10 Seconds

Two firemen ride in an ambulance. One is seriously injured and the other one is there to comfort him.

      The ambulance arrived, almost building itself as it came through the pillow of smoke.  It didn't take them long to grab what they needed and begin their journey to the hospital.  The weight of two fireman was hardly noticed by the ambulance.  However, that was about all that went unnoticed for the lone paramedic who was completely aware of their presence along with the relationship between these two men.  He also noticed the words that went unsaid from eye to eye.  They knew they didn't have long.  One of the firemen was lying down on the stretcher, heavily wounded.  His whole left side had scorch marks and his torso was seeping blood.  The other fireman was standing over him, hat off, mind racing, and face shaking.  This brave hero is Justin, who is worried for his best friend Jarred's life.  His story of this ambulance ride is below.

      "How am I faring?" Jarred crackled to whoever would listen.  I looked at the paramedic for a response and he just shook his head.  His nose was wrinkled from the unusual smell inside the ambulance.  It smelled of burned skin and cold ash from the scorch marks.  As I had turned  toward him, building dust had fallen from my helmet and I realized we were crouched in a pile of it.  Not like any of that mattered now.
      Straight-faced, I turned back to my best friend, "I ain't gonna lie to you Jarred, but it's not looking good."
      "Ugh," Jarred ran his hand along his scorch marks and down to his hip smashing through a stream of blood along the way. "Justin, I feel like it's over, I'm all light headed and..."
      Jarred's eyes closed and his head tilted to one side.  His breath was slowly released through the small gap of his mouth.  My heart jumped to my throat at the thought of the worst and I had to breathe deep to keep myself from gagging.  I hastily looked at the paramedic.
      "Jarred will come to again in a matter of seconds.  He probably blacked out from loss of blood. When he does awaken you will have about 10 seconds to say your final goodbyes.
      "What!?"  i could feel tears forming in my eyes as waves of heat rushed over me. I shivered. Theres no way this could be happening!
      "There's nothing I can do Justin, I'm sorry." I could tell he meant it too.  I'm sure he could imagine having only ten seconds to say goodbye to a lifelong friend.  What am I even gonna say?
But there was no time to think because Jarred stirred and opened his eyes.

      10. "Jarred, you're a hero" the words weren't creative but they were meant to fully explain the situation in 2 seconds.
      9. "But it's over now" the second part of the explanation chilled my spine and I felt tears sliding down my cheeks.  I looked deep into the eyes of the man I had known so long.
      8. Jarred glared strongly at me and some how managed to stamper out, "Justin, life will go on." Typical Jarred! Always talking in riddles.  But I knew all too well that no one understood people or the true meaning of life better then Jarred.
      7. "Once the pain is gone," Jarred finished.  I understood what he meant and knew he was right.  I knew that we would see each other once again as our paths of destiny were tightly wound together with little slack.
      6. In a response to his words I managed to whisper, "It's not over." I knew my words would have no regret later as they slid through my teeth.  This was the time when it all mattered.
      5. Jarred slowly nodded as he started to gently shake.  His eyes were filled like a small oasis as he understood what I meant.  Jarred and I were always some for understanding each other, and I knew that our last moments together would be no different.
      4. Eyes linked, locked, and strong we stared. I wasn't holding anything back now. My body slowly came to the full realization that this was the end.  No more smiling with each other.  No more laughing with each other.  No more creating our plans and making others laugh.  No more...together.
      3. The eyes gently mumbled: don't forget me.  As my eyes softly promised a reply that I would never.  My mind flashed through the past hesitating only for a moment on each great memory.  Always having our precision thoughts and actions to get us through our schooling, help each other with problems, and even with the fire department. Those endless nights we would just sit there talking and all the times that we constantly reminded each other of.  Always wondering what our futures would be like, always making necessary ideas and thoughts.  But most importantly, we never forgot the true meaning of life.  This meaning we had searched for and discovered together.  We lived by it.  We both knew it could end in the blink of an eye, we were fully aware of anything that could happen.  But we were always prepared.  We were ready for it all.
      2. Jarred's voice made me switch tracks on the present, slowly speeding time up. "Justin, you know who I love." His words weren't a statement, but a request.  A request to tell all that he had loved the true feelings he felt for them and have them never forget it.  I knew I would keep my lifelong promise.
      1. "I will," I gently replied to my best friend.  To an outside perspective my answer might not have made sense, but Jarred knew what I meant.  He knew I would keep my promise.  He made one last nod and then went still.
      0.  My lifelong companion, unresponsive on the bed before me.  It was too much to take in and I couldn't bring my self to fully release the tears and be welcomed into the city of Cry.  I occupied my mind by looking back at our flawless ending: we both had used each others name and our life skills of communication to let each other know how we really felt after all we had been through.       

      Jarred's last word was "love" which he purposefully used to represent how important the emotion is.  It almost offers a key in the puzzle that we call life.  My last word was "will" which I purposefully used to represent the willpower that we both possessed through our whole lives.  Willpower can get you through the hardest times by bringing determination and hope to the light.

Author's Note

This was the first short story i ever wrote. I was 15 and it was close to the end of 2011. I haven't edited it in anyway as i like to compare how much ive improved in my short time that ive been writing. But even if i have improved, i still think this is one of my best and will always have a special place on the scale.
More than half of me believes i was better then, but ive never written any thing like this since as my short story count is only up to 3. I didnt write The Black Smoke until months later.

Reviews

[Rox Bain ☮]

This is so beautiful... it actually made me cry... well done :)

[Kaya]

I prefer your work now, but this is such an original way to write... I really enjoyed it.

[Lydia]

I love this. So sad, but beautiful.