Myrtle Avenue

[Administrator]

Not very crowded, but a nice place to go to when you want to talk to someone.

[Bear]

A tired young Brook walked through the streets, minding his own business, head down, hands in the pockets of his worn jackets, his last few newspapers tucked under his arm. He had done his day's work, sold as many as he could on such a slow day, had waited around hear and there, trying to pick up on information that might be valuable to Brooklyn, but generally, it had been a long empty day without much success. Bear wasn't so discouraged, you couldn't go out and get em' every day. Life just didn't work that way. He just hoped Doll had come up with something, something to make Spot pleased. Tomorrow would hopefully be more promising. That was all he could ever ask for.

The sky was darkening fast, but he continued his trudge. He would get home when he got home. The others were probably still out anyways. Brooklyn didn't quit early. They were out there the earliest and stayed out the latest, if it meant getting as much done as possible, and that was the way Spot liked it. At least it kept them occupied, and helped them get sleep better because by the time one got home, they had to be pretty tired. Brooklyn was organized. Tough. That was the way it has always been. Not many complained either.

He barely had to think about where he was going, the route was second nature by now. He knew the whole city like the back of his hand. You had to when you were a bird. There was no time to be wasted on getting lost. The air was unusually thin and crisp that day, like crackled parchment. Bear picked up on a scent, unusually smelt, but familiar. He would recognize it anywhere. That's when he heard the shouts. He picked up his pace slightly, waking out of his tired trance, his footsteps guiding him down the street, towards Myrtle Avenue, where all the sound was coming from.

There it was, a small tenement building, illuminated in the quickly falling night with flames glowing darker than embers, crackling and popping violently, swallowing every inch of the walls. Men hurried back and forth, carrying buckets of jostling water, but Bear knew it wouldn't do too much good. It was too far gone. He stood and watched with the small crowd, images flashing through his mind of a sight very familiar to this. He was so much younger then, but he could still remember the fire vividly, the fire that took away everything.

He watched numbly, not really seeming affected, nobody would know the inner turmoil the seventeen year-old was going through as he stared into those flames. He was just another of the crowd. Just an onlooker. Detached from the scene. Not really there. Looking from the outside. Until something struck him hard.

There, amongst the commotion, stood a small girl in a white over sized nightdress, her frizzy curls falling down her shoulders, a teddy bear clutched in her grip. She stood alone, watching the building, eyes squeezed shut, hands clasped together. She was praying... trying to block out the roar of the flames and the shouting around her, screams from inside the building, unanswered cries. She stayed that way for the longest time, knuckles becoming white from holding her hands in the same position, her lips moving silently, trying not to quiver. Finally she opened her tear filled eyes, and stared at the building, waiting for her loved ones to emerge from the building. She stared, waiting, firmly believing that things would turn out alright in the end.

Bear gazed at the little girl, tears unshed for the longest time running down his face. He had been there. He had been that child standing alone, watching his whole world crumbling to the ground, and had still tried to believe that it wouldn't really all be gone. The girl stared emptily now, as the front part of the building collapsed, her bottom lip trembling, her whole face trying not to crumble. The realization was hitting her slowly. She was on the path Bear had faced for years, she would have to learn how to survive and forget. The flames were always burning though, deep down, even if it was cold on the surface, they never truly died down. They would never be put out, not even by the wet tear drops that fell slowly from above, hitting the ground. There was nothing anyone could do.

[Doll]

Walking along Myrtle Avenue, a bit tired from all the work. Looking around, Doll spotted something, a fire. You could smell it too. Jogging over, she watched the inferno, and noticed Bear. Bear... he just looked awful, plain sad. Something must have happened to him with fires. She walked over to him slowly, and could see he had tears, and looked over at the flames, and also saw the little girl. Doll had a bad feeling inside her, like someone was hurting Bear and the little girl. Bear was practically her brother, so seeing him like this... it was awful.

"Bear...?" she asked quietly, "You ok buddy?" He didn't look ok, he looked like someone had hit him with a trolley, forgot to apologize, had some kid steal his money and more. Doll put a hand on his shoulder, having to stand on her toes a little, but then decided to hug him instead, "Your gonna be ok, you gotta, your my brother, Bear." Doll liked to think that the Brooks were well off, but... they lacked things other kids had. For one they never played tag, or other things like that, they swam, and tried to not talk about their past unless comfortable with it.

Fires had to have a part of his past. You just didn't tear up just for a fire. Doll was terrified of knifes, because of what happened to Soldier, and some kids were afraid of adults. They all had their secret fears, and Bear's had to have been fire. Normally they tried to hide their fears, but they all had them, and they showed at some point. But unlike all those other boroughs that claimed to be 'close,' they didn't know what that word meant. Close was wehn you could talk to your friends and not question them.

Close was being someone's family without sharing blood. That's how it was for Doll, with Muse and Bear, heck even Berlin felt like family. Singer she knew for fact loved all the Brooks, but Bear... he had never shown anything wrong with him, and now... he just looked broken. She knew how that felt. You just wanted to mope around, but have someone ask if you were gonna be ok, and when you said you were fine, for them to tell you to stop lying and tell the truth. Even though she had no problem with fire, she knew how Bear felt, watching something that probably felt terrible for him to see at all.

[Muse]

Muse yawned as she walked down the empty streets, usually Myrtle Avenue had a least a few people milling about but now it was almost dead. It had been a long day and Muse was eager to get home and into her bunk. Wiping at her eyes with a back of her dirty hand she stopped and watched a few people start to run towards a scene a few streets ahead of her. Knitting her eyebrows together she looked up at the sky and watched as black smoke rose into the air. "Oh no," She muttered to herself. That smoke could only mean one thing. There was a fire, and it was a bad one.

Quickly, she picked up her pace from a slow walk to a fast run. Cutting across the street she looked behind her as the fire wagon came barreling down the cobblestone paths ringing its bell telling everyone to get out of the way. Muse followed it, she had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that she didn't like. Not one bit. Turning onto the street with the fire, she stopped in the road letting everyone run around her trying to help with the fire, her eyes were wide. She had only seen a fire like this once, and that was the one that took her parents from her. Biting her lips she blinked and shook her head from the memories this was no time to think about that.

Looking around she stopped when she saw Bear and Doll. Bear was staring at the fire with the same expression she knew was on her face and Doll was hugging him trying to make him come out of his senses. Pushing through the running crowd, she made her way towards the other two brooklynites. She stumbled a little as she got closer but grabbed Bears arm to keep self from falling. "Hey youse guys okay?" She asked looking at them both up and down. Bring her attention back to Bear she shook his arm and looked up into his eyes. "Hey Big Guy youse okay? Come on Buddy talk ta me."

Following his gaze, her eyes landed on the little girl that stood in front of the burning building and she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her. That little girl broke Muse's heart, all she could see was herself standing in front of the burning farm house in Massachusetts. Her hold on Bears arm slipped for a moment as she watched the little girl, tears coming to her eyes. But again she blinked and looked away from the scene and to Bear and Doll, this was not the time or place to feel sorry for herself. Grabbing Bear's arm again she started to pull him and Doll away. "Come on lets get outta here."

[Bear]

Bear was so caught up in the flames, the memories, that unfortunate little girl, he didn't hear Doll beside him until she spoke.

"Bear...? You ok buddy?"

Bear couldn't bring himself to answer her, just staring at the building, tears still coursing slowly down his cheeks. He simply couldn't wake up, he was caught in a trance-like nightmare, one that he had never forgotten, that had been silenced for so long only to suddenly be awakened. He blinked when he felt her gentle hands guide him into her arms, numbly accepting it, forced to look away from the fire, though he still saw it, it couldn't be erased.

"Your gonna be ok, you gotta, your my brother, Bear."

These words he actually heard, actually comprehended. Doll was right. He was never broken. He had always been fine. Always happy. Always just Bear. How could he afford to break down now, after seventeen years of careful avoidance of his past. It was alright for the others to break down, but not for Bear, because he had never been this way before, for him it just made it all the more rare, unusual, strange. He couldn't possibly have problems, couldn't possibly have fears. It wasn't allowed, not for him, not after all he had made himself to be.

He blinked when Muse grabbed onto his arm to steady himself, not caring, at the moment, he didn't know what to focus on, what to think, what to feel, what to think. He heard Muse's concerned voice join Doll's, shaking his arm, trying to wake him up, trying to bring him back to reality. He finally met their eyes swiftly, a tear falling, and dropped his gaze, wishing they didn't have to see him this way.

Something had to happen. He couldn't do this. He couldn't watch the same thing that had happened to him, happen to this undeserving little girl. He couldn't walk away either. He didn't know what to do. But he had to stop it. Had to try. Had to do something. He was starting to break out of his daze, stirring to life again, his heart beating, trying to steady his breath, turning his gaze back to the girl one more time and then the building, as Muse tries to pull him and Doll away from the unseemly sight. Finally, he got his mouth to work.

"No! I can't do this! I have to...have to!" He used his adrenaline and built up emotions as strength and broke out of her grip, finding himself running toward the raging fiery building, trying to shove his way past the men that tried to block his way, yelling at him to calm down, to stop and find some brains. He just pushed his way past eventually, halting to a stop in front of the building, feeling the immense heat as something else collapsed right before his eyes, putting up his hands to shelter his face from the sparks, unable to find a way in, sobbing silently, not caring about the heat, and the fumes he was breathing in, making it hard to breathe, burning his lungs. He was right before, there was absolutely nothing he could do. There would be a few more angels in Heaven. Angels that that little girl would be missing, thanks to nobody doing anything sooner, thanks to the dry weather that was certainly a warning sign, thanks to the awful conditions of these tenement buildings...this little girl's life would be ruined.

[Doll]

She nodded at what Muse said, trying to guide him away from Myrtle Avenue, that way from the fire, away from there. Bear just didn't seem to be in it, but that was when he ran away. He was running towards the building. "Bear!" she screamed, running after, pushing her way past the men, running up to him, coughing, "Bear what the hell are you doing!? Do ya wanna kill yerself or somethin'! Come on let's get outta here ye big lug," she grabbed his arm, and started pulling away from the fire, with as much strength as she could.

Alas, Bear was a big boy, a very big boy. Doll was a little girl, a very little girl. Which of course was no help, "Muse help me!" she screamed over at her, still trying to drag Bear away. He was really strong, and the only advantage she'd ever had on him if they ever fought was speed, and being nimble on her feet. But Bear had the strength of a bear in the literal sense, which made it hard to try and get him away. Bear was just too strong for her, to tall and too much.

This was gonna get tough. "Bear," she said, "Bear we have to get away from the fire if you dont want to die! I'se need ya, Muse needs ya, Spot needs ya and Tootsie needs ya! You'se cant just stand 'ere this close to the fire you'll get killed! Come on Bear!" Doll was now trying her hardest to get Bear away from the fire. It brought back bad memories, she noticed, but she just wanted that to stop. No more bad memories. This was gonna have to end, and it all started with taking the first step away from them.