Q: What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?
A: SUPPLIES!!!
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (Chapters 1 to 18)
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 19
“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, PLEAAASE SOMEONE HELP!” The frantic woman continued to scream and sob.
“Ok, here’s what I want you to do.” Chris said trying his best to tune out the woman’s pleas for help. “First use the Libra power so that no one sees you doing any of this. Next, go around the back of the house and deactivate Libra and then activate Taurus, as then the fire shouldn’t hurt you while you’re in the house looking for Jake and Noah…”
“Hold on a friggin’ second. It SHOULDN’T hurt me? That’s not very reassuring now is it?” I said feeling somewhat concerned.
“LOOK, we don’t have time for this. Just trust me, it’s going to work. Once, you find the kids in there, take them out the back door, disable Taurus after you set them down, and then tell them to run away from the house towards the street and then to the nearest firefighter. Lastly, use Libra again, and then meet me on the corner of the next street.”
“Chris, for both of our sakes, I truly hope your plan works without any hiccups…”
“Have faith my friend…I know you can do it. Good luck.”
I knew I couldn’t waste any more time worrying whether any of this was going to work or not. Every minute I stalled was putting those kids more at risk.
“LIBRA!”
Chris was still staring at me, as I looked over his shoulder and saw the woman’s mouth opened in mid-scream. Just beyond her were the firefighters spraying water from two different hoses, one on the front door and the other through a broken window upstairs. The stream from both now looked rather like a long ice bridge suspended in mid-air. I quickly headed around to the back of the house and wondered if I could make this whole process much easier by leaving time frozen. Maybe fire couldn’t hurt me if time was paused? I decided to try it on a nearby torrent of fire that was coming out one of the lower side windows. It honestly seemed harmless enough, so I walked over to it and reached my hand up into the beautiful orange glow.
“OWWWWWW!” I retracted my hand as fast as possible, but not before it got burned pretty well. I guess that answers that question. Note to self, stick to Chris’s plan.
My burned hand was really hurting now as I reached the back door and lightly grasped its handle, which was surprisingly cool to the touch. Upon turning it, I discovered it was unfortunately locked. I had no other choice but to break it open.
“LIBRA!”
“TAURUS!”
Immediately my burned hand completely healed itself, which was a huge relief. I wasted no time to reflect on it though, as I hastily turned the door handle with next to no effort, breaking the lock mechanism in the process. I then pushed it opened and instantly a wall of flames shot out, yet they didn’t burn me this time. Instead, it almost felt like a warm breeze was passing through me. I couldn’t say the same for my costume though, as small parts of it began to melt. As quick as I possibly could, I sped through the wall of flames and entered the kitchen, managing to stifle the parts of my outfit that were burning.
“JAKE! NOAH! WHERE ARE YOU?” I shouted as loud as I could with hope I would hear them shout back.
There wasn’t any response though. I shouted their names again even louder, but still nothing. The house was rapidly becoming engulfed in fire and I could tell several wooden beams downstairs might collapse soon. Thankfully all the thick smoke surrounding me though wasn’t affecting my ability to breathe and keep a clear head.
Strictly on impulse, I decided to run up the stairs to where the bedrooms most likely were. The first one I entered appeared to be the master bedroom, of which not much was left. The next one seemed to be an office, and there too everything was already fully entrenched in flames. Parts of my costume were now beginning to disappear because of the intensity of the fire and heat and I knew I didn’t have much time left before I’d probably be totally naked. And that was definitely something I didn’t want to happen! I promptly raced into the next bedroom trying to forget any worry of that occurring, but had no success there or with the bathroom across from it. I approached the last room I hadn’t entered yet, except this one had its door closed. I swiftly kicked it open and there in the corner of it next to a bunk bed and some toys scattered about were twins Jake and Noah, huddled together, but definitely not alert. The smoke in the room was so thick I could barely see them through it, but thankfully it wasn’t bothering my eyes. I raced over to them and shook them both, but neither stirred one bit. Shit, Chris didn’t prepare me for this! I had no choice but to try something he hadn’t laid out for me.
“TAURUS!”
“VIRGO!”
I instantaneously started coughing and my eyes burning with the heat just as excruciating. While lying as close to the floor as possible and praying I didn’t pass out, I then reached out to place my hands on both boys at the same time. I really had no idea whether I could heal two people at once, but it was the only option I had. As soon as my hands were firmly pressed upon the chests of both Jake and Noah, that electricity-like feeling began to shoot through me like it had before when I healed Chris. The energy bolts then jumped down my arms and out my fingertips, causing my hands to become super-hot in the process. Suddenly both of the boy’s eyes opened with each taking in deep breaths…
“COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!” Jake and Noah proceeded to hack loudly like I already was.
“Are…you…here to save us?” One of the twins asked me in between coughs.
“Yes, Look, I’m about to do a little magic to get you out of here. Just trust me ok?”
“OK!” Both twins responded in unison. I could tell they were very scared. I was too, as the smoke felt like fire in my lungs with each breath I took.
“VIRGO!”
“TAURUS!”
Phew. I could breathe again and my watery vision cleared itself up as well. I then hurriedly picked up Jake and Noah and placed one under each arm, as if I was carrying two bundles of wood. They were definitely a few years younger than I, but based upon their size, I would have guessed they were each at least 60 pounds, although it felt as if I was holding onto two kids that weighed next to nothing.
As I flew out the door, both of them started screaming due to the intensity of the heat. The stairs were now completely buried in flames and I knew there was no way I could take them through that wall of fire. I had only one possible exit at this point, the bathroom. It appeared to be the only thing that wasn’t on fire and there was a window in there.
“So do you guys trust me still?” I said to Jake and Noah setting them down near the window in the bathroom I had just entered.
“Yes, why, what are you gonna do?” One of the twins answered while the other started crying pretty hard, apparently quite scared.
“You’re both going to jump out this window one after another, once I’m down on the ground and I’m going to catch each of you.”
“WHAT?!” The crying twin abruptly said in between sobs.
“Please just trust me ok?” I said trying to reassure him.
I didn’t wait for them to say anything else as the flames had now blocked our exit from the bathroom. Both were coughing uncontrollably by the time I got the window opened and had thrown the screen to the ground. I then climbed out and jumped without thinking, finding it almost hard to believe how effortless it was when I reached the ground.
“Ok, come on. JUMP!” I said as I prepared my hands to catch whoever went first.
The twin that hadn’t been crying quickly climbed through the window with no hesitation and jumped. I caught him with ease and motioned for his brother to do the same, except he continued to peer over the edge fully paralyzed in fear. I yelled again for him to jump, but to no avail.
I knew there wasn’t any time left for this so I leaped as hard as I could and reached the window easily. I could see the flames had now entered the outer perimeter of the bathroom, leaving me with no choice but to grab the boy’s arm with one of my hands and roughly drag him out the window. As soon as I did, I let go of the windowsill with my other hand and fell to the ground. I landed on my back while still holding onto him, but thankfully it hadn’t hurt either of us. He immediately then bolted out of my arms and stood on his feet, next to his brother.
“Now run as fast as you can away from your house towards the street and then head over towards the firefighters ok? You mom is there with them now and I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to see you both are safe!” I said as I stood up and brushed myself off.
“Thank you mister superhero,” said the twin who had jumped first. “So who are you anyway beneath that mask and how did you do all that?”
“Don’t worry about any of that. Just run. Your mom needs to know you’re safe.”
“Thanks for saving me too,” said the other twin who had finally stopped crying.
“You’re both welcome, now go!”
I watched as they ran away from the house, making it safely to the street, and then disappear heading towards the firefighters and their mother.
“TAURUS!”
“LIBRA!”
I walked slowly back around the house, amazed I had actually pulled it all off. The rush of helping save Jake and Noah felt incredible. Once I reemerged on the other side of the house where the firefighters were still battling the blaze, I was able to see the teary mother with arms outstretched, and just beyond, the boys running towards her. A television crew had already arrived and was now filming the whole scene, which I’m sure, would make for great headline news later that night. When I reached enough of a safe distance where no one could see me, I unfroze time and saw Chris standing on the corner of the next street over as promised.
“Well?” Chris said in anticipation when I reached him, while handing me my bag of candy.
“They’re safe, but not without a few of those hiccups I’ll have you know!”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you later, let’s just get out of here first. My costume feels like it’s totally stuck to me.”“Well at least most of it’s still on you, especially your mask, which means those boys shouldn’t know who you are right?”
“Yeah, I guess so…” I said, as we began to head down the hill to return to his house.
Little did I know though what was taking place at that very moment back at the still blazing fire…
“I think you’re going to want to see this!!!” said a man wildly shaking his Iphone in the air while racing over towards the filming TV crew and the female reporter.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson