Little Miss Awkward

Chapter 6 - I'm Not Short, I'm Fun Sized

“Max we’ve gotta’ get out of here before the roof collapses or something!” Regan called to me his voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt that he’d pulled up to cover his mouth from the smoke.

“What about Zeus? He’s still in my room” From where I was standing I could see his grey fur curled up under my bed

Looking where I was pointing Regan nodded and placed both of his hands on my shoulders making me face him, he looked at me with an emotion in his eyes that I’d never seen before, “You wait outside and call the fire department, I’ll get Zeus” he stated calmly, my body was shaking slightly and a stray tear rolled down my cheek, he smiled lightly and brushed away the tear sending shockwaves through my skin.

Placing his phone into my hands he gave them a small squeeze before letting them go and heading towards my bedroom. “Regan!” I called out his name making him pause and look back at me, “Be careful” I whispered, unsure whether he heard me I turned and left the room out to the hallway and started banging on the doors of the other residents on the same floor yelling there was a fire. Looking down at the iPhone in my hand I unlocked it and typed in the emergency number.

A calm voice came through the phone, “911, please state your emergency”

“My apartment is on fire!” I yelled hurriedly into the phone looking back at the open door of my apartment, people rushed past me to the stairs coughing from the smoke but I took little notice still staring at the doorway praying that Regan and Zeus would come strolling through the door like nothing had happened.

“Okay ma’am, please calm down and give me your address”

I filled the lady in on my address and she told me to stay calm and exit the building saying that the emergency services would be at my residence soon. I clenched my hand into a fist, if she told me to be calm one more time I was going to scream. Time seemed to slow down as I twisted my head just in time to see Regan jump through my doorway carrying Zeus in his arms. A smile spread across my face as they rushed toward me. He grinned in response, ash covered his cheeks and his clothes were blackened from the fire – I could only imagine that I looked the same.

Grabbing my hand he pulled me towards the stairs as we took two at a time, sirens could be heard blaring in the distance growing closer until a large red truck pulled up in front of the apartment complex. As we burst through the front doors fire fighters were already pushing their way into the building to extinguish the flames that tore through my apartment. Zeus whimpered from Regan’s arms and my heart dipped, looking around frantically my eyes landed on an ambulance. I pulled Regan toward the vehicle, “Excuse me sir,” I pulled on the paramedic’s sleeve making the man turn around, “I think my dog breathed in some of the smoke, can you please give him some oxygen?”

The man looked from Regan to the dog and then to me, “Yeah sure, luckily nobody was injured in the fire so this gurney is free. I’ll call a vet”

Regan placed Zeus on top of the gurney, the paramedic placed a mask over the dog’s snout and I let a breath of relief escape my mouth. My shoulders relaxed slightly when I heard no one was injured. Suddenly the buzzing of my pocket broke me from my thoughts, pulling out my phone I noticed a message from an unknown number. Curious I unlocked the phone and a photo popped up, the breath in my lungs seemed to freeze as my whole body stopped. Staring down at my phone there was a picture of non other than Damon Link sitting in my lounge room with a caption, it read: “Shame you talked to the C.I.A, your place was lovely…” Staring down at my phone in shock I could feel it beginning to slip from my fingers. Faintly in the background I could hear Regan calling my name, just as the phone slipped from my grasp he jumped towards me and caught it before the device could smash onto the sidewalk.