“Excuse me, Sir? Have you seen this man?”

“Ma’am, I’m going to hafta ask you to get behind the yellow line,” the firefighter told her firmly.

“Please! You don’t understand!” The woman exclaimed. “My son is in that building! He called us and said he was coming here for a meeting!”

The firefighter paused to give her a sympathetic look. “Ma’am, please. We’re trying to do our best to get this fire put out.” He didn’t dare mention that they weren’t succeeding very well.

“Have they seen him?” A blond woman asked, coming up to them.

The older woman looked to the firefighter again, a desperate look upon her face. “Have you seen him? He’s not too tall, about 5’8.” She shoved the wedding photo into his face some.

“Ma’am, I…”

“This is his wife,” the woman went on, signaling to the blond woman. “She’s pregnant with their first child. She needs him to be here, when she has the baby next month. He’s always dreamed of having a family of his own.”

“Everybody out!” The Chief firefighter yelled. “It’s gonna blow!” Everybody scrambled away from the burning building as fast as they could.

The firefighter quickly shoved the two women back, and to the ground just in time, as the building exploded, killing whoever may’ve been left inside. ~~~~~~~~~~

Brian Littrell had come to the building for a meeting, to discuss his plans for a solo album, while the group was on a much needed break. He’d arrived early enough to grab a donut and coffee before the meeting – he’d even had time to call his wife and mother at his house, and told them he shouldn’t be too long if the meeting went well. He’d promised to pick up a few items on the way home as well, so that they wouldn’t have to go out. He’d just sat down in the office, to wait for the executives, when he heard the fire alarms go off.

“What the…?” He trailed off, looking confused. Why in the world would the fire alarms be going off? Was there some sort of fire drill he wasn’t aware of?

He stood up as he saw someone run by the door. “What’s…?”

“FIRE!!!” The man shouted. “FIRE!!! EVERYBODY OUT!!!”

Brian’s eyes went wide, as he glanced out the window. Oh, how he hated heights! He was on the very top floor, as that was where the meetings were to be held for today. And on this floor, there were no fire escapes – they stopped about three floors down.

“Oh, Lord,” he gasped; quickly running out of the room after the man had run by. He had to get out! He had to get back to his wife!

He ran about frantically, trying to figure out the fastest way down and out of the building. He opted for the stairs, knowing elevators weren’t the safest things to use during a fire. He walked down them carefully, trying not to be trampled by others running hastily by.

He’d walked down God knows how many flights of stairs, when he was suddenly hit with a sickening odor – one that made him gag in disgust.

“Oh, God,” he thought, tears filling his eyes. “I’m not going to get out of here.”

He quickly pulled out his phone, needing to call his wife and hear her voice one last time. Much to his dismay, he wasn’t able to get a signal because of the blistering heat. He angrily stuffed the phone back into his pants pocket, and pulled out his wallet. Once he’d had it opened, he pulled out a photo of him and Leighanne that had been taken the month before. The two of them were smiling happily, and he’d his arms wrapped around her pregnant stomach.

The tears in his eyes pooled out and down before he’d a chance to even think of stopping them. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and stared at the photo.

“I love you, Leigh,” he whispered softly to the photo. He kissed her smiling face, then ran his fingers over her stomach. “Daddy loves you too, Baylee.” He kissed the photo again.

He wiped his eyes once more and looked around, deciding his best bet was to go back up a floor or two and look for a fire escape. He’d lived through a rare blood infection and a heart surgery, and he sure as Hell didn’t plan on dying now – not after all he’d been through in his twenty-seven years of life! He held onto the picture tight, as he hurried on back up the stairwell as fast as he could. He wound up on an empty floor – Lord knew where all the other people had gone. Maybe they’d been smart enough to use the fire escapes in the first place.

“Sweet Jesus!” Brian exclaimed, finally finding a room with a fire escape. He was going to make it!

He heard a sizzling sound then, and turned to look behind him to see what it was, instead of running for the window to make his great escape. He felt his eyes widen and his heart drop to his stomach, as he realized the flames had reached the gas. He took one last glance down at the photo clasped tightly in his left hand, as the building exploded and his world went black.