No answer. I tried again, “YELL, ‘MAYDAY’ IF YOU HEAR ME!”

I listened for a little while longer. I stood frozen not knowing what to do. That is, until I heard a faint sound from under the popping and crackling of the fire.

“…day! Mayday! Mayday!” Said a voice nearly deaf on human hears. I perked up at the answer.

“Hello? How many people are trapped in the orchard? Answer in clear, concise speech!” I yelled as loud I could. I cupped my hand to my ear and listened intently. After a few seconds I heard, “Four! There are four trapped in here!”

It was then that the main desk worker for the hotel tapped my shoulder. I turned around seeing his face stricken with fright.

“What in the world happened here?” He yelled over the roaring fire.

“There’s a fire in this orchard! We need to call 911!” I said reaching into my pocket for my cell. Until I realized that it was on my dresser in the hotel room. DAMN!

“Listen!” I yelled to the front desk worker, “I need you to go back to the hotel and call the police and fire-department. I don’t have a phone.”

He nodded and ran back to the hotel. I really didn’t know what to do next. I was standing mere feet away from a blazing inferno that was inside the best possible fuel source; a gigantic orchard.

Almost as if on cue, two people stumbled out of the orchard and collapsed on the ground in a coughing fit. I ran over to help them how I could. Their clothes were covered in soot and their arms covered in bright red burns. However, I couldn’t see their faces in the darkness. Being sure to not touch any injuries, I grabbed them both by the torso and dragged them to safety further away from the fire.

I moved them both onto a patch of grass nearby the hotel. Near the hotel’s bright sign, I could make out their facial features. The first one was a young woman. She had long blonde hair held in a ponytail. Her face was covered in freckles and was tanned most likely due to working in the orchard. She was dressed in an orange button up with a green plaid pattern. Her legs covered with a pair of blue jeans and long western boots. I guess all she needed was the Stetson. She looked more like a southerner than a Michigander from what I was looking at.

The second person was a man. He was much heavier to drag over due to his huge size. His arms were bulking and I could barely wrap my arms around him when I went to drag him. He had darker blonde hair, reaching past his eyes. He was also covered in freckles but was redder in the face than the woman, hinting that he must have been badly burned in the orchard. He was wearing a red button up with a dark red plaid pattern and also covered his legs with blue jeans. He wore heavy work boots on his feet. I God, it feels like they both need a ten-gallon hat! What were two southern-looking people doing in Michigan?

“You two stay here. I have to make sure you get help. You can’t afford to be to close to the fire,” I told them breathing heavily afterwards. They both took a lot of energy out of me, especially the man, when I dragged them over to the grass. I was exhausted.

But I pushed it aside. I had to help out anyway I could. Even though other people from nearby houses weren’t doing anything but coming outside to see just what was going on at the orchard, most with gaping mouths and hands on their foreheads in shock.

“Just stay here,” I repeated and ran over to the small group of people gathering.

“What’s going on?” One of them asked as I ran up.

“I don’t know, but we need to do something about it. How many of you have hoses?” I asked.

A few people raised their hands.

“Well until the fire-department gets here, we have to stop the fire on the edges of the orchard so it doesn’t get to your houses. This is life or death for you guys,” I explained.

They immediately got to action turning on their hoses and getting some buckets to fill and pour on the fire. I didn’t even tell them to do that. Wow. There a pretty smart bunch. I got to work as well filling a bucket one of the people gave me and started throwing it on the part of the orchard nearest to the houses.

I continued filling and pouring and only stopped to see what was making a strange buzzing noise. I heard it only a few minutes after I started helping to put out the fire. It was a faint droning that I didn’t recognize, and I didn’t know where it was coming from. That is, until I looked up. There was a formless shape I soon identified as a plane flying across the sky. At first, I thought they were going to just fly over. But instead, they opened a hatch on the bottom of the plane and dropped out a formless mist over the fire. I didn’t know what it was until I heard a sizzling come from inside the orchard. Water! This is cool! I’ve always wanted to see a fire-fighting plane in action!

The plane turned around and went towards the forest nearby. It must have to refill at a nearby pond or lake. Realizing I was staring, I immediately got back to work. Our little group had gotten a sizeable portion of the area done when the fire-department finally came.

“Dear God! What happened here? And what are you people doing?” A fireman who looked to be the chief asked.

A person then shouted to him, “We don’t really know what happened here, but we’re trying to keep it away from our houses. Ask the old guy over there about what happened,” and pointed his finger at me. Hey! It’s not my fault my hair started graying during high school! It’s in my genes!

The chief barked some orders at the rest of his crew and ran over to me. When he arrived he asked, “What’s happening here?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied, “I was just sleeping in the hotel when the fire’s brightness woke me up. All I know is that two people out of four just stumbled out of the orchard,” I said as I pointed towards the patch of grass where I dragged the man and woman. But where were they?

I worriedly looked around for the southern look-alikes and saw them helping the people put out the fire. Geez they were a tough bunch. Although they were still coughing and looked exhausted, they were still helping in anyway they could. Or they were just trying to save their money source, which was more likely…

“The two who came out are already helping to put out the fire. You should get to work too, before it gets to the barn and the back orchard,” I told the chief. He in turn yelled to the small group of people, “Get away from the fire and let the fire-department and the forest fire rescue planes do their job!” But the two southerners resisted.

“Sir, Ma’am! You need to get out of here! It’s too dangerous to be around the fire!” The chief yelled towards them. When they continued working, the chief had two fire-fighters pull them away, but not with some resistance from the two.

“Ya don’t understand!” The man yelled, “Blossom’s still in there! We can’t stop now!”

I God, I had almost forgotten about the other two that were apparently in the fire. With a bit of rushed thinking, I ran past the chief, grabbed the young woman’s bandana, soaked it in a bucket of water nearby, tied it to stay in front of my mouth, and ran into the fire like an idiot.

When I was well into the orchard, I realized how stupid I was being. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be some big hero, nor would I care if I became one. But some force inside my body told me to run into the orchard and I did. At least it seemed like a good idea at the time…

But I pushed those doubting thoughts out of my head. I was on a mission, and God help them if they tried to stop me.

I ran a few steps forward and decided to try what I did earlier. I yelled, “IS ANYONE IN HERE? YELL ‘MAYDAY’ IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!” enticing a few vigorous coughs for me. I had to watch my breathing in here with that stupid smoke. That didn’t matter though, because I heard no response.

“HELLO? IS ANYONE HERE?” I repeated. After a few seconds, however, I heard a familiar buzzing noise from in the sky. I looked up to see a different plane fly over me. It too dropped a load of water on to the fire, but it dropped it right on the area I was standing on. I fell from the sheer force of the water being dropped on me, but more importantly when I got back up and wiped my eyes from any excess water, I heard a faint wheezing. It was coming from my left and I instantly ran over that way, which in turn got me a few extra burns around my arms and legs. I really needed to slow down and actually think sometimes. This wasn’t the first time I got hurt from just rushing into some stupid situation.

But that didn’t matter because after a few more steps, I saw a little girl on the ground wheezing heavily. I ran up to her and turned her on her back, grasped her shoulders, and asked, “Are you okay? Speak if you are.”

She continued wheezing and coughing to the point where she went limp in my arms. I was starting to freak out. She might have just died in my hands and I wasn’t doing anything to help her. So I picked her up, put her on my back piggyback style, and ran like hell away from the still growing fire. I did this not even knowing where the exit was. It was then I started to panic. The fire seemed to be surrounding me and I was to the point where I couldn’t feel my lungs. I was about to just stop and give up when I heard a voice sounding like it came from a megaphone, “If you can hear me, look for the green smoke! That’s where we are!”

Well what in God’s name did that mean?! I was surrounded by smoke! There was no way I could find a bit of green smoke. I was going to yell something back, but I was interrupted by a loud screeching coming from my right. I looked to see a small object soaring into the air at a breakneck speed. Just when I thought it was going to fly farther away, it exploded in a brilliant green flash of light.

My bet was that the exit was that way so I started running towards it. Even though I was exhausted from carrying the girl on my back and my lungs were cussing at me for making them endure this idiotic move, I continued running. Even when I started to slow down and my vision started clouding up, I ran. Even when trees started to fall, I ran. Even when I saw the exit, I ran. Even though I could feel my consciousness slip away, I ran. Even when I couldn’t feel my legs anymore, I ran. And just as I thought I was going to die on the spot, sprinted out the exit and collapsed on the ground in a coughing fit.

“Jesus Christ, someone get over there and help them!” Someone said in shock. A few seconds later, I felt the girl being lifted off my back and me being dragged away from the fire. I looked up to see the young woman dragging me back to the patch of grass near the hotel. When she put me back down I went into another coughing fit to the point where I was spitting out black mucus, obviously from the smoke intake. When I was done coughing, I sat up and blinked my eyes a few times to keep them from clouding up anymore. When my vision seemed normal again, I stood up and wobbled around holding my head. I was dizzy and my head felt like a hammer was pounding into it. But I mustered up my strength and I forced myself to look at the young woman who helped me away from the fire.

She was doubled over and breathing heavily and occasionally coughing. I thought of what to say to her, but she beat me to it as she stood up, glared daggers at me, took her bandana back and asked, “Now, what in the hell was that fer? I ain’t seen somebody do somethin’ so stupid in all mah life!” while jabbing her finger into my chest with every other word. “Well? ‘Splain yerself! Why’d ya do it?”

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t take her seriously. Her southern drawl was absolutely adorable. Her freckles gave her a cutesy look. Her green eyes, though bloodshot and seething with anger, were stunning with radiance. That and her shining blonde hair, it was too much!

Wait a minute! Don’t say something you’ll regret. You have to be serious here!

Well my definition of a serious answer was, “Well… I… Um… I didn’t… What I mean is…”

Before I could embarrass myself further, though, the police was arriving on the scene along with an ambulance. The young woman looked towards them and then back at me and said, “I’ll speak wit ya later,” and ran over to where the police would arrive.

Something was amiss though. The police were coming at a breakneck speed and there weren’t just a few cars. There was more like fifteen or twenty of them, sirens blaring. It wasn’t until they screeched to a stop until I figured out what was about to happen.

The front few police cars were the first to stop. When they got out though, they pulled out pistols and pointed them at the man I helped earlier. The biggest police officer then said, “Freeze! You there!” The man looked left and right to make sure they weren’t talking to anyone else. When he saw they weren’t, he pointed to himself clueless as to what was going on.

“Yeah you! Now put you hands up!” The officer yelled. The man complied and put his hands in the standard hands-up position. Then a few officers ran up to the defenseless man and forced him to the ground, triggering a few shocked gasps from the crowd.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court,” Recited one of the police officers as they handcuffed him. This was definitely a turn for the worst. Why was the man being arrested? I only saw him trying to help put out the fire. What crime did he commit?

“Wait just a minute!” I heard the young woman say, “What in th’ world would ya take him fer? He din’t do nuthin!”

“Well if he didn’t do anything, then he had to do something. We have a reason to believe this man started the fire in your orchard,” A police officer answered.

“Wha…? Now that’s jest down right stupid of ya’ll! Why in th’ world would mah brothah do somethin’ like that?” She asked seething with rage.

“I understand your questions, but we have a witness who told us the look of the person who did it, and your brother fits the bill perfectly,” The police officer said, “Alright boys, take him away,” he finished and the police led him towards one of the cars.

I decided it was time to speak up, “Wait! He’s been helping us to put out the fire! Why the hell would he do that if he started it?”

“That’s it!” The biggest officer yelled, “Whoever tries to stop us again will be arrested for obstructing the police. Now all of you, shut up!”

Pure silence. I wanted to say something, but my common sense surprisingly told me not too. I looked towards the young woman to see her biting her lip as well. Not even the small group of people who had worked to keep the houses safe spoke. We watched in agonizing silence as the police put the man into a car and drive away, leaving just the ambulance and the fire-truck to keep us company.

But one event wasn’t enough. We all perked up at the loud voice that yelled, “Get the medic! She’s not breathing!”

I snapped out of my stupor to see what was going on over by the ambulance. When I arrived, the little girl I saved was on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. She didn’t appear to be breathing.

The young woman ran up to her and yelled to the medic, “Well, what happenin ta’ mah sis? Why ain’t she breathin’?”

“We don’t know yet, but we need to get her to the hospital, stat!” The medic told her. The medic and her assistant then lifted the stretcher into the ambulance and closed the doors. The ambulance then screeched its tires and left us in the dust to watch the flashing blue and red siren take away the little girl. I didn’t look, but I think the young woman fell to her knees and started to cry.  

What a catastrophe! The man from the orchard was arrested, the little girl was taken to the hospital emergency room, the young woman was in hysterics, and… wait. Isn’t there one more?

Oh, crap there is. I turned around towards the orchard entrance and ran towards it only to be stopped by a fireman who said, “Whoa there cowboy! You’ve done enough good here! You need a rest.”

“I don’t care! There’s one more person in that orchard! We need to save them!” I almost yelled, struggling to free myself from his grasp.

“Sir, I’m not going to say it again. Leave!”

“No! I won’t leave! I have to save them!” I near yelled.

“Sir, Calm down! The fire-department is doing its job right now. You will be arrested for obstruction with the fire-department if you don’t comply with our demands,” He said firmly. Surprisingly enough, my common sense told me to leave the fireman too. I didn’t want to, but I felt like I didn’t have a choice. Besides, who wants to be defended by a guy with a criminal record?

Hrmmm… I knew what I had to do. I walked up to the young woman again to see her just how I thought she was; on her knees and crying her eyes out. I slowly put my hand on her shoulder and asked, “Miss, may I speak with you in private?”

Apparently she didn’t want to because she just moved her shoulder away and answered with a sniffle, “I ain’ta miss… I’m down here bawlin mah eyes out… Ya don’t need ta talk wit me…”

“It’s about your brother. I want to defend him in court,” I said surprised at my answer. Had I subconsciously remembered that the man and this woman were siblings? And why did I want to defend her brother? It didn’t matter though because the woman looked up at me, tears, and confusion in her eyes.

“How did ya’ll know he was mah brothah?” She asked wiping her eyes.

“You said so to the police… I think.” I answered, “But the question still remains, can I have your permission to defend your brother?”

She looked to be deep in thought, wiping her eyes and sniffling every once in a while. I was going to ask her to hurry up, but again my common sense surprisingly stopped me. She looked to be in no condition to be doing anything right now, much less start thinking. Not to mention the fact that I had a horribly obvious crush on her. I hated seeing her like this.

After what seemed like hours, she asked, “Ya really think ya can help us?”

I stared directly in her eyes and answered, “I don’t know, but I will try my hardest.”

“That’s mighty kind of ya,” She replied, “Alrighty then; ya’ll kin defend ‘em.”

Weird. I thought there would be more of a fight. She seemed like a pretty stubborn mule earlier…

No matter. I had a job and I was going to do it right.

“All right then,” I said, “I’ve got a case on my hands. Might I ask for your name, Miss…?”

“Pomona, Jackie Pomona,” She finished, “I’m the proud head manager of this here orchard. It’s mah pride n’ joy.”

“Really? I didn’t think that you actually worked here. Does your brother work here as well?” I asked.

“Yup. All th’ owner’s live n’ th’ farm house; me, mah brothah, mah sis…” She said trailing off near the end, a look of panic on her face, “Oh no! Mah sis is goin’ to th’ hospital! Whatta ‘bout her?”

I sensed her panic and said as reassuringly as possible, “Now, hold on! The emergency room doctors are good ones. They’ll keep your sister safe. That much I promise. But it’s your brother I can’t promise will be safe. We need to focus on his problem as a first priority and then visit your sister. We can even try to visit her tomorrow. Promise me you’ll calm down, and we can do that.”

She took a few deep breaths and after a few of these breaths, she answered with, “I guess I kin wait’a little bit to see her. She probly ain’t doin’ to well anyhow…” She said sounding a tiny bit dejected.

“Good.” I replied, “Do you have any questions for me?”

“Well, now that yer gonna help mah bro, what’re ya gonna do first?” She asked, visibly calmer.

“First,” I started, “You and I are going to get some sleep. It’s past midnight and we’re both exhausted.”

“But I can’t! Mah house is gonna be ‘nspected by th’ police!” She replied.

“I understand that, but you’re probably going to need to find a friends house to sleep at. After a good nights sleep, we’ll go to the precinct to ask your brother Mr.…” I trailed off not knowing his name.

“MacInerney, MacInerney Pomona,” Jackie answered filling in the blank.

“Right, we’ll have to ask MacInerney if he wants me to defend him. It has to be official. After that, we’ll ask questions and investigate what we can before the trial,” I finished, yawning afterwards, “Any more questions you have for me?”

“Nope, I’m fine,” She replied.

“Good. Tomorrow, I want to see you at the precinct at seven sharp. Don’t be late.”

“Sure thing!” She replied, “I’ll be up bright n’ early! See ya tomorrow Mr.…”

I smiled and finished with, “Coy, Mr. Teller Coy.”

“Well, alrighty then, Tella. I’ll see ya tomorra’ mornin’” She said with a wave and made her way towards what looked like the downtown of Equine.

“Well I’ll be!” I said, chuckling at how she pronounced my name, “It looks like we’ve got a case, huh Keegan?”

I listened for an answer until the realization hit me like a freight train with super-rockets attached. KEEGAN. WASN’T. HERE.

“Oh, SHIT!” I yelled getting a few surprised jumps and glares from people heading back to their houses, “Keegan’s in Massachusetts! Why the hell did I take that case?!?” I said to myself.

Before I could comprehend what I was doing, I was retracing my steps back to the hotel to get my phone, getting another weird look from the front desk worker. I ran back up the stairs to my floor, past a few people going back to their hotel rooms from the little spectacle outside, and barreled through the door. I got my phone off the dresser next to my bed and speed-dialed Keegan.

I waited for what seemed like fifteen minutes before I heard a very groggy, “Hello?”

“Keegan, this is Tell. I have a problem!”

“You’d better, it’s 12:30 in the morning,” He said, and then grumbled inaudibly as I heard his mattress groan from having Keegan shift his weight. “What’s going on? Is Charles alright?”

I had completely forgotten about him. I looked to his bed to see him still asleep just like when I left earlier. How he slept through all that was beyond me.

“Yeah, he’s fine. But it’s me who has a problem,” I said sighing afterwards preparing for the worst, “We had to stop in a town near Ann Arbor called Equine. It was here we stopped at a hotel and decided to stay the night. But there’s an orchard next to it and long story short, I decided to defend the guy who was accused of starting a fire to it. You’re not here, so what do I do?”

There was a heavy silence on the other end; another fifteen minutes seemed to pass by. Then there was finally an answer when Keegan asked, “Always too quick to think, huh Tell?”

I sighed at his subtle teasing, which caused him to chuckle and say, “Well, you rushed into this, you better get yourself out. I’m not here to save you this time.”

“But I’ve never done a case on my own! How can I do it now?” I asked almost hysterically.

“Come on, Tell. You’ve done fine on your own. Charles can attest to that,” He replied.

“I don’t care. I’m not ready yet,” I said, remembering Charles’ case. Now that I think about it, the majority of that case was my doing…

“That’s only what you believe. Ever heard of cognitive thinking? If you think you’re not ready, then you aren’t ready. That’s the note I’m going to leave you on, so good luck. But I’ll try and get there. I’ve got to make sure you don’t make yourself look TOO stupid,” Keegan teased. You know, it’s him who said I have an infallible sense of logic, but it’s also him who gets the upper hand on me in an argument. Every. Single. Time.

“Fine, I’ll hopefully see you soon,” I said in a depressed monotone.

“Oh, could you say hi to Je…” Keegan started to say, but I had already hung up on him.

I put my phone back on its spot on the dresser and lay down on my bed. What did I get myself into this time? I helped to stop a wildfire, I dragged two people from a fire, I ran INTO said fire to save a girl, I made it out alive. Why couldn’t I defend a man on my own? I looked like freaking He-Man tonight. What did I have to worry about?

I looked over to Charles to see him still sleeping. The little son-of-a was still asleep. Out of pure annoyance and jealousy, I threw one of my pillows at him. He was startled awake only to see me tiredly pass out. I did say I was exhausted right?

Charles harrumphed and then grumbled, “Damn Tell and his sleep-walking,” and fell back asleep.