BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. The booming, rapid-firing tones of a square object blared into the dark and unlit room. A shadow jolted up, with a gasp of air. The figure was confused, thrashing for a moment, before rolling out of bed and catching the source of the noise. It rested on the cupboard, or at least it did. It was now on the ground, with the figure wrestling to turn it off, his blanket giving him resistance. The pager continued to blare with words coming out of it, before being turned off by the shadow.
"Station 7, Brush 7, Station 7, Brush 7, Respond to reports of leaves on fire @ 54-"
The room went quiet, the thrashing stopped, and the sigh of relief came. Up stood a man, lean figure with a toned torso and arms. He was moderately brown, with black hair. He was a tall figure, wearing nothing but wife beaters and boxer briefs. For a moment, he stared off to his right, back to the queen sized bed. On it, he expected the annoyed figure of his girlfriend. The bed was empty. He sullenly laid back down, remembering the events that transpired the night before. He caught her committing adulterous acts with her friend. With this, she was kicked out from the house, given a few hours beforehand to pick her stuff up. It was drama, and he didn't want to take it.
He didn't have enough time to think before his attention span was cut. It was ADHD. He was predominantly inattentive, making his attention span shorter than usual, among other things. His hyperactivity started to kick in a little too. Quickly, he stood up, being bored of the bed. Despite being so tired, he hurried over to the window, and opened it, revealing the dark blue night. In the distance, the shapes of circles were coming from the horizon in brighter hues, indicating the rising sun was nearby.
He looked back over to the room. He noticed a moving figure in the distance, it moved methodically on the ground. It took him a second to realize what it was. He walked over, and bent forward to present himself to the creature. He extended his hand, running his hand down the creature to scratch its back. It meowed at him, revealing that it was a cat. He called out to his cat in a voice that did not parallel his figure.
"Aw hello! Guess who loves you kitty kitty, guess who loves you!" said the man in a parentese voice.
He quickly and ferociously pet the cat, it rolled on the floor now, enjoying the attention for the next minute. After the moment, he heard the pager go off again.
"Brush 7, we're responding lights and sirens with Utility 7, out to reported grass on fire at the La Sierra Hills near Doty Trust Park. Crew will be drivers + 1 each. If you can keep Station 8 Fire Personnel on standby."
A pause came for a few seconds. He now went over to a bag on the wall, hanging with a hanger. It was his go-bag for work. He slid this on, and opened his bedroom door. He walked into the empty and chilled hallway, making his way over to the living room. Here, he slipped on proper clothes, shoes, and some socks. He now shuffles his way outside until he saw his car. A beautiful maroon Ford Explorer '21, ST, pushing 400 horses out of its engine. It was on a downward slant, front facing the well-paved street that the house was on. A car drove by, and another after that. People were just about getting up, he must get on the road before the morning traffic rush began.
As he stepped towards the driver side, coming from the back on the left of the vehicle, he noticed 5 long lined scratches across the driver side front and rear door. With this, came a wave of negative emotions in which the man cursed the air for a moment, before throwing his backpack in the back seat, and entering the driver seat. He knew his ex had keyed the car. He slid the key in the ignition, and the car's engine activated in a perfect roar. He put on his seat belt before fastening it tight onto his bosom. He now shifted his car in drive, and released the brake. The car slowly traveled forward, before it's lights were activated. It was still dark out, the night sky slowly being lit by a very distant but rising sun. The man now pressed the pedal forward and the SUV inched onto the road.
After about 10 seconds of waiting for any traffic to pass, he drove the car into the neighborhood street. He continued up until the street corner, and then turned right into the exit street of the neighborhood. After clearing the left and right of him of any possible obstruction, he took a right turn, driving down the dimly lit road, heading onto the street ahead of him. Once he arrived, he took the turn lane to the left. He waited at the red light, with his turn signal activated. The ticking noise repeated as if it was a broken record. His phone had now automatically connected via Bluetooth to the vehicle's speakers. With this, his phone now played a song quietly.
"Ho-oly, Ho-oly, Ho-oly, Lord God Almighty."
The soft voice of the worship leader was heard. Her vibrant voice sent chills up his spine, the voice was one of the singers of the band 'UPPER ROOM', a Texas-based church. He was deep in the song before he could see the change of color of the street light. It was now green. The car went forward, rolling down the street before it turned left half way around the intersection, taking itself on the street. Just as he passed, he took a glimpse at the lit street sign next to the red light, which was originally blocked by a hanging cross chain on his rear-view mirror.
"La Sierra Avenue.." The man said in a whisper.
He was quiet in is wording. He continued down the street, passing businesses on his left and right. To his left was a divider, dividing the street from the oncoming lanes. In this divider dotted grass and trees of all assortments. To his right, he passed multiple now-closed businesses. One of these was a restaurant that he had grown up eating at. It was Johnny's Burgers. He drove down the street, looking at the now empty and demolish property. He remembered back to his first few days on the job. He was on the Utility with the Captain that day, returning from a mutual aid call, when a reported kitchen fire came from Johnny's Burgers. It was large when they had arrived, threatening the fire station just off the corner of it.
Fully involved structure fires like that required much more than what their small station had, so multiple other stations came to support the fire which was threatening the firehouse that was near it. He remembers all the vehicles that lined La Sierra and Whitford all belonging to the Fire Department. 5 Engines, 2 Utilities, a Tiller Truck, a Squad, a Breathing Support or Mobile Air unit, a Water Tanker, and a Battalion Chief. They were permanently etched into his mind due to the horrible events that day. As he drove, he began to relive that day.