Through the Fire Pt. 01

"Hey Tim, hey Sonia," Harper said greeting the two with a very large smile on her face. "How are my favourite twins?"

Both their heads turned at Harpers voice and their faces suddenly had megawatt smiles.

"Harper!" they both cried out in unison.

"Look Harper," the little girl said holding up the unicorn. "Tim won me this toy."

"You're such a good brother Tim, Sonia is a lucky sister," Harper praised the lad. I stood there silently, not knowing what to say. It was then that both Tim and Sonia noticed me standing behind Harper and their eyes went wide.

"Who are you," Tim asked looking me up and down. "You look like us, only bigger."

Harper laughed and reached for my hand.

"Do you remember when I told you about my big brother who saved me from the fire when I was around your age?" she asked them, and they both nodded. "Well, this is my hero, my big brother Brian."

I bent down and shook Tim's hand and with permission from the attending nurse who was pushing Sonia's wheelchair around, I gave Sonia a kiss on her cheek.

"Are you really THE Brian?" Sonia asked in awe. I looked at Harper and she grinned.

I smiled and nodded. Her burns really were almost as bad as mine. Harper told me later she had been through several surgeries already. With the advancement in plastic surgery over the years, she would look a lot better than me, but it would be tough for her none the less.

"Tim was brave like you Mr Brian," she told me. "He saved me when our house caught on fire. Tim is my Hero."

I looked at Tim and he beamed but then got serious.

"But I couldn't save Mum and Dad or Steph," the boy said, and they both looked like they were going to break down.

"Hey now," I said, trying to again reign in my own tears. "Let's not dwell on sad things. How about we find something to be glad for?"

"Like what," Sonia said sniffing loudly as she recalled their lost family.

"Well," I replied thinking for a second. "How about meeting new friends like me."

Tim and Sonia tried to smile and then I had another thought.

"I know," I said smiling, thinking of something that always perked me up in the hospital as a kid. "I saw an ice cream van back there. I love chocolate-mint ice cream. How about you Tim?"

The little boy nodded, "Yeah that's my favourite too."

"What about you, beautiful Sonia?" I asked the little girl.

"I..." she hesitated, unsure if it was okay to smile. "I like strawberry."

"Then Strawberry for the brave princess it is then", I said like there was no other response that was appropriate.

Harper and I walked over with the kids and we each got an ice-cream. Then we spent the next half hour walking through the amusements. I won Tim a stuffed Lion, telling him that it was in payment for him winning his sister the unicorn and then we found a spot on a hill overlooking the stage in a VIP area that was for the kids and their guests only.

As we sat, I learned a little more from Harper and the kid's nurse. They had been in the Burns Unit for a little over eight months. The house fire had killed their parents and their older sister. Tim and Sonia had been rescued by firefighters, but they were unable to save the rest of the family. As orphans they were currently wards of the state and were living in the hospital until both were fit enough to leave together, into what was likely to be foster care.

Their nurse told me that most of the time they were brave for each other, but there were times where both kids broke down missing their parents and older sibling. I felt Harper slide her hand into mine and brush away an errant tear from my cheek as I heard their story, and I did the same for her more than once.

As the afternoon moved along, the public section of the venue was filling up with families. I was about to ask what was going on when almost every kid in the venue sent up a scream as movement on the stage occurred, that included Tim and Sonia. I don't know how, but the organisers arranged for the popular children's group 'The Wiggles' to attend the event, and for the next forty minutes, well known children's tunes were blasted out as every child that could dance and even those that couldn't, like Sonia in her wheelchair bobbed her head and sang along.

It was a little weird for me, as a couple of times, I laughed watching the kids dancing, it was so different, so alive. Sonia would hold out her hand and I would cautiously place her hand in mine and swing our hands lightly, while I moved my body to the music for the brave little girl. A couple of times, I swore I could feel someone looking at me. Not at us, but me and it wasn't the usual, 'you're a freak' stare, it felt more intimate, personal. But when I looked around, I couldn't see anyone other than the kids, Harper, Trey and their nurse paying us any attention.

Afterwards the members of the group came out and greeted many of the children in the VIP area. A photographer took photos of the Wiggles as they greeted their little fans.

I was surprised when the group, in their colourful clothes, asked both Harper and I to pose with them in the photos with Tim and Sonia. Harper was of course a natural, and I think I pulled it off.

Later, there were more tears as the kids were all wheeled to the busses for transport back to the hospital. I promised that I would come to see Tim and Sonia soon, Sonia making me do a pinkie promise before she would let them put her on the bus.

"You're a good man Brian Other," Trey said placing his hand on my shoulder and an arm around my sister who was openly crying as the buses headed off.

"Thanks," I replied a little hoarsely, waving and supplying a smile to the retreating busses. "I... I am glad you got me to come today."

Harper turned to me with a gleam in her eyes.

"I knew you would help Brian," she told me. "Those kids have been through hell like we did. And while I have burns, you showed them today that even with full body scars there is life, and you can laugh. You're move with the ice-cream was perfect."

"Thanks. I think it helped me as much is it helped them. I feel... lighter, better, more alive," I told them and meant it. I then turned to look back at the event which was far from over. "So what now?"

Harper feigned a heart attack. "Be still my beating heart, did my brother just allude to the fact that he wanted to continue being seen in public?"

I laughed.

"Take it while you can get it sis," I replied. "I'm feeling good today."

[:::: 4 ::::]

My sister walked us back through the stalls and on the way, I met a few of Harper and Trey's friends. They greeted me warmly, not as a freak, but as Harper's big brother whom I learnt, she was always talking about me to them. I blushed more than once as she introduced me, and they talked to me like I was the duck's nuts.

Harper also introduced me to a few other adult burns victims that were, like me just making their way in the world without trying to be noticed too much and by the late afternoon there were almost two dozen of us hanging out and enjoying time together. For the very first time I felt like I was part of the crowd and appreciated, not just tolerated.

As the sun started setting, bands started taking their turns on stage and as a group we made our way down, singing and dancing. We ended up fairly close to the stage perhaps two hours later, as the MC, a lady from the local news, came out and announced the fashion show was about to begin.

She explained that the models and designers had donated their time for this event and each outfit would be auctioned off later in a special tent following the show, the entire proceeds going to the kids.

I was smiling and laughing, and I could see Harper was loving having her big brother out in the world with her. She hugged me almost as much as she did Trey, and it was good, for once, it was really good.

As the fashion show started, there were runway models and costumes from all over the world. As a group, we ooh'd and aah'd as models were introduced and strutted their stuff.

There were some wolf whistles for the girls as they walked the stage, then again, the same happened for the guys. But all of them were professional and never acknowledged the open gawking and cajoling.

I must admit I was jealous of the guys strutting their stuff, their flawless skin and looks that would make any girl swoon.

At one point I closed my eyes and wondered what it must be like to be desired like those models were. But I must have got lost in the moment, because suddenly there was a hush that went over the crowd. Opening my eyes, I wondered what was happening and I was surprised that one of the models, indeed she was the hottest woman I had ever seen had stopped mid-runway.

Even stranger is that she was staring at me.

At first, I thought she couldn't take her eyes off the freak, my burns and someone as beautiful as her was disgusted by my disfigurement. But as heartbeats went by, the murmurs in the crowd grew until the model, Lurandra was her name I recalled, pointed at me, then beckoned me with a single finger.

She was wearing a beautiful white evening gown, and it flowed down to her ankles where it flared out slightly almost but not quite into a wedding train.

There was no doubt in the way that Lurandra's eyes were locked with mine that she was beckoning me and not someone behind me. Like Moses and the Red Sea, the dozen or so people in front of me moved aside and I found myself standing as close to any woman than I ever had.

If there was a hush over the crowd before, with so many people in attendance, it was so quiet you could now hear a pin drop as the music stopped and everyone waited for what would happen next.

Lurandra had gotten down on her knees to the side of the stage, and with a gesture, had security let me through the barrier, drawing me up to the edge of the stage. Despite my height. I was still looking up at the famous model, wondering what this was all about, but not able to look away.

Her brown eyes were soft and inviting and I felt no threat as she reached down with both hands and with a hand on either cheek, she lent further down until our foreheads were touching. She closed her eyes and I also closed mine in response to the intimate touch.

Lurandra didn't flinch, didn't rub her hands over my scars, she just held me and breathed in and out as the crowd watched.

"My hero," she said what felt like ten minutes later, but was likely closer to ten seconds.

The statement caught me by surprise, and opening my eyes, I looked at her. Those gorgeous brown eyes, flawless smooth skin and big luscious lips. She still had my face in her hands as I wondered at the statement, her voice, chiming like a soft bell in the breeze.

But before I could react and ask why. She did something that no one before in my entire life had done. She again leant down, but this time she kissed me.

Now sure, I have been kissed. I mean, Mum and Harper had kissed me. But those were family signs of affection, nothing intimate or sexual in anyway. And yes, I had kissed Ava, at the time I was surprised that kissing her felt more like kissing my sister, it was okay, but I couldn't understand why poets wrote sonnets about it, why movies were written with kissing being all that. Kissing Ava was nice, but nothing earthshattering.

But as this stunning specimen of femininity, someone who had travelled the world and was sought after by fashion labels, fragrance vendors and the like, pressed her lips to mine, my world exploded.

Despite being surrounded by what was likely thousands of people and the backup of models down the runway. Lurandra, kissed me. Her hands held my cheeks, her soft lips touched mine and I felt their pressure, their need, their desire to have me kiss her back. I must have breathed in slightly as I parted my lips and I caught a breath of mint and freshness, but suddenly her tongue brushed my lips and still the kiss kept going.

My eyes were closed again and there was no one else. Great empires rose and fell. The earth heated and cooled, while cities grew and shrunk, still we kissed. Time was nothing, paused in that moment or speeding toward the certainty of the end and I just didn't care. Lurandra's lips were all consuming.

Then the moment passed, and she pulled back, still smiling at me. I stood their stunned and she began to stand up, leaving one hand on my cheek as she stood, then that was gone and I stood there motionless watching her retreat, strutting down the catwalk like nothing had happened.

As she disappeared at the end of the stage, the entire crowd broke into an enormous cheer. But I hardly heard it, still staring toward the end of the stage where she had disappeared. I brought a hand to my cheek, touching it where she had let her hand linger, and ran my tongue over my lips where her lips had just been on mine.

The rest of the evening was pretty much a blur after that. My back was patted and there were people I didn't know congratulating me. I know Harper, Trey, Mum, Dad, Geoff, Baz, and a number of others talked to me, but I had no idea what they said or how I replied.

By the time I got home, I fell directly into bed. As I drifted off, I was convinced that the entire thing must have been just a straight up publicity stunt. I mean, an international supermodel calls out the most hideously scarred person in the crowd, kisses him in front of everyone and saunters off? Was she just showing the world what a compassionate person she is? It would certainly make headlines and likely make her more millions.

Yet the words "my hero", the intimacy of her touch, the look in her eyes, the kiss; It didn't feel like a publicity stunt. It felt real, like she was connected to me.

Regardless, I fell asleep happy. I had my first real kiss and felt like perhaps, just perhaps I might be able to have a life, perhaps even the love of a special woman one day.

[:::: End of Part 1 ::::]

[:::: Authors Ending Note ::::]

I recall when I was young, a number of those old school television charity drives where they got celebrities to answer phones while we watched. One of those was a drive to raise funds for child burn victims which is where the plot for this story came from. I have met only a few burns victims in my life and none that have the scarring that I see when I see Brian in my mind. But those with burns have my utmost respect for pushing forward through the challenges they face.

Worse that there are people like Ava and DuMont that are so cruel that they would treat people like they did in this story is horrendous. So perhaps in the following parts we may find out a little more about how things go for them.

I'm also looking forward to sharing with you all, how in part two Brian acts in the aftermath of being kissed by a supermodel. But to pre-warn you have your tissues ready.

See you in part 2.

John Other.