Miles looked up at his older brother and nodded as he allowed Phil to help lift him up. They walked out of the mausoleum into pitch darkness, for which Miles was thankful for because then his brother couldn’t see the pitiful look of hopelessness on his face. When they were inside the limo, Miles made use of the space and stretched out; he didn’t want there to be any conversation, so he pretended to fall asleep. The limo driver dropped him off first, and Phil offered to stay with him, but Miles declined. “I need to be by myself, bro, I’ll be okay. I appreciate you for stepping in though, I wouldn’t have made it through the day without you.” “Of course, what is family for.” He embraced Miles for about two minutes and then patted his back. “Let me know if you need anything, baby bro, I mean that, and don’t worry about work. Captain said, you can take as much time as you need.” Miles nodded and then watched his brother get back in the limo before he shut his front door. Finally, alone with his thoughts in his house, what he had been dreading all day. There were little reminders of Sheila all throughout his home. Her scent, her artwork, she even left her bodywash in his shower. It was all too much for him, so eventually, he just went to sleep. “Baby, we’ll never make our flight if we don’t hurry up, now come on girl put some pep in your step you wanted to go to Mexico remember?” Miles said with a laugh, already six steps ahead of Sheila. “I’m trying Mil…” That was the last thing he heard as her head hit the floor. Miles immediately ran back to get her, cradling her head in his lap, “Sheila! She… Help! Help! Someone help!” Miles instantly shot up in his bed, drenched in sweat. He looked around, realizing he was in his room and not the airport. “Forget this, I’m going to work.” He jumped up, got in the shower, and after a quick wash, he was dressed and out of the house. It seems like he raced to the Colorado Springs Fire Department, but when he finally stepped into the fire station, all eyes were on him. “Miles, what are you doing here?” Chandler, the Captain asked. “I wasn’t expecting you here for at least another two weeks. We all heard about what happened with Sheila and offer our sincere apologies. And why I can’t speak for everyone else, I adored Sheila, she was a really sweet woman with a good head on her shoulders. I—” “I appreciate it, Captain,” Miles interrupted, cutting him off, “But I need to be back at work. I need something else to focus on.” The Captain nodded his head in understanding, “Well, son, if you’re serious, you can start with that over there.” He pointed to a skinny little girl with huge frizzy curls, sitting down by his office, brushing her doll’s hair. Miles didn’t understand, “You want me to babysit? What is she, your niece, or something?” “No, no, the fire from this morning at the Manor House, burned down with her folks still inside. The neighbor was watching her, but she had to go to work, and until we figure out where she can go, we volunteered to keep an eye on her. Why don’t you go keep her some company for a while.” Miles sighed, “You want me to mix my grief with hers? This isn’t the kind of focus I was talking about Cap.” “Hey, you’re a firefighter first, now that little girl’s whole life has been taken from her. I’m not telling you to compare wounds, go over there and be an adult she can feel safe with before she’s pushed off into the system.” Miles didn’t like it, but his Captain was right, he had a duty to uphold regardless of how off-centered his emotions were at the time. He walked over to the little girl and pulled up a chair beside her. For a moment, he was at a loss for words, he wasn’t used to being around children. The subject of having kids never even came up between him and Sheila, it was such a foreign concept to him. “What’s your doll’s name?” He finally found something to say. She took him in with her big brown eyes as if judging if she should talk to him or not. After a full inspection, she finally responded, “Mother Claudia.”
41 Publizr Home