1.2 Kill it With Fire

Sage awoke groggily.

What time is it? She wondered, sleepily rubbing her eyes. The sky was too rosy. Must be before 10, she thought with a long yawn.

To wake herself up, she decided to take a long hot bath. She knew she was wide awake when the dinginess of her bathroom began to bother her.

First thing I’m going to do is sell this ancient tub and replace it with a proper shower, she thought as she scrubbed herself clean, then I’m going to replace these horrid tiles.

Or maybe I’ll start with the stove, she amended. This cheap excuse for an appliance was barely hot enough to heat the pan, much less cook with.

But with a bit of perseverance, she was able to get a decent breakfast out of it.

After her breakfast, Sage went to the bathroom and got ready for work. She nervously fiddled with her shirt’s hemline, making sure all the wrinkles were smoothed out. She wanted to be dressed to code.

Shortly after, her car pool to work arrived. She walked out of the house with a smile plastered on her face.

“Hello, I’m Ms. Silverly,” she mentally recited, imagining shaking her co-workers’ hands. “Nice to meet you.”

When she got to the theatre, she tried her hardest to ignore the decidedly unprofessional scene behind her. What kind of town just lets wild horses run amok in the city center? There must be some kind of regulation in place.

Her shift flew by in a blur of new faces and introductions. She managed to fit in a quick tour of the theatre and was shown what she was expected to do backstage at her next shift. It was a lot of information to absorb, but Sage as determined to do it.

As she ran home, she spotted yet another couple getting cozy without a care in the world!

Aren’t they worried about being seen? Sage wondered with amazement. People in this town, sometimes…no manners!

Back at home, she tried to make the macaroni again. She would get this right, even if it killed her!

Kill her, it might. Sage shrieked at the rapidly ascending flames, her thoughts a confusing blur of fear and astonishment. All this from one box of macaroni!?

She wracked her brain trying to think of what she should do. The flames were only getting taller and she didn’t have a fire extinguisher.

Finally, she gathered her wits about her and dialed 911.

“There’s a huge fire in my kitchen! Hurry!” she shouted at the operator. They calmly promised that help was on the way.

It seemed like an eternity between hanging up the phone and just staring at the growing inferno. Sage reached towards the sink, thinking she could maybe douse the flames herself.

The scorching heat sent her reeling back. Her arms automatically flew up to protect her face.

She wasted no more time and ran out of her burning house. She would leave this to the professionals, as she should.

Seconds later, help arrived in the form of Norman Lu. He’s worked as a firefighter in this tiny town for years. He’s handled dozens of small electrical fires and false alarms at the school where some snot-nosed kid would decide every few years that it would be an amazing prank to pull the fire alarm. But this is easily the largest fire he’s ever seen, the flames licking the ceiling and the heat hitting his face before he even gets inside.

He battled the fire with his one fire extinguisher. He had no idea a stove fire could be so huge!

“Kill it!” Sage screams from behind him, “Kill it kill it kill it!”

Several minutes later the fire was completely put out.

“The stove isn’t salvageable,” he got straight to the point, “But because you had a fire alarm and called the fire department, you’ll get 415 simoleons from the insurance company to cover the damages.”

“I’m just glad it was only the stove that was burned,” Sage said with relief, “I can’t imagine if it spread to the rest of the house…”

Norman nodded sympathetically. After a warning about electrical fires- and a suggestion that she doesn’t buy “such a piece of crap” of a stove next time- he left.

Sage scrubbed hard at the soot covering the countertops. Her kitchen was dingy enough without ash everywhere.

Living here was much more different than she imagined.

AN: I almost never get house fires, so that was a surprise! I was so glad that only the stove got damaged, Sage didn’t have the money to replace anything else.