Survivors
"Thanks for coming here today, Captain Schemmenti. We all understand how hard these past few months have been for you."
"It's my job to be here. I owe it to my brothers and sisters, Chief Collins." Melissa said while holding her head up high, her hands firmly held together to hide their shakiness.
"So I guess you already know what we want from you, right?" her superior asked with a polite smile on his face.
Six months. Six months had passed from the accident that changed her life forever, from the day her team was devoured by the flames they were taught to win over. Melissa was the only survivor, the only woman out of the fifteen brave firefighters that were on that call to have made it home that night. Well, not home, the hospital: she was alive, but she wasn't unharmed. Now, after more than twenty-five weeks from that nightmare, all that was left of her external wounds was a pretty awful scar across her stomach caused by a metal splinter from the explosion. No one knew about her psychological wounds, still black and bruised. She tried talking to the therapist the Department assigned her, but stopped showing up after the few mandatory appointments the protocol required. She felt like she had died that day with those people, her people. Her job was all she had, helping others was her calling, but the idea of going back freaked her out. Melissa knew she was not ready.
"I think I do. You want me to get this place rolling again. It's bullshit." the redhead said, not being able to look at her boss so proudly anymore.
"Captain Schemmenti!" he shouted, losing his typical poise for a moment before softening his voice again "Melissa, please. I'm talking to you as a friend, we've known each other for years..."
"I can't do what you're asking, boss. I showed up here today 'cause I loved my team like family, but I can't have people rely on me like that anymore." she replied, interrupting him.
"The people need you, Melissa. Covering a whole area of the city that's been left without its own first responders has been our greatest challenge. The system's crumbling." Collins vigorously explained.
The realization suddenly hit Melissa: she was so buried in her pain and mourning that she had never once thought about how the city managed to make up for the absence of a station as important as hers. "Schemmenti, you're one selfish asshole." she thought "Fuck it, I'm doing this. What else do I have to lose?"
"I'm in. I don't know if I can handle this, at least not on my own, but things should work like they used to. Philadelphia will get its Station 11 back." she promised, getting up from her seat with a pounding heart.
"That's our Schemmenti! Make us proud, Captain." he encouraged while shaking her hand. "Also, you're not doing this alone, we found an experienced EMS Captain to help you with the job. She's good." her Chief added.
"Oh, what's her name?"
Melissa was alone in the kitchen she used to share with her friends and colleagues, now empty and covered in dust. The station looked exactly like the day they got that damned call. The whole house was frozen in time, and it was easy to get lost in memories. While reminiscing about the past, the redhead brought one hand to her neck and squeezed the small cross hanging from her gold chain, wishing she could hear her coworkers laugh one last time. She was holding on to a religious symbol, but she surely wasn’t praying: she had stopped doing that after the accident. Her God was not listening.
"Hello, anybody here?" a voice was coming from the garage, making her snap back into reality.
"I’m in the dining hall, I’ll be right over!" the italian woman shouted while walking back to the main entrance.
She was so lost in her thoughts when she heard that voice that she honestly couldn’t even tell if it had been a man or a woman. Nobody knew she was there and she had told the headquarters she would start working on the place the following week, so she didn’t quite know what conversation she was going to get herself into. Socializing wasn’t really her thing anymore.
"There you are! Morning, I’m the Captain." Melissa introduced herself, trying not to stare at the gorgeous woman standing in front of her.
"Good morning, nice to meet you. I’m the Captain too, actually." the stranger let out with a chuckle "The other one, EMS Captain Barbara Howard. I was here to take a look around."
Barbara Howard had been a paramedic for almost thirty years and there was nothing she hadn’t seen on the job. She wasn’t afraid of getting dirty and she surely didn’t second guess putting her life at risk to save another. She had only recently got back to work after a long hiatus, but she was an exceptionally smart woman and a legend in her field, admired and respected by everyone that ever had the chance to see her in her element. She was pretty fierce out of her working clothes too, rocking some very chic tailored suits like the bright pink one she was wearing when she first met Captain Schemmenti that morning.
"Likewise. I haven’t been here since…Well, in a long time. I wanted to see for myself what we were dealing with." the redhead politely replied.
"Of course, you were there." Barbara said softly "I’m truly sorry for your loss. It must be hard."
"Thanks. Working on it, I guess this is a start." Melissa stated with a tired smile.
The room went quiet for a moment while the two women silently studied each other. What they were doing was far from being subtle, but neither of them seemed to care. There wasn’t any embarrassment, just plain curiosity and a justified amount of awe coming from both sides. It was time to test the ground.
"I really hope that what you’re going through will not interfere with what we’re building here." the brunette said, looking for a nerve to hit.
"I’m sorry?" the redhead asked in disbelief.
"I didn’t mean to be rude. Survivors like you usually carry a lot of unsolved trauma, that’s all. I left my life in New York to help my hometown and I really want everything to work out. I’m sure you can understand..." the paramedic explained with a pitying look.
Melissa couldn’t believe what was going on. She was being questioned by a woman she had never seen before, someone who knew nothing about what she had really gone through. She was all that was left of Station 11. She had been chosen to bring it back to life because she was great at her job and the ones in charge knew it, her presence there was not a consolation prize. No improvised shrink had the right to get in her head and tell her what she already knew: she was a mess. Everything was, but she was still strong enough to deal with it and keep her monsters out of the workplace. What she had to do was bigger than her, the entire city was suffering.
"And I’m sure I could’ve made assumptions on the decade-long gap in your resume too, but I chose not to. Yes, I read your file, just like you read mine. I hope that doesn’t interfere." Melissa commented. She could feel her voice starting to break.
"It was only seven years." Barbara replied, anger making her face burn "Trust me, honey. You don’t want to go there."