In a dim room in Chiswich fire station, Fireman Sahm frowned. Things weren't like they used to be.
You see, as a little boy, he had been rescued by a fire fighter from a burning building, and the heroic scene had… burned itself indelibly into his memory.
Accordingly, he had thrown himself into his work, becoming the Number 1 Firefighter in his Chiswich and even being called a hero.
In some sense, he succeeded. No, it would be more accurate to say that he *exceeded…*
Currently, for some reason [owing indirectly to Bob starting his Become-A-Hero Company, which was already beginning to have an effect even at this early stage] the number of arsonists had started to decline. Simply put, There simply wasn't many fires to be put out these days, and the firemen were getting paid for doing absolutely jack-all.
Whilst the majority of the Normal Norman Firefighters were celebrating by going down to the pubs and taverns, eating their chicken schnitzels, clinking their lagers and making poor wagers, Sahm was well… different.
And not in a good way.
Politely put, he was in a world of his own.
Honestly? He was going psycho.
An arsonist is someone who enjoys setting fire to things.
Little known, but just as dangerous, is the reverse.
You see, over the years, Fireman Sahm had become… for want of a better word, an 'extinguisseur'. Someone who specialized in, and found extreme pleasure, in putting *out* fires.
He had made putting out fires his life's mission, his life's work.
This might sound noble, but in actual fact, it had become… well, more than his life's work.
It had become… a burning, raging obsession.
For one thing, Whilst normal people would cook their food, he would only eat food that had not been cooked or touched by a fire. This largely consisted of canned tuna, and sushi from 7/Evans [a common convenience store franchise]. (This was of course, still much better than Bob's lettuce and bread, but not by much.)
Some might say that this seemed a little fishy, and they would be right.
For another… more recently, He had taken to drawing red and orange doodles in Microhard Paint, and then furiously scrubbing them out with the Eraser tool.
Scribble scribble scribble.
*Sahm has drawn some orange and red scribble on the white canvas.*
"Oh look, it's a fire!" He says to himself in a high pitched voice.
Click. The mouse cursor changes from the red pen to the eraser tool.
Drag …drag… drag dragdragdragdragdrag!!!!!!!
Then he would rub it out, starting gently, with a caressing mouse movement, but then growing increasingly agitated, until it became a frenzy.
"Grahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Hehe, you naughty fire, haha, you're gone now!!!" He muttered to himself, clapping his hands in delight and looking at the screen.
____
Holy Sh**!!!
Monique, Sahm's sister, had come up for the weekend to visit the family, and on the way to going to the bathroom that night after being awoken by some strange noises, she couldn't help but react when she witnessed the madness.
Click. Scribble Scribble Scribble.
"Oh look, it's another fire!" Fireman Sahm said again in a singsong, highly pitched voice, a dark figure silhouetted against the bright pale light of the computer monitor.
Click. Again the pen changed to the eraser tool.
Sahm licked his lips.
Drag. Drag. Drag.dragdragdragdrag!!!!!
The eraser rubbed back and forth on the scribbles, until the canvas returned to pure white.
"Bad fire!!! Out you go!!!"
___
On one hand, whilst the emotional, empathetic side of Monique's mind felt that it was admirable that her brother had now… rekindled his passion for the visual arts, the other side of Monique's mind, the rational logical side, quickly realized something could be wrong.
The next day, she called their mom.
"Hey… mom, you're not going to believe this, but…"
She quickly explained what she had seen.
"So yeah, what do you think? Has he always been like this?"
Sahm and Monique's mom, Priscilla, who was currently in Egypt on vacation retorted sharply. She was currently surrounded by blue water and you could see sparkling golden sand and the Valley of the Kings in the background.
"What's going on?! Now, young lady, Sahm is a very good man. I won't have you implying that he's gone crazy!!! I won't!" She huffed and hung up.
Monique sighed. It was a shame her mom was… in denial. [I hope you get this joke… and if you do, I am soooo sorry 😂 that I am not sorry at all 😂😂😂]
___
"Sahm, um are you okay lately?"
Sahm was the picture of normality, aside from the fact that he was always wearing his fireman's yellow hat and bulky protective gear, even when meeting his sister for lunch.
"Look, I know the Fire Department hasn't had much to do lately, but … maybe it's a good thing! Maybe it's an opportunity for you to upskill in another area!" Monique pleaded.
Sahm raised his eyebrows, as if he were extremely offended.
"My name is Fireman Sahm" he said stiffly.
"And Firefighting is what I do!!!"
He stood up and left.
"There must be a reason behind why the amount of fires have decreased recently", he spoke softly to himself.
"I will find out why!!!"
___
Visiting a reformed arsonist that he used to work with, he quickly discovered that most of the arsonists had in fact converted to the Become-A-Hero Club.
"What's going on, Raj?! We used to have a sweet deal, you would set the fires, then give me a call, and I would pay you in cash! What happened?!"
Raj, the former arsonist was understandably terrified as Sahm pointed his hose at him in a threatening manner. "I don't know anything! Uh, I think it's run by a guy called Bob! But I don't know, I just go to classes run by a guy called Goku!! We learn something called The Art of Rizz! But I just started!
That's all I know, I swear!"
"Oh?" A strangely twisted grin appeared on Sahm's face. Tell me all about this… "Become-a-Hero club…"
After finding out the necessary information, Sahm licked his lips as he went back to his dim room, Microhard Paint, and ate his tuna fish.
He had become addicted and obsessed with fighting fire, and whilst he had put out many fires, there was now no quenching this flame that had ignited in his heart.
"This… is who I am!" He declared to the Heavens.
There was no going back.
He was going to stamp out the flames of Rizz including the sparks.
"Bob, huh. Bob, I'm coming for you!!!" A snarl.
He began to laugh.