Remember when I said showering is the best part of my day? Well, walking down my neighborhood after school with the sun shining down my face and is the second best part. The soft crunching of autumn leaves put my mind in a state of rest and peace and the seemingly infinite row of houses made the trip infinite; which I didn’t mind.
It would’ve been better had I not forgotten my earbuds, but you live and learn. Still, I played my favorite song in my head and hummed to it as I walked down the street.
The sound of school buses kind of affected the whole mood, but I didn’t mind. The playful laughter of children added to the serenity, as did the background chatter that came with. For the first time in a long time, I truly felt at peace with myself. I took a deep breath in and-
“Where were you at lunch? You missed the funniest thing today. Some girl slip-“
My peace was ruined by this dumbass.
Being a football player, his hair and clothes were always a mess. But today he looked like he was ran over by a stampede of bison, and train, and then ran over by a bison again. I didn’t want to draw his ire, so I kept quiet.
“I saw what happened,” I said. “Didn’t you feel bad when everyone was making fun of her instead of helping her?”
Tsagi sideyed me. “Not really, her fault for slipping like an idiot,”
I felt my faith in humanity die a little. “Are you serious? It’s not like she could control gravity or something,”
Tsagi snickered. “But she could control where she walked,” he scanned me up and down. “Why do you care about all that all of a sudden?”
I panicked. Tsagi was the last person I’d ever share my personal thoughts and feelings with, and if he found out or correctly guessed what I was thinking, I was screwed.
“N-No reason, man…” I pathetically deflected. “Forget about it,”
A lightbulb went off in Tsagi’s head and I saw a sly smile creep up on his lips. “Ohh, I get it now,” he said. “Does the little femboy wanna be a hero?”
My face became hot again; as dumb as he looked, he was way too good at reading people and hitting them where it hurts.
“You’re annoying as all hell,” I insulted. “And you look like you sleep under bridges,”
Tsagi smiled smugly. “Did I strike a nerve?” then he took in account of my insult and analyzed himself. He too blushed. “Hey, at least I have some muscle. Look at you, and you wonder why people confuse you for a girl,”
I rolled my eyes. Honestly, this guy only had 1 insult. “Rather be confused for the other gender than be confused for a crack addict,”
Tsagi looked ready to pounce at me, but then something caught his attention. Like a dog, he began sniffing the air around him. I could see his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air, his eyes darting around as if he were trying to catch a scent. It was a strange sight to see, and I couldn’t help but feel a little unnerved by it.
“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
Tsagi didn’t answer, instead he continued to sniff the air, his head tilting from side to side as he followed the scent. Suddenly, he stopped, his eyes widening in surprise.
“Martin…” he said, his voice trembling a bit. He had his back to me so I didn’t get a clear picture of his face. “Do you smell that?”
I sniffed the air but couldn’t detect anything unusual, so I just joked around “What? Whatdya smell boy?”
“I’m serious,” Tsagi said, taking a deep breath. “Do you seriously not smell that?”
I shrugged, not understanding why he was getting so worked up over a smell. “What am I supposed to smell?”
Tsagi slowly turned around, and I saw the face of fear plastered over him. His eyes were wide and his hands shaking.
“Smoke, Martin. Something’s on fire…”
I got closer to where he was standing and damn near suffocated on the smell of smoke. Now I understood why Tsagi was like this; this wasn’t the smell of a family cookout or barbecue, it was the smell of something on fire.
Uncontrollable fire.
On cue, a firetruck sped past us; sirens blaring indicating an emergency. People exited their homes to check out the commotion. Me and Tsagi both thought the same thing and sprinted for the firetruck, but I was lost in my head. I prayed that my family was safe.
And from what I could tell, the firetruck was headed-
“Your house,” Tsagi said, panic and fear filling his voice. He pointed towards my home. “Dude, your house!”
I snapped out from my panic-filled thoughts and came back to reality. A bright yellow light shone in my eye and as I squinted, the scene before me became more clearer. I didn’t want to believe it, I couldn’t believe it. I searched my horizon for any reassurance that what I was looking at wasn’t true.
But reality is cold and cruel. No matter what excuse my brain came up with, no matter what detail it scanned to make sense of it all; it was painfully clear what was unfolding before me and I had to accept it
My house as on fire.
I heard Tsagi cussing and the tapping of buttons on his phone, I heard the screams of my neighbors as they evacuated their own homes, and I heard the loud and overwhelming blaring of police cars and firetrucks.
The flame was insanely large, and looked like it had been there for some time. The firefighters were putting up a fight but the fire was too aggressive. I counted about 3 firetrucks, all were using all they had to fight back.
I scanned the scene for my mother and sister, but only saw scared strangers and terrified kids. I gazed at the fire and back at the crowd; if they weren’t there, there was only 1 place they could be. I knew what I had to do, and this time I refused to freeze in fear.
“Tsagi, hold my bag,”
I removed my backpack from my shoulders and it into a surprised Tsagi’s arms. He looked at me like I was suicidal.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to run into a burning building!” he shouted, dropping my bag onto the ground and pointing at me. “Don’t try to be a hero and just let the firefighters do their job! Don’t be stupid, Martin!”
Of course I wanted to just wait and pray the firefighters stop the flame, of course I wanted to stay behind and do nothing while others risked their lives for my sake. But I was tired. Tired of being a pushover, tired of always being regarded as weak.
“I’m not going to just sit by and watch my family die in that fire, Tsagi.”
“Listen to me, Martin. You’re being hysterical right now; you don’t know if they’re even in there.”
He was right. “But I have to at least try,” I said. I could feel tears coming on again. “They’re my family.”
For the first time of my life, I saw tears coming down Tsagi’s face. “Hey man, don’t do this. Please…” he said. “If you do this and die in there… I’ll be alone,”
Something deep within wanted to be mad at Tsagi. There was a risk of my family being trapped in there, and all he cared about was not being alone? I felt something within me die, hopefully this “friendship” with him.
I said nothing and walked towards my burning house, leaving Tsagi behind. He didn’t try anything else, instead choosing to stand in the same position.
“I’ll go then.”
He didn’t say anything, not even nodding or showing any signs of resistance. I wasted no time running through the crowd of people gathered in front of my house. A few fighters tried to stop me, but luckily I was quick enough to evade them.
Before long, I was face to face with the inferno consuming everything I loved.
And I ran towards it.
