This is Fire

NAME AND NUMBER PLEASE (7)

MAYA POV

Today I'm seeing Mason again. I haven't seen him for four weeks now so I can't wait for today to get started. We've called here and there and I can sense that he's trying to open up more and more about his experiences at home, experiences I didn't realise he had. Mason has been calling Jack a lot and talking to him about his life, I'm jealous because I want that relationship but I know it's needed. Today the rehab center is having a visitation day instead of a couple of hours. They've organised a fair to raise money for the institution and have their patients interact with "normal" people. In other words, for some money I get to spend a whole day with my brother.

Getting out of bed, I moved around my apartment getting ready to run. Andy keeps getting on me for working out too much but it's discipline and I can't break that cycle; I've been doing it since I was 11 and now I'm turning 24. Anyway, I've been changing up my routes recently and have come across some super nice places. Maybe I could take Mason there someday. Arriving home, I drop my phone and keys and start preparing my protein shake for this morning. Again, Andy says it's unhealthy, I say it's practical. I do eat food sometimes!

-

Leaving my car at the rehab is always daunting, I never know what Mason and I are going to talk about and I never want to ruin whatever relationship we currently have. I know that there's the possibility that I could say or do the wrong thing and that will be the end of our relationship. Signing into rehab as a guest always makes me smile, every single time I get asked if I know where I'm going. Mason will always be in the art room, there's no questioning that. This time it was different, I walked through the doors of the reception into the main hall and was met with a hug... and actual fucking hug by Mason.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" I joke and we both chuckle.

"Sadly, it's still just me, Maya" He replies with a small grin. I could get used to this.

"Shall we have a look around the fair?" I ask, he nods back and we start walking around. There were different stalls to promote sobriety with all sorts of motivational sayings plastered around. Mason and I walked away from all of them opting to go outside and talk.

"It's good to see you Mase. How's it been here?" I ask as we sit on a bench opposite each other.

"Yeah it's been good. Learning different techniques to stay sober, I'm just happy that all of the drugs and stuff have been washed out of me, no more withdrawals for me hopefully. How has work been?" He asked while playing with a random stick he found. It's nice that he's taking an interest in my work

"I'm glad you're making the most of your time here. Yeah work has been okay, insanely busy and I still find it weird that I'm a firefighter. Like I've had this job now for 9 months. We've had some pretty fun rescues recently. Two days ago, we had a car inside of a van, inside of a truck. God knows how that happened, Inside the car was a married couple who wouldn't stop fighting too. Oh, and we had an aid call to a man who thought it was a good idea to get his hand stuck in the exhaust pipe of his car, apparently he thought he'd heard an animal and tried to reach for it. But best of all, I had to help a guy get out of a dog door since he was stuck there." I rattle off different calls I think were the highlight of the week.

"God, people sound so stupid! I would have loved to have been there to just be a fly on a wall and listen to what these people say to you lot. You know, we never talked about when you left home and why you left" Mason hints at me. I sigh in return knowing these questions and topics were going to come up at some point.

"Well, dad wanted me to compete again for the 2016 Olympics and I couldn't think of anything worse. I couldn't do it anymore; I know dad hates me for it. I wanted to do something else and I really did try office jobs but fuck were they boring. They never led anywhere, there was no motivation to stick around. I thought about joining the police but handling weapons and stuff really wasn't for me. Especially as I'm so afraid of having dad's temper, that with access to a gun it wouldn't be a good idea. I did do some of the training to be a paramedic but it wasn't fun to me so I ended up somehow in the training academy for firefighting. Before joining the academy, I decided to use some of my Olympic winnings to travel. I went to some of Europe like France, Italy, and Germany. Only for three months, it was the first time I felt so independent. " I reply while looking down.