The Man They Blame

“Structure fire, residential building, possible victims trapped!”

Alarms blared deafeningly at the fire station, all the firefighters moved quickly and in unison toward the area where they changed into their turnout gear. In less than two minutes, they had taken their places in their assigned vehicles.

Derek Moss was no exception. He was already seated in his engine, ready to go, waiting for the dispatcher to announce their destination.

“District Blue, 708th Street, Orchid Hotel Residential.”

“Engine One, respond to a residential fire.” The voice echoed over the radio.

One of the men there, a battalion chief, replied, “Engine One responding.”

As they responded, the line of fire trucks headed toward the scene, stopping at a luxury Hotel Residential building from which thick, dense smoke was billowing. The firefighters stepped out of their trucks and prepared, ensuring all their equipment was securely fastened. They then ran into the building without hesitation, gathering information from residents who had managed to escape.

Derek Moss, a frontliner, led the search. He stood at the very front, directing his team to conduct a primary search.

“Is anyone here?!” he shouted, waiting for a response from victims whose location and possible entrapment he did not know.

“Help!” a faint voice could be heard from a floor above.

Looking up at that floor, Derek and his team moved quickly. The door was open, but a burning wooden cabinet blocked the entrance to the room, trapping a teenager inside.

A woman covered her mouth with a cloth, her face already streaked with tears and panic. “Help me, please.”

Derek leapt bravely forward, while the rest of the team behind him looked for a way to get through and bring the girl with them safely.

Once they managed to get out, the girl grabbed Derek’s arm and pulled him. “Sir, there’s a couple on the floor below my room who haven’t gotten out either. I heard them screaming before you guys arrived.”

Derek understood and handed the women over to one of his other team members, while he and two other firefighters turned back toward the location the woman had mentioned.

“Is anyone inside?!” one of them called out.

For a few seconds, there was no response until a faint cough was heard from inside. Without hesitation, Derek immediately signaled for them to step back while he broke down the door.

With a single blow, the door swung open. But what lay before him made his entire body freeze in place.

In his entire life, even when facing towering flames, he had never felt his blood run cold. His whole body had felt the intense heat of the surrounding air, and how his breathing felt restricted. But now, he barely felt that heat, while his chest felt as if it had been struck and crushed by a massive structure as his eyes fell upon the woman the teenager had called his partner—who turned out to be his own wife—as she was embracing a man wearing a bathrobe, the two of them so intimately entwined.

Erin Chase stood there, pressing her body close against a stranger’s embrace, hidden beneath the bathrobe they were sharing.

It defied all logic to see the woman he admired behaving so inappropriately. Derek never imagined that Erin—whom he admired and respected for her strong ideology and principles—would be capable of standing there like a slut in front of another man.

Erin, as Derek knew her, was an extraordinary woman who excelled in her roles as the founder of the Firefighter Family Safety Foundation and a well-known public safety advocate. She has also been preparing to run for deputy mayor, the excellent woman without a flaw. Derek has always supported Erin’s work and respected the principles she promotes.

He believed she was so remarkable that he was even willing to let Erin dictate the terms of their sex life. Derek, who believed that a woman’s body belonged to her alone, never objected to Erin’s rule that he could only touch her on the 16th of every month. In fact, he never once complained about her rules dictating his position, rhythm, timing, or even the expression on his face. Setting aside his own comfort, he accepted it all.

His two colleagues, realising who the woman was, exchanged glances, then stared at Derek’s back with worried looks, not daring to say a word.

Now, as if her patience had run out, the woman stared at him without a shred of guilt. “What are you doing over there?!” she shouted.

She ordered firmly, “Quickly, take off that gas mask and give it to Dick, Derek!”

The two men behind Derek glared at Erin in annoyance; the woman’s behaviour was outrageous. Derek had risked his life, pushing through thick smoke and raging flames, not to witness his wife’s affair and be humiliated in front of her lover.

“Don’t go too far, ma’am. What you’re doing right now doesn’t give you the right to even speak so rudely—” Derek waved his hand gently, signalling his subordinate to be quiet and not interfere in his affairs.

Humiliated? Of course, he felt humiliated.

Hurt? He couldn’t even describe what the pain felt like in his chest.

It wasn’t that anger hadn’t surfaced within him, but he was so deeply wounded that his body had become paralysed, unable to respond with the emotions he should have been expressing in a situation that demanded that he remain fully aware of the reason for his presence in that place, with the flames blazing outside.

“You have no right to interfere!” Erin rejected the rebuke loudly, her face ablaze like the flames outside. “Dick is an important person who must be prioritised. You need to know that he’s the man who just succeeded in facilitating a partnership between my foundation and the Apex Group.”

They heard something that made no sense, and it made them turn their faces away, glaring in annoyance at Derek, who was steadfastly enduring that nonsense. The man looked pitiful to them, and she continued to trample on him.

Erin glared at Derek. “What are you waiting for, Derek? Hurry up and give that mask to Dick. Don’t ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for. Just do your job! Aren’t you used to situations like this? This is your job.” The woman tried to persuade him.

Derek was finally driven to the brink by her, but before he could respond to the woman’s words, the ceiling of the room suddenly collapsed. Driven by instinct, he quickly lunged toward Erin and shielded her, sacrificing his leg as it was struck by the debris crashing down on him.

With great effort, Derek evacuated them, aided by his two subordinates as they made their way out. The medics immediately approached them, and they were separated. Derek stood near the fire truck, sweat soaking his body, covered in soot, and with pain in his legs, he waited there silently, breathing in oxygen, thinking Erin would come to him.

But even after waiting there for thirty minutes, she still hadn’t shown up. It wasn’t until after the fire was extinguished and the firefighters were packing up their stuff that Derek, exhausted, helped finish up and then dragged himself home, carrying all that fatigue and disappointment with him.

At his front door, his feet stopped again.

“What are you doing? Don’t touch me there! That really tickles, Dick.” The sound of laughter came from inside, a voice he recognised, and one that now seemed to ignite his anger.

Their laughter weighed heavily on Derek’s chest until the anger he’d buried inside him burst forth. He, who had momentarily gone numb, was now burning once more, just as the fire raging in that building had finally been completely extinguished.