𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝
𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐠𝐨,
𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭
𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨
Buck
It's hour 9/12 of my shift and the power went out a second ago.
Cap ordered Chim and Hen to grab flashlights and pass them around.
I'm sitting in our dark kitchen with my phone flashlight on waiting for Amelia's sitter to pick up the phone. Her sister picked her up from school today since Maddie is still on shift at the dispatch center.
I didn't plan on leaving my baby girl in a rain storm, after all, she's been through with the school fire and nightmares.
I still need to look for a therapist or psychologist to get her assessed.
"Hey, Buck, do you know where the flashlights are? The one I have in my hand just went out. The batteries must need to be replaced." I hear her sitter's voice on the phone.
"There's a small flashlight next to the pantry door and a big lantern for emergencies under the board game cabinet in the living room." I tell her while I wait to talk to my daughter.
"Thanks. I found the one next to the pantry door. I'll hand my phone over to Amelia and look for the other one." She says while I hear her moving around to hand the cell phone to my daughter.
"Dad, when are you coming home? It's late and stormy and dark outside. My bandages got all wet from walking outside. It stings a little. She put new bandages on though. It doesn't hurt as bad now." I listen to Amelia talk about her sitter and can tell that she is nervous about the storm with all her jumbled-up sentences.
She's not as mad at me about my long weekend away anymore, which is good.
I haven't explained to her what I was doing over the weekend yet.
I haven't figured out my sexuality.
I know that I have a thing for Eddie and it's not friendship or bromance.
"Hopefully, I'll be home tonight. Don't stay up for me, okay? I'll be there when you wake up tomorrow. If you need to you can always cuddle your stuffies." I say to her calmly and pray to god that Chim is not going to make fun of me for talking about stuffed animals during a power outage.
"Okay, Say hi to Eddie for me please. I'm not a baby anymore, Dad. I don't need to sleep with stuffed animals." I hear her adult voice again even though she is only ten.
I don't think I'll be saying hi to Eddie for her anytime soon.
"Okay, bye, love you. Hand the phone back, please." I whisper when I see Eddie walk in handing me a flashlight in silence.
Okay. I ignore him for a few days and I see how it is.
"Buckaroo, how are you doing? Staying hydrated and awake? We're going to get a slew of calls tonight." I look over at the stairwell and see Hen walk over to me holding out a bottle of water.
"I'm alright. I'm worried about Amelia. The school fire messed up her social anxiety. She won't open up to me about the fire as much as I'd like her to. I think kids handle trauma differently. I don't quite understand." I say while I pray that the bell isn't going to ring while I am talking to Hen.
"She'll be fine. She's used to your long shifts and maybe you should look into getting her a psychologist if you want her to open up about the fire? Have you ever thought that whenever a kid tries to talk about their stressors or trauma. they might be scared of what their parents think? Amelia is a strong girl. She probably has tried to talk to you about it and gets afraid of your reaction every time." Hen says quietly while we sit in the dark drinking our bottles of water.
Wow. She's smart for a firefighter with kids.
"No, I've never thought of that. I have thought about spending money on getting her a psychologist though. It's worth the investment and I'll have to work longer hours if our insurance won't pay for it." I think about how much extra money this might cost me.
Anything to get Amelia help will be good.
"Think about it. Give her time to open up. Maybe sit down with her instead of forcing he to talk about it." Hen says to me right before the bell starts ringing.
Everyone runs to the trucks, leaving their water bottles and flashlights behind.
"Everyone needs to be careful. There's a thunderstorm and it's coming down hard." We all pile into the ambulance in silence while silently swearing about our already-soaked underclothes.
At the scene of the emergency, everyone looks out the window in shock. There's a massive private carnival going on in the middle of a field and it looks like it's taking up all the electricity and running rides during a thunderstorm.
This is not something on my bucket list.
"They must be taking up all the electricity. No wonder why I can't charge my phone." Chim states to us breaking the silence but it's not the right time to talk about charging our phones.
"I want all hands on deck and stay under cover and not near a ride if the lightning strikes." Cap yells while everyone is still staring at the super bright large carnival that could be from a video game scene.
I look over at Chim who is staring at our case.
There's a teenage girl and her younger brother stuck on the Ferris wheel. I can tell that she is trying to shield her brother from the lightning but it's not working. They are probably wet and cold too.
"Alright Buck, Eddie, Ravi, and Chim, you will be on watch and blow up the airbag. I'm going to talk to the machine runners and see if we can get the teens to jump. There's no other way. Make this quick and smooth." Cap says to us and I'm surprised because he has a history of suicide and never tells people to jump.
"Hen, I want you on triage as soon as the kids are down and safe. Let's do this team!" Cap yells as a clap of thunder strikes.
Thank the lord, Amelia is home already.
The rain is coming down hard. I can see clouds getting darker and darker.
While we're trying to blow up the air mattress as quickly as we can, there are two more booms. All of a sudden, the entire carnival is except for the Ferris wheel's lights shut off.
"How is this even possible?" Chim says to me and I look over at Cap who doesn't seem concerned at all.
He's probably seen weirder situations.
"I don't know but I want to get home soon." I tell him while we wait for the air mattress to blow up.
This mattress is so slow. We don't have time for this.
"Cap, tell them to jump now. It's inflated enough we'll catch them." Eddie says looking up at the teens who are barely protected from the thunderstorm.
The little boy looks like he's crying and I have to sympathize with him.
If that were Amelia she'd be in a meltdown in a matter of seconds.
"Are you stupid, Eddie? We have to wait a few more minutes for the storm to die down. They might break their bones on the ground or get electicuted." I say to him while I step on the soggy grass and listen to the rain come down hard.
The only time I'll talk to him is when we're on calls.
It's too risky to talk to him after work.
Bisexual instincts or whatever they are called.
"We're running out of time. They'll be struck by lighting before they jump," Eddie says to me and give me a side-eye.
He's got Christopher, what is he thinking?
"Well, we'll buy time." I say stupidly.
What am I thinking?
I can't control the weather.
"Jump!" I hear Cap say to the kids while ignoring Eddie and I's argument.
"Brian doesn't want to." I hear the girl yell as the air mattress finishes blowing up.
"You guys have to! It's you're only choice." I listen to Eddie and watch him use his helmet to shield the rain coming down towards his face.
"I won't go without my cousin!" I hear the girl yell as we look up at the bright Ferris wheel that is somehow still on.
The boy looks like he's trembling from the cold and fear.
I feel so bad for them.
They have to jump. Eddie's right we can't buy time.
"You have to jump now!" I yell looking up at the sky and the Ferris wheel.
Eddie gives me the stink eye and Cap looks up at the Ferris wheel in focus.
We wait for the kids to jump and have to keep our eyes wide open in case lightning strikes.
I count the seconds while glaring at Eddie then hear two very loud screams, louder than Amelia's screams.
"You're okay. You're safe." Chim says to the girl while Hen is assessing the boy who seems frozen on the matress.
He's probably in shock and in a mental block.
He's younger than her so it's more terrifying.
"Is Brian going to be okay? Why are the police here?" The girl says while Ravi is trying to pass her a bottle of water and a blanket.
We take them to the ambulance where there's more coverage. I hope Athena can get this ride operator to shut this down.
This is a safety hazard.
I'm not letting Amelia go on a carnival anytime soon.
"Your brother will be okay. He's just in shock that this even happened. Where are your parents?" Hen asks the girl while Cap is talking to Athena about the situation.
The rain isn't stopping anytime soon.
"She let me borrow her car and take my cousin to the carnival. I didn't check the weather though. I feel so bad and like a bad babysitter." The girl says looking down at the gurney she's sitting on and shivering.
"It's okay. We'll get you home safely. Is your cousin on any medications or have a medical history? Anything that might concern us?" Hen says while Eddie is still glaring at me.
Gosh, I made one mistake, what's his problem?
"He has ADHD and asthma. I had his inhaler up there and I dropped it before you saved me." The girl starts to lightly cry while Hen is checking her vitals and Eddie is checking the boy's.
"Thank you for telling me. I think it's best you get check out at a hospital by a doctor. Your parents will be notified about your safety there." Hen says calmly as Eddie hops into the ambulance with Hen and I jump out locking the doors.
Eddie has to go with them since he has paramedic experience.
I sorta deep dived googled him when I was on my road trip and found out about his history as an army vet.
Does that make him hotter, that he can fight?