Four Superheroes

My friends and I always thought that we would rule the world ever since second grade when we stood up to a bully. There was Beth, two years older than me, who was going to become the world greatest scientist and find a cure for cancer, Shelly, a few months older than me, who was going to become a lawyer who saved innocent lives, and Karissa, a year younger than me, who would join the army and protect our country.

Karissa had joined the army two years ago and was in Florida at the moment. Beth was in a medical lab in Argentina, and Shelly was arguing a case in Texas.

Me? I worked as a twenty six year old real estate agent.

It wasn't a job I wanted to do though. I just didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. There's just so many things to do that it's so overwhelming. Everyone has a hobby that was special and mine? It was just reading. Nothing interesting really.

I walked down the streets of San Fransisco with a coffee cup from Starbucks in my left hand, passing an ice cream shop and smiling at the dogs. As I reached my small apartment, my phone started ringing. I checked it to see Shelly Skyping me.

Once I got in my apartment, I answered her Skyping me and immediately saw her red hair in a tight bun.

"I won the case Cassie!" She smiled, waving legal papers to the camera. It killed me when someone achieved something when I didn't. I wasn't jealous, I was just sad and afraid that I would never be able to do something as good as someone else.

"Good for you!" I replied, dropping my keys on the kitchen counter and taking my shoes off. My kitchen was on the smaller side, having a white island for two people to sit, a stove, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a few cabinets, and a microwave.

"It was so hard! Anyway, how are you?" She asked with a big smile on her face.

"Same old, same old." I replied.

"Don't worry, the universe will change," Shelly laughed.

"Yeah..." I trailed off. She sipped her water and I studied myself in the camera.

I was plain Jane. Straight brown hair, peachy skin with a pimple on my cheek that failed to be covered with a concealer, and brown almond shape eyes.

"Well anyway, I have to go, Seans calling," She said, sighing. Who was Sean again? Oh right, her husband. She has romance and I don't.

"Okay, bye." I said dully before hanging up.

***

That night I just made tomato soup for dinner with asparagus and got my ripped up Juliet and Romeo book by Shakespeare before settling on the couch that was in front of a tv and a broken fireplace. I loved Juliet and Romeo. I've read it so many times (sixty seven times to be precise) that I knew where the words lied on the page.

About thirty minutes into the book,, there were a bunch of screams, fire alarms, and loud sounds and I bolted upright, my book falling onto the ground.

Grabbing my phone, I ran up the stairs to see everyone running down the stairs.

Seeing Mia, one of my Greek friends, I grabbed her arm and looked up at her since she was way taller than me, considering I was 5'4 and she was 6'1.

"What's going on???" I yelled over the noise.

"There's a fire! Come on, we have to get out of here!" Mia yelled, pulling my hand down the stairs and pushed through people.

"Here, take is," I said, thrusting my phone into her hand and she gave me a confused glance.

"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Keep it for now, trust me," And with that, I let go of her hand.

I ran up the stairs to see the fire. Yes, I was being the stupidest person alive, but I had the feeling just do to it. The hallway was filled with fire.

What had caused it?

I checked the rooms that were filled with smoke. I heard a girl scream and followed the sound. Running into the room I kicked the door open since it was stuck.

I looked around to see a small girl with a pink dress and boy screaming and crying. Where were their parents?

I grabbed them, "Where are your parents?"

"They went downstairs, they for-for-forgot us!" The girl wailed and the boy just silently cried.

Great parenting.

I grabbed two pieces of cloth on the ground and gave it to them, "Cover your nose with that,"

I took them down the stairs before going back up. I checked all the rooms and no one was there luckily.

I went back to the main hallway where I had seen a fire extinguisher earlier.

Breaking the glass of the fire extinguisher, I grabbed it as my eyes watered. I went to the flames before spraying the monoammonium phosphate all over it. My eyes and throat her so much from the smoke.

Once the fire was gone, I ran down the stairs, slightly limping and coughing, to see a huge fire truck and people staring at me before clapping loudly.

One of the tall firemen with a hose came up to me, "You have to let the firefighters do their job, you could've gotten hurt, next time don't do that again, it's very dangerous and not only could you have gotten hurt but you could've gotten yourself killed! This is why you let professionals handle this! It's against he law, and the next time you pull something like this you will be in court! Do you understand me?" He lectured.

I nodded.

His expression softened, "But thank you for doing that."

I nodded, my voice hurt too much to talk from the smoke.

A police came up to the firefighter, "The fire was caused by a terrorist attack, we caught him-" He said, pointing to the man in handcuffs, yelling curse words.

"A bomb?"

"No, then everyone would be dead." He said, "He went into the building and started a fire with gasoline."

"Well, we'll need some paperwork for that, meanwhile everyone can liven the apartment downtown Palo Alto." The firefighter stated.

The police nodded before walking off to another police.

"Give a round of applause for..." The firefighter yelled to the crowd before whispering to me, "What's your name?"

"Cassie," I croaked.

"Cassie! She saved a boy and girls lives! Not only that but she put out he fire herself!"

Everyone roared and clapped for me.

People came to congratulate me, thank me, and gave me hugs and Mia gave me my phone back.

The next day I sent my friends an update on what happened in a group chat and smiled to myself. They replied back with a bunch of emojis and told me they were proud of me.

And that was day I realized I wanted to become a firefighter.