Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

It all happened so suddenly. A rip through time that devours all. Turning hours to seconds and showing no mercy for those who want that precious time back. The flames ripped through the building. You could see gusts of heat forcing burning debris into the sky, followed by smoke. Memories burning up in seconds. Memories that were cherished for years. Gone. Neighbors stand by. Some curious, others in shock. One man bursts through the crowd and runs toward the burning home. A firefighter charges at him and grabs the mans shirt, but comes away with only a scrap of cloth. The man disappears into the home.

Glen remembers that morning as he heads into the building. He and his wife Rebeka only had a few moments to exchange words before he left for work. He was going in early to get a head start on a new project for the company he worked at. Only having time to sneak a sip of coffee and say "I love you" and barely enough time to hear "I love you too". Time moves by so quickly. If only we could go back.

Glen snaps back to the present as a window explodes near his face. The shards feel like hot ice as they splash against his face, burning and cutting his cheeks and lips. He cries in pain and wipes blood from his face. No time for pain now. I'm not allowed to feel pain, he thinks to himself. It's his wife that he can't live without.

Earlier that afternoon Glen received a phone call from Rebeka asking him when he'd be home. He said,"Not till late i'm afraid." He knew she would be disappointed. It wasn't that he was working late. It was that today was a special day. It was the day they proclaimed their love for each other 25 years earlier. They day they indulged in their burning desire to be together forever.

He searched the first floor and headed to the second. The smoke was too much for his lungs and he fell over coughing up grey mucus. He crawled through the hallway on his hands and knees. The floor felt like a hot oven and blisters started to form on his hands. He hears a loud crack as the roof shifts to the right. It looks like it already fell partially into the back part of the house. That's where their bedroom is. He clamors to his feet and trudges down the hallway. Their bedroom door is slightly open. He kicks the door but it doesn't budge. He backs up a few feet and takes charge at the door and sends it flying to the floor. For a split second he see's it all.

Rebeka ,waiting for him to come home from work, lights candles all over the bedroom. She dresses in her sexiest nightgown and waits for him in their bed. She had done this for their 5th wedding anniversary. They made love so sweetly that night and afterwords watched some terrible movie on the T.V. Oh how they made fun of that movie. Neither of them liked it and somehow that reminded them on how much they were meant to be. It's those moments that we wish to live forever. Those moments that last only seconds that we hold onto for years. Forever.

Glen barely recognizes his own bedroom. The roof being caved in and the wall about to fall into the room. His dresser with all the belongings lay scattered and a string of fire leads to the floor. A tie. Probably set out by his wife earlier that morning. Why hadn't he seen the tie? Would it have made her happier if he had worn it? He thinks so. He spins around at the crack of a beam. It is the remaining of the roof beam still suspended from the ceiling. The part that has fallen has crushed his bed. And his wife lay underneath.

They went shopping for the bed 2 years earlier. She had been bugging him for a new bed since she had been having a hard time sleeping for the past month. Had he really thought of her as "bugging" him? How could he? She is the most wonderful of all that is wonderful in life and most certainly would not share any likeness to some buzzing annoying insect. He feels like he should apologize. Maybe go back in time and rethink the thought. But he can't. Time has passed.

He can't help but look away from the painful look in his wife's eyes. She looks up vacantly at the ceiling and past it into the burning sky. Her face locked in a painful grimace. A beam lay over her chest and diagonal to her waist. The flame travel off the beam and onto her gown which once was white and now is black with burning lace and cotton. Patches have disappeared and blistered flesh burst through with smoke rising to the sky. He loses control. He moves forward and tries to get the beam off his beautiful wife. The one he believes is still alive although none that fit that description exists. His face burns with the fire that has made home in the heavy beam. He remembers, "I feel no pain." He lifts the beam and slides his leg under. His foot touches his wife's leg and it doesn't budge. His hand bust open it painful blisters and start to melt as he slides his other leg under the heavy beam. "I feel no pain." He is now completely under the beam laying next to his wife. Both bodies appeared to have been hit by the beam together. Although we know that is not the case. Glen put an arm over his wife's vacated body and see's the flames engulf his jacket. The other part of the roof has fallen and has pinned the beam firmly to the floor. He plants a kiss firmly on his wife's lips and see's his blood smear on her face. His back is now on fire. He can't breathe and only has enough energy to say one last thing before passing out. "Sweetie. I'm home. Happy Anniversary."