A Burning Desire

POV: Parra

Black smoke and red flames, that's all I could see through my fading vision as the support beam that was keeping my mom's house in one piece, was now supporting my death. I couldn't help but think this is it. This is how I die crushed under a beam in my mom's burning house. I didn't even get to live a full life looking back. I was always too scared to push myself staying in a cozy little safety box. I'm twenty-one years old, and I have never had alcohol been to a party or had a boyfriend hell. I was still a virgin, but at least it's a free ticket to heaven, even though it would've been nice to experience something like that on the plane of existence. My vision was slowly declining more and more. I felt light-headed, giving into the smoke I was only seconds from blacking out until he ran in.

"Hey! Someone is trapped! Luke, get the ax and hurry up!" A male voice yelled before kneeling to me, "We're going to get you out of here, understand? Just hand tight," He calmly said

"Heads up!" Luke yelled passing him the ax

He caught it like it was nothing, "Please try to cover your head," He said with what little strength I had I only pulled my hand over my face

Cutting through the thick wood with ease, he carefully tossed the ax back to his partner before carrying me from the wreckage. I felt weightless, being cradled in his arms to a stretcher, but as the air was coming into my lungs, I found the strength to look up at those deep blue ocean eyes. His black hair peaked from his helmet as his chiseled chin with the perfect amount of scruff was facing forward. At that very moment, I felt a rush of heat burning through me for the first time in my life. I felt like the very flames that were about to consume me.

"She doesn't look too bad. She was under the support beam, she hasn't talked since I pulled her out of there, but she has been cooperative make sure you take good care of her," He said laying me down on the stretcher

I somehow grabbed hold of his jacket sleeve, pulling at it before he tried to walk away, "Na...na...name?" I croaked out before coughing

"Name? You want to know my name?" He asked with a prize-winning smile

I nodded my head, unable to take the risk of further damaging my sore throat.

"My name is Hayden. Hayden Stone," He answered

It's been three years since that once in a lifetime meeting since then; I haven't been able to get those ocean blue eyes out of my head or that smile out of my dreams. Days dragged on into weeks, but I had to see him again, after finding out that he was just a volunteer firefighter and that it'd be pointless to keep looking, I went back into my happy little bubble. Every day the same routine, get up, go to work, come home, and think of him. I was in a systemic rut, and I thought nothing was going to change that. I was sitting in my cubicle, typing up some random paperwork when the fire alarm went off. I rolled my eyes, annoyed with the endless ringing and flashing lights, thinking it was just another drill. Everybody was just as annoyed as I was since it was the third time this week. At this point, people were taking their sweet time to get to the stairs, but as I walked past the breakroom. I saw the deadly flames only growing bigger and bigger. I started to panic and pushed people out of the way the sweat began to form on my skin. Everything felt like it was closing in around me. I was struggling to breathe, thank God I only worked on the second floor of the building. After making it outside, I was struggling. Everything looked blurry, and I felt light-headed until I heard a voice.

"Hey. Hey! Are you okay?" He asked, "Focus on breathing in and out. In and out. There you go, feel any better?" He asked

"Yes. Thank you," I said looking at those deep ocean eyes once more, "Hayden?"

He gave me another one of his signature prize-winning smiles, "Do I know you?" He asked

"Okay! Okay! Okay! The fire is out but who was the smarty that thought aluminum was microwavable?" Luke asked the crowd of people

"Come on, Luke it wasn't that bad and no one got hurt. How....how do you know my name?" He asked

"Three years ago you saved my life. I never got the chance to thank you properly," I nervously said

He gently placed his hand under my chin tilting my face up towards him staring deeply in my eyes, "Oh yeah. I remember those dark brown eyes. Well now's a better time than any," He said moving his hand back to his side

My heart couldn't stop racing I was more nervous talking to this man my mind just went blank, "Umm...tha-" I tried to squeeze out

He laughed for a moment, "Sorry for laughing but let me make this easy for you since you seem tongue tied. Have lunch or dinner with me. You can pick the time and place, here's my number," He said giving me his card

"Hayden! Come on! We got to go!" Luke yelled

"I'll be waiting for your call, okay?" He asked walking away

"Okay," I said