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676words2026-01-26 11:22

My firefighter husband was trapped in the fire and called me for help.
As a dispatcher, I hummed "Happy" beside the console.
In our previous life, he went up the ridge to fight the fire, and I immediately dispatched a helicopter for support.

But the fire only grew bigger.
When he returned to the station, I ran toward him, only to be met with a full-force slap.
A bright red handprint instantly appeared on my face.
"You sent the chopper and had it dump diesel on the blaze? It was just a regular fire, but you made it spread instantly—it couldn't even be put out with water!"
"All my brothers burned to death trying to save me!"
Seeing that everyone was furious, his old flame, a paramedic named Lily, hurriedly spoke up,

"Everyone, please calm down. Be careful, don't go too far."
The apple growers lost all reason and beat me to death with sticks!
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment the alarm sounded.
"Assemble in one minute—everyone, move now!"

I stood on the firehouse lawn watching my husband, Chris, gather the crew.
After the team quickly boarded the engine, he walked over and hugged me.
"How come no kiss for luck this time?"
He leaned in to kiss me.
I always used to kiss him before every call.
This time, fighting back nausea, I covered his mouth and said coldly,
"Be safe. Try not to get roasted out there."
As the lead dispatcher, I was in charge for coordinating pumps and assessing the fire so it could be put out as fast as possible.
In our previous life, not long after Chris entered the fire, he called me for help.
My eyelids started twitching like crazy.
I immediately queued a firefighting helicopter to ferry water to support him.
But the fire suddenly blew up, burning thousands of acres of orchard to ash.
I saw Lily tending to Chris's wounds back at the station when the growers surrounded us,
"Are you useless? What do we pay taxes for? Everything's ruined—all our trees are gone!"
Trying to steady my shaking, I pushed through the crowd to help Chris.
But as soon as I got close, he grabbed me, and gloved, slapped me hard across the face.
"You told us the fire was under control? My brothers burned to death saving me!"
"Not a single one made it out!" Chris yelled, jabbing his finger in my face.
"Do you know what was in that chopper? Diesel! It was full of diesel! Even water couldn't touch it!"
In front of all the growers, Chris laid out my sins—I felt like I was freezing from the inside.
"Honey, what are you talking about?" I was totally bewildered.
"How could the helicopter…"
Before I could finish, Lily wiped her tears and shoved me aside.
"Shirley, I know you won the lottery yesterday—$10 million. But you can't just try to kill your husband to keep all that cash. Two firefighters are dead because of you—do you know how many families will collapse?"
After Lily spoke, the crowd grew even more restless.
The townspeople ignored anything I tried to say.
They grabbed branches and tools meant for fighting flames and swung them at me.
I hit the dirt, covering my head, too scared to fight back.
"Everyone, please stay calm—be careful not to go too far."
His sweetheart Lily kept fanning the flames while my husband watched coldly.
I died under their clubs—my husband and his childhood sweetheart lived happily ever after with my ten million dollar.
After I died, I learned they were the ones who swapped the water in the chopper for diesel to make the fire worse.
They crouched behind the firebreak and watched their own teammates burn alive.
They killed those people just to ruin me—so they could emerge as heroes.
One rose to be a celebrated fire chief, the other an internet darling medic.
The memories of that life are still sharp—I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms.