Breath of Water

A. N. Jones

Prologue

What is it they say about the best laid plans?

As I watched, smoke began to rise at an incredibly steady rate.  And then the flames finally made their appearance.  The fire quickly adopted a life of its own, embracing everything it came into contact with as fuel to keep going.  Events weren't supposed to unfold like this.

Sigh.  How did it get to this point?  How did I?  Looking down into the water from my position at the dock, I felt as if I were seeing a complete stranger staring back at me.  Realization set in that, in actuality, absolutely nothing about my outer appearance had altered.  However on the inside... well that's a completely different story.  So many things have changed and yet only I seemed to be able to see the difference.

In only a couple of weeks, my entire existence flipped around into something I could barely wrap my head around.  Raising my eyes slowly, I returned my gaze to the structure which floated on the water and was swiftly becoming nothing but a charred husk.  No one would be hurt or killed, I made sure of that.  Still, this person was not me.  How could it be?

A short time ago I was a nobody.  All I did was go around like a normal person -- home, work, recreation.  Now I could do things that mattered.  And that's exactly what I was doing.  Helping people.

Making a difference.