The Quest

Man tries to save his wife.

“Jump for Christ’s sake!” Carl cried out to his wife, “Jump!” Shelly did not move�"she was frozen in place as the black plumes of smoke billowed through the roof of their home.

      “Carl,” she screamed to him in a mixture of panic and unadulterated terror, “please help me!” The streams of tears she expelled were not enough the quench the fire that devoured their home around her.

      “Jump�"for the love of God jump, I will catch you!” he called from the ground below. He was able to better his fears and leap from their second story bedroom window…Shelly could not. She would not budge. His eyes frantically searched the yard around him, but he could find nothing to aid in his rescue. “I will be right back,” he shouted up in as comforting a voice as he could muster.

      “No! God d****t Carl don’t you leave me!” she responded in hysteria, “Don’t leave me!” her cries chilled him through to his soul. He realized that time was not an asset and without further acknowledgment, ducked through the brush separating his yard from the Colton’s.           

      Shelly’s cries tore through the darkness of the night and a chorus of crackling and snapping harmonized. In the far off distance faint sirens could be heard drawing near, but Carl had little faith they would reach him in time. His lungs and eyes burned from the smoke that hung heavy in the air, further blurring his vision.

      “Shelly baby, I am coming!” he cried out hoping she would be comforted by the sound of his voice. Frantically he tore through tarps on the ground near the house, feeling in the dark for his prayer’s answer. Nothing!

      “Shelly?” he called out once more. There was no reply. Suddenly the darkness was illuminated by the porch light.

      “What the hell is going on out here” Steve asked of the darkness.

      “Where’s your f****n’ ladder Steve?” Carl responded in a panic.

      “Carl?” Steve’s confusion was obvious.

      “For the love of God Steve, where the hell is your ladder?”

      The scent of smoke penetrating his nostrils along with Carl panic answered all of Steve’s questions without a word being spoken. “Follow me,” he said with a sense of urgency as he made way to the shed at the back of his yard.

The door was locked as he jiggled the handle, but without a second thought Carl through his shoulder into the door. The door crackled from the impact and Carl hit it again to spring it open. Together Steve and Carl grabbed the long aluminum ladder from its hooks and made their way through the brush back to the inferno awaiting them on the other side.

      “My God!” Steve replied under his breath.

“Shelly baby,” Carl could no longer hold back his tears, “I’m coming baby…” Shelly hung from the window overcome from the heat, smoke, and her own panic. Quickly they set the ladder along the side of the house and Carl scaled the rungs like a pro. Upon reaching the window he could see the orange glow of the flames beneath the bedroom door and feel the intense heat nearly knock him of the ladder.

He intently worked to remove his wife through the window when he felt another person behind him. As he turned he could see Steve directly beneath him and a group of neighbors holding the ladder at the bottom. Together, they lowered Shelly to the ground.

Carl sprung from the ladder and fell to the ground by his wife who showed no signs of life.

“Shelly! Shelly!! God d****t Shelly!!!” he screamed and cried shaking the lifeless body.

The sounds of sirens were no longer faint, blaring loudly throughout the neighborhood. Hard wet droplets began to fall from the sky. At first Carl assumed it to be rain, but quickly realized it was overspray from the powerful hoses working to extinguish the beast.

Everything felt dreamlike, as if he were watching it from a perspective outside of himself. He felt his body pulled aside as two men donned in firefighting gear moved him aside.

“One, two, three, four,” one man counted.

“Come on breathe,” the other added.

“One, two, three, four,” Carl heard over and over.

“Cough-cough-“a feminine sounding cough broke Carl from his trance. This was followed by an exuberating chorus of cheers and yells.

“We got her!” the firefight exclaimed.

Carl looked at his house being consumed by the flames. However, he looked down at Shelly and realized that he had saved his home from the beast.