Brokenhearted Girl (Continuing & Editing)

Chapter 17

John

As his final shift for the day came around, he changed out of the firefighter suit into a comfy pair of jeans and a blue button down. The time on his watch read nearly quarter to seven. Packing up the remainder of his belongings he headed out towards the front entrance, to sign out and return home to his family.

"Hey Wendy." he greeted the elderly office staff as he signed out. She smiled softly before replying her own 'hello'.

The trip home was in a comfortable silence with himself and the radio. When a few of his favourite songs would come on he would maybe sing along cheerfully.

Pulling into the drive of his little home, the engine was switched off and up he wandered to the porch steps where he unlocked the door and his feet landing softly on the woollen carpet.

"Honey, kids! I'm home!" he shouted throughout the house and all that was heard was five sets of feet running to meet their father or husband after a long day of school and work.

"Daddy!" all four children would shout while the wife would go up and engulfed him in a hug.

"How was your day at work?" she looked up at him and asked.

"It was great. Had to cut a man out of his van." John shrugged.

"Oh was he alright?" his wife asked with concern written all over her face.

"Yeh he walked away with a broken arm." he said. "Now my beautiful wife, your handsome husband here is hungry and wants some grub to feed his tum." John said and winked at his wife. She giggled like a little school girl and went to get the remainder casserole out of the oven.

Digging into the juicy, meaty goodness, he shoveled spork after spork until the food was all gone. Resting back in his seat something grey caught his eye out of the window. Curiously, he stood up from the chair and went over to the window. Soon enough there was a blazing fire next to the town library. Clambering past the table and chairs he ran to find his lovely wife.

"Selena!" he yelled in a needy tone, shortly after she appeared flustered at the doorway.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a panicked tone.

"The library's on fire!" he screeched while throwing his jacket over his shoulders and slipping his feet into some shoes. "I'm going to investigate."

"I'm not letting you go alone." Selena replied in a serious tone while putting her own items of clothing on.

"You can't come! What about the kids?!" John reasoned trying to stop his wife coming with him. What would happen of she got hurt?

"I'll get Sarah to look after them. I'm coming with you. End of." she replied and went to find the eldest sibling, Sarah.

John sighed in defeat as he knew winning a one on one argument with his wife was like becoming the next Usain Bolt.

Once Sarah was alerted John and Selena headed to the car and made their way to the library. With John driving at a fast speed, the needle on the speedometer hitting 70 mph. Within minutes they reached the blazing library where police cars were parked outside. Dashing from the car John made his way to the library but getting stopped by a police officer.

"You can't go in there. The fire crew are on their way." the police man said sternly.

"I am a firefighter and I know what I'm doing. Now I will go in that building and see if anyone's in there or it may be too late." he stated, and with that said and the police man's shocked face, John ran into the burning building through the broken glass. He covered his nose with the side of his jacket as he looked around. Behind the desk, by the chairs, the toilets everywhere but no one was found. Something caught his eye. A flight of stairs.