I SEE YOU

Thick gray smoke billows from the front of a small gray car. The car, now wrapped around a light pole, has been mangled so terribly that its rear is the only part of it that looks recognizable. I watch the flashing hazard lights blink in an unorganized repetition while an alarm blares so loudly that I can barely concentrate on anything else. I am stuck momentarily in my spot and I am fixated on the unfolding tragedy in front of me. Unintelligible screaming grabs ahold of my consciousness and snaps me back to the present. “Brightener,”A voice continues to yell, “try the passenger door, this one is stuck!” The voice of my training officer, Reed, pushes me to action and I am scrambling to the passenger door of the wrecked car. I begin to pull on the door, it doesn’t budge. I look inside and see a woman leaned over. Her head is resting upon the steering wheel. A trickle of dark red blood dripping from her forehead in a slow but steady manner. I begin to beat on the window to try and rouse her from her unconscious state but just like the door, she isn’t moving. A cry from the back seat gathers all my attention and my heart begins to sink. A small child, barely two, is in the back beginning to stir. As she wakes she starts to cry. Determination has renewed in me and I begin to pull on the door fervently. I silently curse the fact that it’s a two door car and continue yanking with all my being on the unbudging passenger door. I begin to smell gas, “s**t. s**t. s**t!” I hear Reed yell. “Brightener, pull back wait for Fire to get here. They can cut the door open,” Reed yells. I shake my head and continue working on the door. The gray smoke starts to darken and I know what will soon come next. I look at Reed and then grab my baton. With one fluid motion I swing my hand back, opening my baton with the flick of my wrist and swing my hand forward breaking the glass of the passenger window. I quickly knock the glass from the door. Reed yells for me to back off as the sounds of sirens can be heard faintly in the distance. I don’t even look up. I mentally measure the window quickly, I have a big frame but I think I can squeeze through. With no further thoughts I grab the window opening with both palms and hoist myself inside the window. I struggle but am able to make it through the opening. I check the driver for a pulse. I feel nothing. Immediately my attention is drawn back to the child. I can hear Reed screaming at me and from the tone of his voice he is pissed. I shake the thought from my mind and grab the buckles that are holding in the child to the car seat. I begin to fiddle with the straps when I hear a whooshing sound from the front of the car and see a small flame licking the frame of the car from under the driver side of the hood. A mix of the child crying and Reed screaming does not deter me from my current objective. I fumble with the front of my bullet proof vest and pull a knife from one of the many pockets. I cut both straps from above the child’s head pull her haphazardly from the car seat and stick the child out of the passenger window screaming for Reed to take her. Reed snatches the child and I attempt to hoist myself from the car but my tactical belt gets hung and I am pulling with everything in me trying to free myself from the inside of the car. The sirens get closer but still not close enough. Reed looks at me with a mix of fear and anger. He begins to set the child on the ground as he runs back to me. The flames grow from underneath the hood of the car. Reed heads toward me in a sprint. I begin to unlatch my belt keepers. One by one I snap them off and sling the tactical belt from my waist. The flames are now covering the hood and I pull myself out of the car. I land to the ground with a THUD. A soft groan escapes my lips and I begin to crawl as I try and stand and I can feel something pulling me by the back of my shirt steering me from the car. The car goes up in flames as I am pulled to safety and just then I see the first fire truck arrive on scene. I close my eyes, my breathing fast and heart racing. I sit myself up and push the hair from my disheveled bun away from my eyes. I quickly stand up wiping the dirt from my clothes. A flurry of firefighters exit the truck and start barking orders to one another. A pang of sadness hits me knowing the driver did not survive. I look to Reed. I can’t read his face exactly but I liken it to a silent rage. The child in one arm cradling her head to his chest he walks close to me, “Calls CPS. Get someone down here to take custody of this child. You okay?” He finished. “I’m fine.,” I start, “Just a little-“ The start of his sentence cuts off the end of mine. “Fantastic. The next time I tell you to do something, remember that it’s not a f*****g suggestion, Rookie.” I am left there feeling significantly smaller than I already am as he walks away and puts his phone to his ear. I pull my phone out and begin to do as I am told. Cold callous asshole, the thought pops in my mind briefly but is quickly gone as the sound in my ear goes from a ring to a greeting.