Holding On To You

Chapter (1)

10 months later, I continue to remember the fire like a vivid nightmare. It begins the same way every time, I'm trapped by that beam surrounded by fire crawling closer to me. I think that's the worst part about it, pinned in a place with nowhere to run, looking at the boy's scared little face. Then, at the last second, everything goes completely dark, a long sprawled-out void of nothing, not knowing if I'm alive or dead.

When I open my eyes, I see a pair of blue eyes, an angel. I often wake up in the middle of the night thinking about that angel. So close to dying, I wonder if it was a hallucination that makes more sense, or the actual angle of Death trying to reap my soul. Still, that doesn't explain how I made it out of the building. The Lord moves in mysterious ways, I guess, that is the only conclusion I could come to in all of that confusion.

After that night word spread quickly during my leave, about what I did running into that burning building. It even made the local paper and gift baskets sent to my home. I most certainly didn't feel like I deserved any of the praise or gifts. The day I returned to work was the worst of all, all day I was the main topic of gossip in the precinct.

Eventually, the day-to-day slowly fell back into its normal routine. A few cases made their way to my desk, the normal assaults, petty thefts, and domestic disturbances, but nothing too serious as the ones I worked on before.

At lunch, I took the time to go out for a hot dog with mustard maneuvering through the crowds of people. I walked past my car heading to Central park since it's the closest and made my way over to a bench with lunch in hand taking a bite.

"mmm." I moaned in approval, nothing beats a street dog on lunch.

It felt nice to escape the eyes of the precinct for a while, it was relief enough to be outside lost in the sea of people. Gotten so acquainted with the overpopulated city I find it harder to be among smaller crowds of people, it's too quiet.

As I take a couple more bites of my hotdog, I casually begin to people watch from my spot. I first spot a dog walker handling five or so dogs ranging from a Dalmatian to a Pug. A random jogger moving at a nice casual pace is weaving through people along the route of the walkway. A group of mothers walks side-by-side pushing strollers and holding their children, seeing that puts a smile on my face. As a detective, I see the worst of the worst, so it's nice to see why I serve and protect this city even if it is in a small way.

Back to people watching I see a woman, late twenties if I had to guess, walked-no strutted as she walks is dressed in a very nice suit and skirt combo. A very cooperate and "I got my shit together" air about her. The high-end brands she wore said a lot about her lifestyle. The enormous rock on her left hand though says she won't have to work for much longer. I looked away for one second finishing my hot dog before I hear someone raise their voice.

"Hey, hey!" The woman with the huge engagement ring shouted. "My purse!"

A man ran by snatching the purse from her arm so I sprung up dashing after the thief. Pedestrians parted on the walkway for me after the purse snatcher bulldozed into them. A few people are knocked down in his attempt to flee.

"What the h-

An older man is knocked to the ground in the chaos of this "pursuit". I gained on him by a couple of feet, pumping my legs as fast as I could.

"Oh shit!" He looked back at me in a panic.

I guess he wasn't expecting 120 pounds of woman barreling towards him fueled by rage and a hotdog. Thankfully time I spent in the gym paid off because I caught up to him in seconds. Finally, I tackled the purse snatcher to the ground.

"Mother fuc-

"NYPD." I identified myself and flashed my badge that hung around my neck.

The thief groaned with his cheek pressed into the pavement. I pulled back the hoodie from his head, getting a good look at him. Even with his long hair, I noticed that he is young, too young to be doing this sort of thing.