Five Seconds

Andy

One thing led to another and a year passed. Parker had continued with his film stuff, he was still with Tessa, and I had moved. I now lived in the basement of a small house far away from that mess. Parker and I still talked, I had forgiven him and decided we should be friends, but it was only over text and happened too few and far between.

I let out a breath. It was what it was, and only made me stronger and better than before.

It was strange when I moved. When I dropped my bags in this house and was handed the key, it was like I could finally breathe. Perhaps moving to downtown Vancouver wasn't the best decision, but moving away from that mess certainly was cleansing.

I stood in my squat kitchen (if you could even call it that, for it was more a sink and a fridge in a corner of my living room) gathering my supplies for the day. Although this was the basement of a house, it was more of a shack, and I cou ld barely afford it with my job. I used a little help from home—not something I was happy about, but my job offered plenty of raises, and I could see a new one coming in the horizon. The sounds of the news drowned the silence.

"An evacuation order has also been issued for a 200 hectare fire east of Lake Koocanusa, southeast of Cranbrook. A smaller 50 hectare fire is burning north of Highway 95 between Harrogate and Brisco. An evacuation order is in effect for the Huckleberry fire burning in Joe Rich, east of Kelowna, has now been lifted for all but 30 properties. That fire, which had been at 80 hectares, is now 100 per cent contained," the newscaster reported.

We were currently in the middle of a horrible heat wave. The temperature record in Vancouver had been broken last month by four degrees and was even hotter inland. There also hadn't been rain for a record sixty days, something 'Raincouver' had never seen before. These days most people hid in their air conditioned homes, and many others were crowding the beaches on the lakes and coastline.

"...Most of the province has now been declared an extreme fire risk. A Level 4 drought rating is in effect for southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Even traditionally moist Coastal B.C. is at Level 3 drought conditions on the four-stage drought rating. Residents are required to cut water use by another 20 per cent..."

The news caster reported the usual about wildfires and repeatedly warned stupid people to be smart with their fire. Many battles with wildfire were currently being fought up and around the Okanagan. My aunt said it was hard to breath with all the smoke in the air, and that you couldn't see the other side of the lake.

I had talked to her last week about the weather. She said the temperature up in Green Lake was higher than ever. I shuddered at the thought of trying to sleep in that stuffy cabin.

I had woken up unnerved this morning when the smell of smoke had filled my house. I had searched my whole place for the source of fire. When I opened the door to see if a neighbour's house was on fire, I saw others standing on their front porches gazing at the brown sky. Apparently, smoke had wafted in from the interior and had covered the whole city in a haze. Although we weren't in immediate trouble, it was still nerve wracking, and tried its best to bring back young memories, but they stayed buried. I didn't let that spark grow to a flame.

In the background, my television switched to something about a series of earthquakes in the Queen Charlotte region. There had been a total of five this month, but all weren't severe enough to cause damage. Unfortunately, there had been a large one there this morning. Thankfully, there was minimal damage, but it was the reason why I had to go downtown today.

I zipped my bag up and slung it over my shoulder. Newt was unusually antsy today, so I opened the back door so he could come and go as he pleased before leaving. I said one last goodbye, he whined and begged with those big brown eyes for me to stay, but I closed the door before he could persuade me. Today I was bussing to the sky train, then taking that downtown. It may have been public transit, but it had AC —something my truck decided it didn't need anymore.