The 47th floor was always deserted. I didn’t understand why Cal needed an entire floor just for himself. I guess at one point there might have been people working here. This job wasn’t for everyone though. Every day spent with Marshall, feeling his anxiety, how he didn’t know where to go or what he should be doing with his life, it dug its way into me. It stuck with me after I finished my day. So too did Katlyn’s depression. Sometimes she heard her daughter’s voice in the house. I heard her voice also. I saw her standing in my peripheral. When I turned to look she was never there though. I also still felt the heat from Brookewill. The fear from Jonas and his family filled every hair on my arms and made them rise. Everything they had been through, I had been through.

Sitting alone in the department I could see the fire coming from behind the door. I shouldn’t have been able to see it. It was there regardless of that fact. The door was turning red. It was melting. The flames came through in slow motion. Inside the fire was Jonas, Marshall, and Katlyn. They were floating towards me on a wave of fire. They no longer had skin or eyes. All the hair had been burned from their bodies. They were just shapes made of smoke and heat. The fire filled the entire department. It was all around me. It had left me for last. All their pain and suffering had come for me. It was my job to see them through everything. That wasn’t entirely true though. It was also my job to cause it. I could save them or I could hurt them. I did whatever was supposed to happen. I just pulled switches. I just pressed buttons. I didn’t get to decide what they did.

The three of them were standing around me. I could feel the heat start to crisp my clothes. I could feel my eyes begin to dry from the heat. They all held out their hands. They wanted help. Help that I was only aloud to give if it was a part of the plan. I reached out to them. To all of them. I wanted so badly to save all of them from the pain in their lives, even if that wasn’t my job.

“Krissy.”

I woke up then. I had a cold sweat running down my forehead. I was in the cafeteria. Alec was in front of me at the table.

“You passed out. How many hours have you been working lately?” He asked.

“All of them.”

“Well maybe you need to take a day off. Let someone else take some of your work load.”

“There isn’t really a big group working up there. Once I’m done with the projects I’m working on though I’m sure I’ll get some time off.”

“You didn’t look like you were dreaming of anything good.”

“Work has a way of coming back with me,” I said.

“I know what you mean. I have bad dreams too sometimes.”

“Like what? You let one rip and everyone just stares at you?”

“No. More like I let one rip and it isn’t all air,” He replied.

“Gross.”

“What do you dream about?”

I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I didn’t think he needed to know about the burning people that were standing inside me. Plus I didn’t want to give him any idea about what I was planning. He wasn’t a part of this. He was just a good friend. Someone that liked to make me laugh. I wanted to do that for them. I wanted to make them all laugh. Not scream. Not cry.

“I dream about people that need help.”

“And do you help them?”

“I try.”