It stood daunting, grey, and lonely. The courtyard was empty save a crumpled grey heap by the playground. The grey heap shifted and swayed in the cold. She knew she’d be warmer if she moved closer to her home, for the daunting, grey, and lonely structure was warmth, was kindness, was familiarity. But she knew if she dare approach the yellow warmth of the doorway it would swallow her too.
Like a volcano, a capsule halfway up the grey concrete surface burst down upon her and the capsule gave birth to a blinding orange radiance from within. The shattered glass fell around her, playing a menacing lullaby on the yellow slide under which she curled. As a result of this recent birthing, she was no longer cold, but her fear of the daunting, grey, and lonely beast before her was too great. She wouldn’t dare expose herself to it in an attempt to run. So far, it didn’t know she was there.
Alarm bells resounded in her ears. Should she move? No. Her stony eyes stayed transfixed on the supernova of her home; her pale hands stayed clamped to her stony blanket. The mouth of Home burst open to reveal blazing orange. From it, the shadows of the fleeing inhabitants raced toward the grey heap near the slide. Took you long enough, she thought as she scanned the masses for familiarity. She hid further back into the safety of her childhood play-place. The monkey bars will save me. She turned her back to the fleeing shadow banshees and re-fixed her eyes on the burning mass of grey.
* ~ *
“C’mon, move it! MOVE IT!”
Jeremy shot out of bed with a jolt. He’d been working here for three years, but he had yet to get used to the idea of being woken up by alarms and shouts over the PA system in the middle of the night. “Jesus, Jer, get dressed!” shouted his roommate. A bundle of clothes came raining down on his head from the left and, fuelled by sheer adrenaline, he pulled his uniform khaki pants and yellow suspenders overtop of his pyjamas. Leaving the quiet of his room behind, he swung himself around the banister at the top of the well-worn stairs, and he caught a glimpse of the familiar controlled chaos of the fire station. Jeremy strode brusquely toward his truck and hopped into the cabin. There, he waited for the rest of his team to board, anticipating another great adventure. “Ok, Mortimer, listen up,” said the commander with importance, “you’re going to 55 George Street. It’s an apartment building just off Front Street, got it? I’m sending fifty men with you – get moving!” Jeremy blinked the sleep from his eyes and threw his mess of blond hair from his face. It is too early to be doing this…
“Yo, Jer! Snap out of it, man, we got a fire to put out!” Exclaimed one of his coworkers next to him. Jason – so irritating. He started the truck and they shot from the station, sirens full blast. I wonder where she is…Three years…Why do I always think of her now?? God, Jeremy, you’re driving – concentrate! Three years – Drive, Jeremy.
* ~ *
Deep in the throes of a convulsing rage, the structure continued to wail alarms from every concrete crack. Suddenly, the alarms transformed into a haunting duet as wailing sirens joined the melody. They’re here, she thought, her eyes now mirroring the orange gleam emerging from in front of her. Her body convulsed with excitement, and she braved revealing her flesh and coursing blood to the angered grey mass; her chance had arrived. She tore away from her stony blanket, exposing the ruby flames growing from her head; they streaked behind her as she ran. She hurtled headlong toward the cumbersome red vehicle rushing to save herself from the storming home, and men dispersed from the vehicle in a rush to save lives. She approached the back of the truck – there he stood.
“Can I help you?” he said. “Jeremy.” she sighed. Her face flushed with life at her rediscovery. He looked down at her dirt-streaked face and looked through the grime as if searching for something. Faced with pale skin and flaming hair, his search ended with the rediscovery of her glimmering, stormy eyes. They were an alarming deep blue, the only feature left alive on her face. “A-Amanda?” he stammered. It’s only been three years…she thought. Does he not remember me? Deep in reminiscence, she reached out for him blindly, and grasped his forearm. She dared not lose his gaze.
A new wave of screams and torment ushered from the supernova. Ending their lingering stares, he ran to the glowering mouth of the entrance to become someone else’s hero. All around her now, people bustled. They buzzed, they grabbed, and she longed to become her stony grey mass under the slide once more; yet, she couldn’t leave him again. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. As she watched him stride impressively forward, she worried. The fire behind her eyes was rekindled, and hope coursed between her fingers and the cold bar onto which she clenched.
Time crawled. She closed her eyes; she lay back onto the cold, hard surface of the truck. The cold of its blood-red paint spread through her like wildfire as, behind her eyelids, she watched the daunting, grey, lonely structure’s newly birthed orange eyes glaring at her – they beckoned her inside. She had wanted this. She had dreamed of this, the attention of the building. It had never appreciated her, but she had always feared it; she respected it, she loved it. Her mouth twisted into a triumphant smirk, and the warmth of the fire spread across her face.
Minutes later, her eyes followed him as he returned to join the hoards of identical khaki pants and yellow suspenders. They shot rivers and oceans (it seemed) to tame the beast, but it would win – she would win. Her grey lover could not be preserved. It was too strong. She watched him struggle against its great force; she watched the stone crumble. The grey home burst into blinding brightness and a deafening roar; the shadow banshees threw themselves at the safety of the childhood play place. In the calm of the structure’s upheaval, the stones breathed clouds of dust. “It was me” she said. He turned to look at her, bewildered. She met his eyes and, for the first time in three years, she smiled. Like a phoenix from the ashes, she was reborn.
