Ember

The final chapter has been read, the many moments of joy, the many moments of sadness. These characters went through a lot in the span of three-hundred pages. The choices they made, and the final decision that led to it all to be their destiny. It’s a book that made Sammy feel things once again that weren't from just smoking.

To end the book’s moment, he closes it, puts it down, finishes off the last of the cigarette, and flicks it into the grass of his backyard. He’s done that many times before, even during the summer when his yard was browner than the results in the lavatory. His small rectangular yard is nothing more than an ashtray. The particular summer was dryer than others, so there was no pleasure in looking at a drought.

Sammy returns back into his home, preparing to find a new book online for him to read. Maybe he’ll feel that exquisite joy when seeing characters do their best in an adventure. It helps him feel things. He also appreciates when the authors incorporate their own style of writing and not just follow the rules all the time. His personal favorite is those who can take past and present tense and make them flow together seamlessly between sentences.

It makes him feel like he’s living in the moment rather than reading the book as if it happened then it happened then it happened then it happened. He finds it repetitive. Sammy sits at his desk, looking for books in the similar genre: romance. It’s almost like an awakening for him to read this genre. An hour passes, and he fills his digital cart with ten books, adding up to nearly one-hundred and twenty dollars.

Some of these are standalone, some are trilogies put into one book, and some are short and sweet. Sammy orders all the books, excited to see what else it all offers. He moves from his desk to his bed, laying there, thinking about the journey of love he’ll read. While thinking about the love journey, he closes his eyes, remembering his first and only girlfriend. The times when he was a bit happier. Her long dirty blonde hair, tiny nose, green eyes, and pillow lips. Maybe a change in life is what he needs to find someone to love him once more. Because it’s been five years. Perhaps shaving his whiskers, getting rid of his long hair, and trimming his body hair can make a difference.

While thinking about it, he starts to doze off into the dream world, feeling the paradise of love. It seems as if love is now Sammy’s new drug right now. He dreams he’s with Sally once again, holding her hand, kissing her gently, giving her gifts, and showing appreciation for her presence. The smell of vanilla perfume, flowers, and…smoke? All of a sudden, a ton of smoke smell intrudes Sammy’s semi-large nose.

It’s so strong that Sammy snaps out of his dream. That’s when he hears it, an alarm goes off in his house. He checks the time on his watch. Not only has thirty minutes passed, something’s gone wrong. As the alarm blares, he busts out of his bedroom, turns left to see his living is blazing with a great yellow light spreading everywhere.

In between his panicked breathing, he runs to the kitchen to grab pitchers of water from the sink, returning to the fire and splashing as much of it as possible. The problem is it’s already spread too far that he’d need a fire extinguisher to get rid of it all fast. But he doesn’t own a fire extinguisher. His last attempt? Run. 

He bolts out the door while phoning 911. The police respond and tell him they’re on their way to help him before his house fully burns down. Other neighbors evacuate the area, packing their belongings before their house burns down too. A few minutes later, a firetruck arrives, alarms blaring and all.

As the firefighters prepare the hose, Sammy watches as the left side of his entire house burns to the ground. In that moment, he collapses to the floor, refusing to watch as his beloved home falls apart. After many minutes of blasting water, the fire dies down. Things quiet down a little. So Sammy hesitantly looks back up at his home, only to see that the remaining untouched part is the garage and his car. 

Sammy looks around as the firefighters continue extinguishing the little fires, realizing what he did to cause this accident.

“Sir, may I ask what happened?” a firefighter asked. Sammy hesitates to answer.

“I…smoked a cigarette and flicked it into my backyard,” Sammy replied.

“So you burnt your house down.”

“I’ve flicked many ciggy’s into my backyard before! None of them ever lit because I always finished them off!” Sammy whined.

“Well, with behavior like that, it’s bound to happen eventually,” the firefighter said as he walked away. In the moment, he realizes he’ll probably be arrested for this level of extreme carelessness, plus putting others in danger, plus admitting to what he now knows is poor behavior. How long will he be thrown into jail? He doesn’t know. But he doesn’t want to find out now after watching his only place of safety crumble into ash. 

Soon after, a female police officer approaches Sammy.

“Sir, we’ll need you to come with us,” She said. Sammy looks down, ready to cry, but follows her.

“And that is how I met your mother, by putting me in cuffs for the time being,” Sammy said.

“Bravo burning your house down, dad,” Cher said, giggling. Even at ten years old, she knows that what Sammy did was a bad decision.

“That’s not the only time he was in cuffs either,” Hailey said.

“You’ve been arrested before?” Cher asked.

“No…that’s not what your mother is talking about,” Sammy said, trying to stray away from what Hailey said. Sammy reflects on the story he told, many changes were made during that time. A book about romance and the character’s decisions, a burnt down house because of a cigarette, and meeting a police officer he falls in love with, leading to marriage. Because of this, he made his final decision to quit smoking.