The fateful decision.......

Greg had an out-of-state business meeting for a few days at the end of the week. Greg is the country coordinator for his company's marketing division, so traveling around the country is very much 60% of his work time. Since this year, Greg hadn't had much time with his wife, Sue and she wanted a break from the kids for a few days, she followed Greg on this business trip. 

They left the kids with their usual babysitter. A very reliable one they have been hiring for a couple of years now to look after his son and daughter.

The trip was supposed to be from the Thursday to Sunday that week. The meeting did not go so well and Greg had to prepare some paperwork to report on the unfortunate outcomes of the meeting so Greg decided to leave for home a day earlier. 

Plane touched down on the local airport, Greg and Sue checked out their luggages and drive for home. Nearing their neighbourhood, they suddenly saw a lot of smoke coming from a few blocks away. Greg makes a turn for that direction. Sue was a little startled and said, "Greg, it's none of our concern. Let's just head home." Greg replied, "Sue, it's only for a short while and we might be able to help in some way."

Sue wasn't exactly impressed with his benevolent attitude but went on with him. As they turned into the lane, it was Mike's house on fire. Mike is a close neighbour of Greg and their kids play a lot together at a nearby neighbourhood park. 

Greg go out of the car and saw Mike's wife screaming for help mentioning the kids were still in the basement. Greg was about to rush into the house when Sue held his arm, "Greg, don't go in! Wait for the fire brigade to get here. You are going to ruin the clothes I bought for your birthday this year." Greg took her arm away, got a nearby hose to wet himself and rushed into the house to get Mike's kids. 

Feeling his way through the burning house, looking for the living room where the entrance of the basement was and when Greg finally got to the basement, he saw Mike's son and daughter hanging on to each other. Greg grabbed the both of them and rushed out of the house in haste. 

As Greg passed the kitchen, on his left in another room, he could have sworn he heard voices of children shouting for help. He could not be sure under all the loud cracking sounds of the flames slowly engulfing the house. Greg quickly ran out of the house to drop off Mike's kids and was about to turn around and run back in when Sue stood in front of him and said, "Greg, please don't go in anymore. It's suicidal and the house is about to come down. Please! Don't do it! It's not worth getting killed for another person's cause." 

Greg brushed Sue of and hose himself down with water and rushed into the burning house to check the room he thought he heard voices in. Finding the room wasn't difficult since it was at the back of the house near the kitchen. Greg kicked the door open and saw two kids close to losing consciousness from smoke poisoning. Greg got hold of both the children and tried for the backdoor exit.

Before he could reach the door, the roof above the door came down blocking the exit. Greg knew time was running out and he had to think really fast if was going to save himself and the children in his hands. As he scanned his surroundings, he noticed a window above the kitchen sink. Without thinking he stood back and ran as fast as he could and leaped into the window. Breaking the window, Greg landed in the backyard with loud thud and rolling a few metres while holding the children tightly.

Sue rushed towards Greg to make sure he was alright. As Greg got up and looked at the kids he just saved, he realised it was his own boy and girl. Apparently, the baby sitter left them at Mike's while she went out to do some quick groceries. Sue realising that Greg just saved their kids, she just stood there speechless and regretting her foolishness.......................

~Path of Time~ by Micky Foo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.