Let Him Save Her, I Quit

My house was on fire, and my fianc, a freaking firefighter, used his pull to get the whole damn team to save his suicidal high-school sweetheart.

I didn't call Mike.

I just stood there, watching the blaze eat away at the home I'd so carefully put together.

Last time, he'd answered my call first, rushing to rescue me, pregnant, from the flames.

Bethany, his old flame, who had some issues, jumped from her apartment building and died.

Mike said he didn't regret saving me and our baby.

We went through with the wedding like nothing happened.

Only, on our wedding day, he broke my leg and dragged me to Bethany's grave, forced me down on my knees.

"The fire at our place wasn't even that bad, Ashley! You set it up! You knew and you kept me from seeing her one last time!"

"Bethany was an angel. Why couldn't it have been you who died instead?"

I woke up back in my burning house that's when I knew I was gonna do things differently.

This time, he wanted to save Bethany? Fine.

I was done.

...

Smoke choked me.

I coughed, grabbing my cell and dialing 911.

The guy who answered had a voice I knew all too well.

"Ash, hey, it's Kevin. Mike said you'd probably call. Guess he was right."

Kevin was Mike's buddy from the firehouse, his best friend.

"Kevin, my house is on fire! I need someone here, like, yesterday."

While I was talking, the wooden bookshelf next to me caught on fire and collapsed.

Burning wood scraped my arm. I hissed, sucking in a breath.

"Ash, come on, cut the crap," Kevin said. "Mike told me everything. You're just pissed he went to save his old girlfriend, so you're calling in a fake alarm."

"Listen, the team's pretty much tied up right now. Just chill, okay? Bethany's life's on the line. You and Mike are getting married soon, so don't do something you will regret."

The fire was getting worse.

I didn't have time for Kevin's lecture and I didn't care what he thought, I hung up on him.

I took a deep breath as I looked around the home that held five years of memories with Mike.

I ran my hand over my stomach.

I never expected to come back to this moment.

This fire happened before, same as now.

I called Mike directly, but last time, he showed up with the whole crew to put out the fire. He ignored a dozen calls from Bethany.

Shed been dealing with depression and that day, she jumped from the eighteenth floor.

Afterwards, I cried to Mike, telling him I'm glad he saved me and the baby.

He told me he didn't regret it.

We got married like planned.

I put on my dream wedding dress, married the man I'd been with for five years, and I was sure I was finally going to have a good life when Mike showed his true colors.

Mike broke my leg, blood soaking my white dress, but he didn't care. He drove me to the place where Bethany killed herself and made me get on my knees and apologize.

I had no clue what I was even apologizing for.

Mike was my fianc. He was the father of my unborn child.

Why was it my fault that he chose to save me?

Mike was long past logic.

His eyes bloodshot, like a madman who had lost his love, he said: "The fire at our place wasn't even that bad, Ashley! You set it up! You knew and you kept me from seeing her one last time!"

"I didn't see Bethany's diary back then. If I did, I would've known what a toxic person you are!"

"You're the reason for her depression. Bethany was an angel. Why couldn't it have been you who died instead?"

I didn't know what he was talking about.

But Mike was completely insane.

"Have a taste of what it's like to lose someone you care about!"

My desperate cries didn't get him to soften.

He dragged me around like a dead dog and locked me in a dark room.

I begged him to let me go and asked him what our five years meant to him.

Mike didn't react. He even poured gasoline into the room.

My last memory was him looking down at me, like we were mortal enemies and not a newly married couple.

He took out a lighter, lit the gasoline, and that was that.

"Just thinking about being with a toxic witch like you for five years makes me sick!"

"You want to use fires to trick me into coming home? I'll show you what it's like to really burn to death!"

Burning to death sucks.

I still can't get the pain out of my head.

And now, I was about to be burned alive again.

I thought that if I didn't call Mike, I wouldn't repeat the same mistakes.

But, he was already on a whole other level, telling his teammate I was faking it.

The pain in my stomach reminded me of how heartless this man was.

Mike and I had been together for five years.

We bought this house two years ago, it was supposed to be our love nest.

It wasn't a fancy place, but I didn't care.

Mike and I were both normal, working-class people. To be able to buy a house in A City and have a place to call our own was good enough for me.

My parents died when I was young.

All I ever wanted was a family.

When we were together, Mike promised me that he'd make me happy and I was dumb enough to believe him.

Every piece of furniture, we picked out together.

I took care of all the plants on the porch.

I poured my heart into it, making it the home of my dreams.

Like the old electrical wiring that started this fire, something went wrong between Mike and me.

The little cracks in our lives caused so much damage.

I calmly grabbed the photo album I loved so much.

It had all the pictures of Mike and me together from the past five years.

He used to joke that we should pass the album down to our kids.

But, in a flash, the album turned to ash.

The fire was getting bigger, the flames were everywhere, burning the wooden door, the bed, the curtains.

I realized that my only way out was the window.

I quickly climbed out.

Standing on the AC unit, holding onto the hot window frame, I knew that the danger wasn't over.

This was the fifth floor.

Not too high, but I was pregnant.

I could fall and die or I could fall and not.

A lot of people were already down there.

They were my neighbors, I even knew some of them.

They saw me crawl out the window and everyone got nervous.

"Hold on tight! Don't let go!"

"We called the fire department!"

Even though a lot of these people didn't know me that well, they were still worried about me.

The man who was supposed to care for me couldn't care less.

I laughed as I realized what a mistake I'd made.

I started to lose my grip.

The pain made my face pale and my body shook.

My hands started to burn and I couldn't hold on anymore.

I fell backwards...

I thought back to when Mike and I first got together.

We met on a blind date.

We didn't like spicy food, or food that was too flavorful.

We watched movies and documentaries, and we liked taking care of plants and animals.

I thought that Mike and I were perfect for each other.

He was really sweet to me, he even promised my dead parents that he would be with me forever.

I never thought that Mike would care for someone else.

Everyone told me that Mike loved me so much and I believed them.

That was until Bethany, Mike's first love, came back from overseas.

She called Mike one night and he left in a hurry.

Maybe I should've realized how important she was to Mike.

He said that she had depression and that she needed him.

She could've gone to a doctor, or taken medication.

Bethany added me on social media with Mike's help.

They said there wasn't anything going on and that I didn't need to worry.

Bethany would send me pictures.

Sometimes it was a movie screenshot.

Sometimes it was Mike cooking her dinner.

Other times it was Mike sleeping with his head on her lap.

I fought with Mike over these pictures.

He would rub his head and act like I was overreacting.

"Ashley, I'm really tired."

"I don't want Bethany to kill herself, there's nothing going on between us."

"Can you just stop?"

Now that I know what he did after Bethany died, I can see that there was something going on.

He was willing to kill me and his child.

My mind was made up.

Mike never loved me.

I made a mistake.

I was lucky.

When I fell, the neighbors caught me, so I didn't hit the ground.

I was pregnant, so it still hurt a lot.

When Kevin and some firefighters showed up, this is what they saw:

I was covered in burn marks and I was losing blood.

"Ashley..."

He pushed past the crowd, looking nervous.

"What happened? Mike said you were faking it."

The pain made me too tired to care. I gave him a cold stare.

"Does the fire department only listen to Mike?"

"Does what he says go?"

The neighbors started shouting.

"What kind of work are you doing? You're not responsible at all! You took almost an hour to get here!"

"What if someone died? This could've been serious! She's pregnant! This doesn't look good..."

Kevin didn't say anything, he knew he messed up.

When the ambulance came, he went with me.

On the way, he apologized over and over.

"I'm sorry, Ashley, I didn't know this would happen."

"It was my fault, I trusted Mike too much..."

The paramedic stopped him. "Don't bother the patient. You're her family?"

Kevin shook his head and the paramedic said: "You need to contact her family. She's gonna need someone to sign papers soon."

Kevin called Mike.

He answered.

"Hey, Kevin, what's up?"

Kevin put the phone on speaker.

I flinched when I heard Mike's voice.

He sounded like he was in a loud place, I think I heard a girl crying.

Kevin didn't notice and told Mike what happened.

"Ashley's house caught on fire. She jumped out the window and we're on our way to the hospital. You need to come, they'll probably need you to sign some papers."

Mike laughed like he knew something.

"How much did Ashley pay you to lie to me?"

"Our house is only on the fifth floor, what's she gonna do, die?"

I heard Bethany on the other end.

"Mike, did something happen to Ashley? Maybe you should be with her, I can deal with things myself."

"I promise, I won't jump anymore...it's just, it's really hard to keep living!"

It was obviously Bethany.

Mike cut her off. "Ashley's faking it, don't worry. What's gonna happen to her?"

"Don't think like that, Bethany. I'm not going anywhere, I'll be here for you, alright?"

He sounded like he was talking to a child.

It made me sick.

He believes whatever Bethany says.

And whatever I do is fake.

Where does he get off talking about how innocent they are?

Kevin couldn't believe it.

"That's your pregnant fianc! You went to save your high school sweetheart and you don't even care about your girl and kid?"

"Are you crazy?"

Mike lowered his voice.

"Kevin, why are you talking to me like that?"

"We're not even married, if you like her so much, go after her yourself."

Kevin wanted to punch him through the phone.

"You're a terrible person! I shouldn't have trusted you!"

Mike laughed.

"So what? She's too afraid to die, she won't die."

"I want her to pay for causing me so much trouble!"

"Gotta go, don't bother me. I'm with Bethany."

Kevin wanted to keep yelling, but Mike hung up.

Everyone on the ambulance heard what Mike said and looked at me.

I took a deep breath.

Even though I knew Mike was a heartless bastard, I couldn't help but feel hurt.

I had been with him for five years.

I really loved him and was ready to start a family.

I ran my hand over my stomach.

Maybe my baby could feel what I was feeling, because the pain started to go away.

But the paramedics looked concerned.

"Her blood pressure's dropping, get ready to revive her!"