After being trapped in the fire, my
son and I were reborn
Chapter 1
My son was trapped in the burning building, and
I didn’t ask my husband for help, even though
he was already there.
Instead, I hooked up a fire hose and charged
into the inferno myself.
Last time, I’d used self–harm to blackmail my
husband, the fire chief, into rescuing our son
first.
But his darling mistress and her kid fell from
the building and died.
He acted like nothing was wrong, but on our
first anniversary, he tied me and my son up
tight and doused the house in gasoline.
We burned alive.
When I woke up again, it was the day of the
7:54
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This time, my son wasn’t screaming for his dad,
he was trying to save himself.
Turns out, he remembered everything, too.
The piercing wail of the fire truck broke the
early morning quiet, and like last time, I was the
first one to arrive at the daycare.
“What are you doing with that fire hose! You
can’t just do that!”
Standing in front of me, pulling on my arm, was
Mrs. Davis, the daycare director. Last time, my
decisions led to our deaths.
So this time, I was skipping asking my fire chief
husband and going straight to hooking up the
hose myself.
I still had my fire safety certification, so I knew
what I was doing, or I did.
But Mrs. Davis saw I was gonna try to fight the
fire myself, she came running to stop me.
Mrs. Davis had been at that daycare for
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Her daughter, Jennifer, taught there, too.
Jennifer was actually my son Tommy’s teacher,
and the one who called to tell me about the fire
in the first place.
This time, I’d gotten there earlier.
I saw the fire had started in Tommy’s
classroom, and the whole class was in there.
I begged, “Mrs. Davis, it’s bad in the
kindergarten room, really bad. It’s the worst fire
in the building, they’ll suffocate if we don’t get
them out!”
Mrs. Davis held onto my arm, calm, way too
calm, “Don’t exaggerate. It’s just a little
accident.”
“The teachers are in there with the kids, and
they know what to do. They’ve been trained,
they’ll protect them.”
The daycare staff saw me arguing with the
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director and came over, whispering and giving
me the side–eye.
“Look, lady, I get wanting to save your kid first,
but think about everyone else here. We’re all worried sick.”
“The fire department’s here, you think you know better than them?”
Yeah, the fire department was here, and Tommy’s own damn dad was in charge!
Chief Thompson was doing the same thing he
did last time, he got there fast and started giving orders.
The fire was on the third floor, but he was
focused on the fourth, where Jennifer and her
daughter were in the art room, waiting to be
rescued.
I looked up at Tommy’s class. There he was in
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the window! They’d gotten out of the
classroom, but the fire in the hall was blocking
them in. They were stuck on the landing.
My palms were sweating. I fought to grab the
hose. “Please! They’re out of the class now, but
they’re trapped! The smoke’s gonna kill them!”
“Let me put out the fire in the hall and get them.
out!”
Mrs. Davis glanced up, still holding my arm.
“They have water fountains in the hall, they’ll
cover their faces and wait for help.”
“If you get them to try to escape now, don’t you
think they’ll get burned?”
“The firefighters know what they’re doing,
they’re probably gonna rescue everyone from
the windows.”
But the firefighters weren’t going to the third
floorl
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Tommy’s voice came from above: “Mom! Help us!” This time, he wasn’t calling for his dad, he was calling for me.
I looked up. He was throwing stuff out the
window, trying to get our attention. That’s what I’d taught him after the last fire, right?
Tommy remembered everything.
Last time, when Jennifer called and I rushed to the daycare, the fire department was already putting up ladders on the outside.
When I realized they weren’t going to the third floor, I threw myself in front of them, begging. I even started banging my head on the ground. Finally, Chief Thompson reluctantly agreed to
go to the third floor first.
Right after the kids were rescued, the kitchen.
on the third floor exploded!
The whole floor went up in flames.
The kids were safe, but Jennifer and her
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daughter were sitting on the windowsill, and
when the explosion hit, they fell and died.
If things went like last time, the explosion would
happen in less than twenty minutes. I had to get
my son out!
