I - Imaginary Voyage - #AtoZChallenge

Brayden woke up to the sound of his dad yelling up the stairs. "Let's go, kid. Bus will be here in an hour."

Brayden rubbed his eyes and heard his dad's voice again, "Did you hear me? Get a move on." Brayden answered back, "I'm up." He then lowered his head and closed his eyes.

The fire alarm screamed to life waking everyone in the station. Firefighter Brayden launches himself out of his cot and flies to his dresser. Every second counts in a fire. He must move fast. Fresh underwear and socks are on in less than a second. He spins to the closet as he gets his second sock on. He pulls out his shirt, removes the hanger and has the shirt on in one practiced, fluid motion. He is pulling on his pants as he heads out the door, scooping up his gear as he leaves. Firefighter Brayden slides effortlessly down the pole to the truck in less than 45 seconds from the time he got out of bed. A new record.

"Brayden Michael," his mom said sternly. "How many times have you been told to stay off the banister? It's starting to come loose from all your abuse."

"Sorry, Mom."

"Sit down and eat. I made pancakes today." His mom set the butter and syrup on the table as Brayden pulled his plate toward him. He slid a generous slab of butter between the pancakes and slowly dripped syrup on the top to watch it spread.

The volcano eruption wasn't much of an explosion, but the lava is unstoppable. It is slowly creeping down the hills toward the town devouring everything in its path. The people are evacuating, but are unsure of where to go on this island. The lava is spreading further and has started hitting people's homes causing them to immediately burst into flames. Many townspeople are fleeing to the docks and getting on their boats to watch their town burn from the safety of the water. The lava is spilling off all sides of the island leaving no place safe for anyone. It will be a long time before this island is inhabitable again.

"Hey, hey hey," Brayden's dad snatched the syrup out of his hands. "How much syrup do you need? That's more than all of us together should use this morning. Get your head out of the clouds."

Brayden ate his breakfast and got an extra pancake, but was not allowed any more syrup. There was still a lake of maple on his plate. He ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth, but his mom caught him on the way out. 

"How can you not see the condition your hair is in? It looks like there are squirrels living on your head." She grabbed a brush and…

"Try your worst," First Lieutenant Brayden jeers. "I'll never talk."

The interrogator sneers at him as he picks up his instrument of torture. "Everyone says that, but they all talk eventually." He approaches slowly, but First Lieutenant Brayden never drops his gaze. He shows no fear as the pincers begin to open and move toward his eye.

"Hold still. I can't get this tangle out if you keep jumping around," complained Brayden mom. Brayden tried not to squirm until his mom finished her mission.

Coming out of the bathroom, Brayden was met my his dad. Dad took him outside and they sat on the front steps. Brayden saw the dogs across the street watching traffic go by.

A guard dog has an important job. He is to be the eyes and ears for the people who can't see and hear (or even smell) as good. If anyone tries to get into this lab, it just might be the dog who stops him first. There's important stuff here the other labs want to know about. Security is here to stop that and it can't be done without some good guard dogs. The most important job is to protect the perimeter. Even approaching the fence will…

"Hey, are you hearing me?" Brayden's dad snapped his fingers in Brayden's face. "We can't have any more of this. Your teacher says you don't stay focused. You have got to pay attention. Got it?"

"I always pay attention."

His dad sighed, "Well, try to make the teacher see that. Maybe look at the blackboard instead of out the window. Okay?"

"Yes, Dad." Brayden got up to meet the school bus on the next block. As he turned the corner, he saw that a few of the kids were already there waiting.

One of his friends turned and waved. Brayden immediately dove into the bushes.

Private Brayden knew that was too close. He was almost seen. If he lets his position be known, he won't be able to blow the convoy when it comes through. He crawls along the hedge to get closer to the target, but careful to be silent to not alert the others to his presence.

Brayden's dad watched from an upstairs window and shook his head.

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All this month, I am participating in the A to Z Challenge. A new post will go up every day (except Sundays) using a letter of the alphabet as the starting off point. My theme for the month is literary genres. I am writing in a different genre of flash fiction each day. Today's letter is I for Imaginary Journey.